ISTQB - Software Testing

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Just wondered, does anyone here know anything about / work in testing?

Spoke to a friend earlier who is an experienced software tester, and he suggested I look into the ISTQB certificate, and then look to get some work doing that.. bear in mind I have ZERO experience in the IT industry, just wondering what people think of it? I am happy to put the work in and learn it, he said it's pretty simple... Im currently going for my MCDST so I'd probably wait 'til after I've done that

Also does anyone know any good study guides, I've found this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844809897/ref=pd_luc_mri?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

 

I know it sounds a bit backwards, but I started doing the support certifications as I'm fairly good with Windows and problem solving in general, so seemed like a logical route to follow - but this is obviously a very competitive market, so I don't see any real harm in giving this a go too, my friend reckoned I could get a job in it quite easily, but I'm sure it wont be all that easy...

I did look at the ISEB / ISTQB foundation certificates, seems the obvious place to start, although couldn't find all that much on the web about it, I think they are the same, just not sure though

 

To be honest, I don't hear any buzz about the ISTQB. In fact... before this post, I had never heard about it before.

In all the places I've worked, the developers test their own code... there's not much need to hire an individual specificially to test the software. Thus, I would think that career opportunities would be limited, especially compared to other IT fields.

Although programming is not my field, I would think that if you want to be a software tester, it would help to know how to program so you can get your foot in the door.

Perhaps BosonJosh or any of the programmers here could shed some light on the demand for software testers much better than I could provide.

 

Not sure how much the game industry perspective will interest you, but I have worked in games QA before where you play certain sections of a game, or in some cases the entire game looking for faults. It doesn't require certifications or any qualifications beyond GCSEs to have a chance. If you have some knowledge of programming it helps, since you will be able to assess what is likely to have been coded for and reproduce the scenario to break the software.

Now as a programmer working with technology rather than the finished game I cannot wait for any implementations that I make to filter through to the actual game production stage. When I'm about to submit code I must first test it myself, as well as fix other coders breaks that my code will have exposed. Do I generally spend a lot of time testing in my current role? No. I appear to devote only 5% of my time to test. Do I need a test team? No. For what I do it takes someone with intimate programming knowledge to even spot if something is going wrong.

What is the point of my waffle? The chances that you have in test very much depend on the industry that you're aiming for, your qualifications and somewhat your programming experience.

I watched this video recently of a female VC++ QA who is actually an excellent programmer. She describes how she approaches her software testing tasks in some detail. Well worth watching!