Best Software Testing Certifications in Demand for QA Testers

The current Job Market is competitive. Taking a certification exam can help you differentiate yourself from peers, broaden your employment chances and result in higher remuneration.

Employers too can benefit since a certification acts as a skills verification tool and improves the staff’s ability to quickly complete on-the-job tasks.

But technical ability, experience, and other soft skills do play a major role in your job interview, and certifications alone should not be considered a trump card to your dream job.
In this tutorial, you will learn –

Top Software & Manual Testing Course Certifications

Below is a curated Software Testing Certification list which contains one of the best certifications for Software Testing:

• ISTQB: International Software Testing Qualification Board is a standardized qualification for beginner software testers. ISTQB is one of the best software testing certifications in demand that consists of 58 members board worldwide represents 81 testing certification courses for certified Agile tester.

• CSTE: CTSE stand for certified Test engineer. This certification is best suited for the tester who wants to prove his/her expertise in the field of Quality control.

• CSQA: Certified Software Quality Analyst, also known as CSQA. This is a specially designed course for an experienced tester who is working as a Quality Control or Quality Assurance Professional.

• CQA: CQA (Certified Quality Auditor) is a QA tester certification course. The software testing certification helps professionals to enhance their testing skills. They are also able to learn the standards and principles associated with auditing.

• CQE: Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) is a QA certification for testers which allows testing professionals to learn the important principles of product and service quality evaluation control.

• CSTP: CSTP stands for Certified Software Test Professional Level (CSTP). It is one of the best testing certifications course which helps professionals to develop higher level software testing skills.

Quality Manager Certifications

• CSQE: Certified Software Quality Engineer is a manual tester certification course for a quality managers. It helps them to handle various types of testing projects.

• CQIA: Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) is a course for Understanding the quality basic for Quality managers and testers. It helps them to understand various quality concepts.

• CSPM: Certified Security Project Manager Certification is the only Quality management certification which addresses the unique demands of the security project manager.

• CTM: Certified testing management is a testing certificate for senior testing professionals. It gives them training for test management.

Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) Certification Guide

CSQA stands for Certified Software Quality Analyst. This course is provided by QAI Global Institute for IT professionals, for them who want to Excel in the field of software quality and methodologies.

Which certification course should I go for?

The selection of certification is a commonly confusing topic for naïve software analyst. They are pretty much unsure about what the course details are and which one is for them.

There are two certificate course.

1. CSTE
2. CSQA

It is not that one is better than the other, but it is just different in their expertise levels. The former one is for beginners while the latter one is for experienced ones or experts.

1
CSTE (Certified Software Tester): It is for those who are at the beginning of their software testing career and want to evaluate their testing skills. Refer to this CSTE Certification Guide for in detail.

• Software Professionals
• Project Managers
• Project Leader
• Test Leads
• Test Managers
• Quality & Testing Professionals

2
CSQA (Certified Software Quality Analyst): It is for experienced testers, who are both in QC (Quality Control) and QA (Quality Assurance)

• Project managers and project leaders
• Quality and testing professionals
• Senior management professionals and directors
• Process engineers and software professionals

How will it benefit to the candidate?

• It improves or sharpens your QA skills
• You will do QA tasks with confidence and without much error
• This course will not increase your value as a QA but also as an employee
• For career growth, it works out well

How does it work?

This certification course test the competence level of the tester in the principles and practices of Quality Assurance (QA) in the IT profession. These practices are defined by the certification board as the common body of knowledge (CBOK). This CBOK is divided into 10 skill categories, which cover everything you need to master the QA world.

List of Categories

Skill-Category
Name of the modules

1

Quality Principles and Concepts

2

Quality Leadership

3

Quality Baselines

4

Quality Assurance

5

Quality Planning

6

Define, Build, Implement and Improve Work Processes

7

Quality Control Practices

8

Metrics and Measurement

9

Internal Control and Security

10

Outsourcing, COTS, and Contracting Quality

CSQA Certification Preparation Steps

• Take about 4-6 months of preparation time
• Choose your nearest test center at the date
• Obtain the CBOK, which you will receive once you register for certification
• CBOK carries all the information about the test
• The exam is separated into 2 sections multiple choice and essay questions. Exam duration is about 2.5 hours, and you need a 70% score to pass in each section
• The cost of the exam is $350 or $420

Tips & Tricks to clear the exam

• Give yourself enough time for preparation
• Do not treat your professional experience and CBOK knowledge as two different aspects. Figure it out how the QA processes that you are currently following are different or similar to the guidelines mentioned in the CBOK
• Try to apply the CBOK guideline in practical and see how it helps you
• To improve your QA standard, adapt the CBOK guideline to your testing and record your observations
• Absorb each bit of CBOK, and there is no reason left to fail the exam
• For study material, refer to our Manual Testing Tutorial.

Conclusions:

CSQA certification is quite useful and valuable for those who are really looking testing as their career. The only concern with this course is the cost. However, you have to consult with your companies about the learning policies, and they may cover the certification cost.