PeopleCert

Quality Software Development (QSD)

Demand for good software is at an all-time high. Building reliable quality software remains a major challenge. To tackle this, PeopleCert in collaboration with the Software Improvement Group (SIG), have developed a qualification in Quality Software Development (QSD) to certify programmers who have the necessary skillset to produce high quality code.

Why consider QSD?

Companies spend more than $300 billion per year worldwide debugging software. It costs four to five times as much to fix software bugs after release rather than during the design process. Combined with the well-documented skills shortage in the IT industry, the need for a practical and measurable standard on code quality is pressing.

A recent poll conducted by O’Reilly and SIG on software practitioners, revealed that 90% of respondents agree that “a practical and measurable standard on code quality will help towards improving a software system.”

The QSD Certification scheme answers this need by providing practical knowledge, tools, techniques and guidelines, adaptable to any business sector or industry. A QSD-certified developer has the necessary skillset to implement quality standards and save project time. By certifying their employees, organisations gain access to the tools that will allow them to produce reliable software systems that can be tested and modified with ease and speed, while keeping costs low.

Who is QSD for?

The QSD certification scheme is aimed at software developers with experience in Object Oriented Programming technologies (i.e. Java, C#), wanting to learn how to create quality code. It also applies to software development teams who want to learn from best practice, to ensure they produce maintainable software throughout.

This qualification also applies to:

• Software Engineers
• Programmers
• Vendors
• IT Managers

QSD benefits for the professional

• Learn how to create consistent quality code from start to finish
• Create good code that can be adopted and immediately implemented, resulting in high maintainability from day one
• Adopt a best practice framework and deliver top quality software systems

QSD benefits for the organisation

• Gain a competitive advantage by producing code that is better and cheaper
• Increase the sustainability of your business through flexible, adaptable and maintainable software
• Reduce production costs and time-to-market

QSD Certification levels

This qualification comprises of two different levels of certification:

Quality Software Development Foundation Certificate in Maintainability:

This level is suitable for individuals who require a basic understanding of writing good code and how it may be used to enhance the quality of a software system within an organisation. 

An introduction to tools, techniques and guidelines on how to identify code that is hard to maintain and refactoring patterns that can achieve source code maintainability.

There are two routes towards obtaining the Foundation Certificate:

• You can sit the exam at the end of a training course with an Accredited Training Organisation.
• Self-study with the book entitled “Building Maintainable Software: 10 Guidelines for Future Proof Code” by Joost Visser, published by O’Reilly Media and then book the exam directly through PeopleCert.
• Java Edition
• C# Edition

Quality Software Development Advanced Level:

This level is aimed at: 

• Development team leads
• Stakeholders not involved in the development process
• Project members responsible for the development process

There are two routes towards obtaining the Advanced Certificate:

• You can sit the exam at the end of a training course with an Accredited Training Organisation.
• Self-study with the book entitled “Building Software Teams” by Joost Visser, published by O’Reilly Media, and then book the exam directly through PeopleCert.