A recent Methods & Tools poll asked the following question: “How many weeks of training on software testing have you completed in your professional life?”
| 2012 | 2005 | |
| None | 37% | 43% |
| Less than one week | 14% | 19% |
| One week | 10% | 7% |
| One to two weeks | 5% | 7% |
| Two weeks to one month | 6% | 6% |
| More than one month | 28% | 18% |
Total Votes: 214 (2005: 240)
Ending date: January 2012 (February 2005)
We see in these results an obvious improvement in software testing training amongst the participants compared to a similar survey executed in 2005. The percentage of Methods & Tools readers that work in software quality functions has remained the same since the previous poll at around 20%, but we have now a much larger percentage of participants that have had at least more than one week of software testing training during their professional life. In the 2005 survey, 62% of participants had less than one week of training compared to 51% in the current survey.
This progress could be explained by a better recognition of the software testing activity importance in software development organizations. The adoption of more “test first” techniques like Test Driven Development or Behavior Driven Development associated to the diffusion of Agile approaches can be included in the reasons for this improvement. We have also seen the development of multiple open source unit testing and mocking frameworks that makes it easier and less costly to automate software testing in organizations. A previous poll had already showed an increased usage of formal approaches for unit testing. Finally, software certification organizations like the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) have create recognition for software testing capabilities… and some need for training to prepare certification exams.