Certified Agile Tester

Agile has become increasingly popular over a number of years and is now recognised as a mainstream discipline that has become the model of choice for many business critical projects. Market research, widespread acceptance of agile and its reliance on integrated teams has driven the need for professional certification, hence the birth of the 'Certified Agile Tester (CAT)' scheme from the International Software Quality Institute (iSQI - www.isqi.org), the professional certification body.

CAT has been built to develop the skills, consensus and method of daily working that help bring about project success. The aim of CAT is to enable those with testing experience to become effective members of an agile project. The scheme provides worldwide consistency of learning and is based on a single set of material and group of exams.

The course introduces experienced testers to the practices they will need to understand and use to be effective team members and testers on an agile project.

Audience: Who is the course for?

• Testing practitioners moving into Agile projects to perform testing activities
• Individuals already performing testing activities in an Agile project who wish to increase their effectiveness
• Individuals who are interested in the testing activities with Agile, such as Managers, SCRUM Masters and Developers.

Course duration:

Five days. Four days of classroom training (50% theory/classroom discussion & 50% practical workshop/team exercises). The exam is on day five

Benefits to the Individual:

• Understand the principles behind the Agile approach to software development
• Differentiate between the testing role in Agile projects compared with the role of testers in non-agile projects
• Contribute positively as an Agile team member focused on testing
• Appreciate the challenges and difficulties associated with the non-testing activities performed in an Agile team

Benefits to the Business:

• Confidence that team members have the skills and techniques to work effectively
• Greater team cohesion leads to increased productivity and increased project success

Prerequisites:

Familiarity with & practical experience of:

• Basic testing terminology & activities associated with the fundamental test process
• The differences between functional & non-functional testing, including the concepts of Performance and Usability
• Practical application of EP, BVA, State Transition Testing, Decision Table & Exploratory Testing

Course Content:

Designed as a very interactive course, delegates have the opportunity to discuss and share their experiences with others and to extend their knowledge of testing in agile projects. Practical exercises based on a complete agile life cycle are used to help delegates to put learning and their knowledge in to practice throughout the course. Delegate's soft skills are assessed throughout the course based on their contributions to the classroom discussions and practical exercises.

The information provided by classroom discussion and homework will prepare delegates for the written exam on day five. The skills developed in the practical exercises will prepare delegates for the practical assessment on day five.

Course Objectives:

At the end of the course, successful delegates will be able to:

• Understand: To give delegates an understanding of the testing role within an Agile project
• Provide: To provide delegates with information about Agile projects and how they differ from traditional projects
• Enable: To enable delegates to effectively apply practical skills associated with the testing role on an Agile project
• Certify: To enable people to sit the exam and gain accreditation as a 'Certified Agile Tester'

Syllabus:

The course consists of four days in the classroom, where the split is around 50% theory and 50% practical workshops and exercises that take you through what happens on a typical agile project. The running order of the course is:

• Everyday: Daily Scrum and Soft Skills Assessment
• Day 1: History and Terminology: Agile Manifesto, Principles and Methods
• Day 2: Planning, Requirements, Estimation and Strategy
• Day 3: Developer Context, Testing and Retrospectives
• Day 4: Test Driven Development, Test Automation and Non-Functional
• Day 5: Soft Skills Assessment and Practical and Written Exams

Exam details:

The exam contains two separate sections. Both must be passed to be awarded 'CAT' status.

• Practical Assessment: 2 hour exam in which delegates must demonstrate they have learned and can apply the Agile skills taught in the course
• Written Exam: This is a 2.5 hour based essay based exams where delegates must construct their own answers and solutions to three set scenarios.

Certified Agile Tester - course description