KUALA LUMPUR, 16 JULY 2008 - Malaysia’s national software testing board (MSTB) has said that software testing in the region is 30 years behind the times.
According to MSTB president Mastura Abu Samah: “most software testers practitioners tend to carry out testing as if it is 1978, not 2008. Common practices lag best practices by 30 years. Common practices need to be raised to the next level of best practices as set by the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB).”
She said to raise local standards for the software industry, MSTB is to hold the country’s first certification forum – called the Software Testing Conference 2008 (SOFTEC 2008) –27-28 August 2008 at Berjaya Times Square Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
The forum is will also promote regional international certification standards as well as to create a local pool of skilled talent in this area, she said.
“The conference will be a significant platform for the software testing arena whereby the industrial, professional and institutional sector will definitely benefit. The conference will offer participants rare insights into the software testing industry landscape, practices and opportunities brought by the many international and Malaysian speakers at this event. We shall also emphasise the relevance and importance of software testing towards Malaysian local capability building and national economic competitiveness,” she said.
Expensive software bugs. She referenced a study conducted by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce in 2002 (the most recent comprehensive data available) reports that software bugs cost the U.S. economy $59.5 billion (RM194.34 billion) annually in terms of losses such as lost businesses opportunities, failed transactions and reinvestments needed to repair damage done by such failures.
More than a third of this cost could be avoided if better software testing was performed, she said.
Mastura explained that the main features of this International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) forum – whose theme is “testing to the next level” -- will include keynote addresses on Five Testing Best Practices, Toward A Science of Software Testing: Advance & Innovations from Research and Internet – Of – Things: Tester Beware.
Keynote speakers include University of Central England’s Professor Keith Osman, ISTQB president Rex Black and University of Memphis’s Professor Jasbir Dhaliwal, who is a Malaysian, said Mastura.
Other international and national speakers include Wonil Kwon, chief executive officer of STA Korea and President of the Korea Testing Board, Daisuke Azuma from Japan Novel Corporation; Bernard Homes, Founder of TESSCO Technologies Inc and lead of R&D of Eurocopter, France; and Aditya Garg, Vice President of Pure Testing Pte Ltd, one of the leading testing companies in India.
Malaysian speakers are Fadilah Baharin, Director General from Department of Standards of Ministry of Science, Technology & Environment (MOSTE); Mohd Redzuan Abdullah, Head of MIMOS Testing Centre of Excellence; Dr Suhaimi Ibrahim of Centre for Advanced Software Engineering (CASE-UTM); and Dr Nor Adnan Yahaya, Head of IT, Malaysia University of Science & Technology (MUST).
Malaysia training and opportunities. The association said that globally, more than 80,000 ISTQB certified testers practice a common software-testing framework and nomenclature. This framework – the ISTQB certification programme -- was developed by worldwide groups of practitioners and consultants from more than 50 countries.
MSTB runs the ISTQB accredited courses and examinations every quarter during 2008. Foundation Level courses will be conducted in May, August and November. Advanced Level courses will be conducted in August, with public exams held at the end of each courses.
MSTB said its long-term plan is to establish the Institute of Professional Software Engineers to bring value to the profession. This Institute shall support the fundamentals of the software profession and promote the sound professional software engineering practice.
“In 2007, Gartner Research (a world leader in information technology research and advisory) estimated the global software testing market at US$13 billion (RM42.46 billion), representing a huge opportunity for Malaysian companies to tap this market and offer their services locally and globally,” explained Mastura.
“However, the supply of the human resources is not at par with the demand, due to the small number of certified professional testers in Malaysia, and lack of awareness about software testing as a career. It is MSTB’s vision and mission to raise the awareness and promote software testing as a respectable profession throughout the ICT industry in Malaysia, and promote the growth of IT software industry by elevating Malaysia’s profile as a leading testing outsourcing hub,” she added.
According to MSTB president Mastura Abu Samah: “most software testers practitioners tend to carry out testing as if it is 1978, not 2008. Common practices lag best practices by 30 years. Common practices need to be raised to the next level of best practices as set by the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB).”
She said to raise local standards for the software industry, MSTB is to hold the country’s first certification forum – called the Software Testing Conference 2008 (SOFTEC 2008) –27-28 August 2008 at Berjaya Times Square Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
The forum is will also promote regional international certification standards as well as to create a local pool of skilled talent in this area, she said.
“The conference will be a significant platform for the software testing arena whereby the industrial, professional and institutional sector will definitely benefit. The conference will offer participants rare insights into the software testing industry landscape, practices and opportunities brought by the many international and Malaysian speakers at this event. We shall also emphasise the relevance and importance of software testing towards Malaysian local capability building and national economic competitiveness,” she said.
Expensive software bugs. She referenced a study conducted by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce in 2002 (the most recent comprehensive data available) reports that software bugs cost the U.S. economy $59.5 billion (RM194.34 billion) annually in terms of losses such as lost businesses opportunities, failed transactions and reinvestments needed to repair damage done by such failures.
More than a third of this cost could be avoided if better software testing was performed, she said.
Mastura explained that the main features of this International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) forum – whose theme is “testing to the next level” -- will include keynote addresses on Five Testing Best Practices, Toward A Science of Software Testing: Advance & Innovations from Research and Internet – Of – Things: Tester Beware.
Keynote speakers include University of Central England’s Professor Keith Osman, ISTQB president Rex Black and University of Memphis’s Professor Jasbir Dhaliwal, who is a Malaysian, said Mastura.
Other international and national speakers include Wonil Kwon, chief executive officer of STA Korea and President of the Korea Testing Board, Daisuke Azuma from Japan Novel Corporation; Bernard Homes, Founder of TESSCO Technologies Inc and lead of R&D of Eurocopter, France; and Aditya Garg, Vice President of Pure Testing Pte Ltd, one of the leading testing companies in India.
Malaysian speakers are Fadilah Baharin, Director General from Department of Standards of Ministry of Science, Technology & Environment (MOSTE); Mohd Redzuan Abdullah, Head of MIMOS Testing Centre of Excellence; Dr Suhaimi Ibrahim of Centre for Advanced Software Engineering (CASE-UTM); and Dr Nor Adnan Yahaya, Head of IT, Malaysia University of Science & Technology (MUST).
Malaysia training and opportunities. The association said that globally, more than 80,000 ISTQB certified testers practice a common software-testing framework and nomenclature. This framework – the ISTQB certification programme -- was developed by worldwide groups of practitioners and consultants from more than 50 countries.
MSTB runs the ISTQB accredited courses and examinations every quarter during 2008. Foundation Level courses will be conducted in May, August and November. Advanced Level courses will be conducted in August, with public exams held at the end of each courses.
MSTB said its long-term plan is to establish the Institute of Professional Software Engineers to bring value to the profession. This Institute shall support the fundamentals of the software profession and promote the sound professional software engineering practice.
“In 2007, Gartner Research (a world leader in information technology research and advisory) estimated the global software testing market at US$13 billion (RM42.46 billion), representing a huge opportunity for Malaysian companies to tap this market and offer their services locally and globally,” explained Mastura.
“However, the supply of the human resources is not at par with the demand, due to the small number of certified professional testers in Malaysia, and lack of awareness about software testing as a career. It is MSTB’s vision and mission to raise the awareness and promote software testing as a respectable profession throughout the ICT industry in Malaysia, and promote the growth of IT software industry by elevating Malaysia’s profile as a leading testing outsourcing hub,” she added.
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