BBST Foundations: Is it for me?

This blog post is not a promotion for the BBST Foundations course, but it may seem like it - considering I’m very happy with how it went. This blog post, however, is an attempt to address any questions, that may be going through your head when considering this course. Note, these are solely my opinions. Feel free to challenge them where necessary. I’d love to hear where others stand on this.

Why should I even bother with BBST Foundations? I’ve already got my ISTQB Foundations and/or a Computer Science Degree.

From what I gather, Computer Science doesn’t focus a lot on Testing. BBST Foundations does. With regards to ISTQB Foundations I’ve always felt it was a test of your memory. However, I can’t comment on how it works further down the track with the advanced exam and so on.

I found the most useful part of ISTQB Foundations was to learn “common terms” and have people refer to things in the same language (well ideally, but some words are more widely interpreted than others it seems). The most useful part in BBST Foundations was the constant feedback from the instructors and the peers along with the focus on communicating information clearly. My point is - I honestly don’t think they are strict substitutes for each other. I would think seriously about why I’m taking a Testing course - and based on that decide whether to take BBST Foundations or advanced ISTQB Exams.

I’m really busy and am worried about the time commitment.

I’m not going to sugar-coat it: It’s not easy. You will have to carefully manage your time for four weeks. From my experience (I did it in April this year), I spent 15-17 hours a week on this course. I’m also under the impression that others committed about 12-17 hours a week to this course. If you can’t commit at least 10 hours a week to this course, I would seriously consider looking into the another intake.

What’s the biggest benefit of BBST Foundations?

It depends on who you ask. For me it was the constant feedback and the focus on communicating information clearly. I also really enjoyed learning about heuristics. I honestly think heuristics will be one of the most useful things I’ll ever learn as a Tester. But others may beg to differ and have benefited in other ways.

I’m planning to switch careers to Software Testing - is this course right for me?

Probably not. I found that most people drew from their past experiences when participating in discussions. At least a year or so experience would be good.

Who would you recommend the class to?

Here are some blog posts which will shed some light on others’ BBST Experiences:

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