Seven More AASQA Members Pass International Certified Tester Exam

22nd September 2020

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• Article by ACS Member Jan Kornweibel CF FACS -Mentor and trainer at Autism Academy for Software Quality Assurance (AASQA)

This news item relates how, despite a confusing year with international Corona Virus restrictions, seven neurodiverse members of the Autism Academy for Software Quality Assurance (AASQA) passed the ISTQB Certified Tester exam. It took patience, determination, international actions and a bit of luck for it all to come together.

First, we had to postpone the first exam sitting in March 2020 at a week’s notice, making for difficult times for the candidates as they had studied hard to be ready. It was difficult to envisage having an opportunity to sit an exam of an international board for a long time to come.

Then, unexpectedly on Monday 8th of June, I received an email from the ANZ Testing Board, based in New Zealand, to say they were expecting big announcements overnight and were we still ready for the exam to be conducted. Then - New Zealand’s Prime Minister announced that the country was ‘open for business again’; what luck for us that our region’s Testing Board is based in Auckland!

So, we conducted the first round of exam on 4th of July giving the candidates a few weeks for last revisions, followed by a second round on 29th August to have a total of seven more successful candidates from AASQA.

So, once again, many thanks and much appreciation go to Planit Testing for granting access to the on-line course, BHP for sponsoring the candidates to do the exam, the ANZ Testing Board for providing the exam papers and an invigilator, and Curtin University for providing the exam room (with the distancing required in these surreal times and special conditions for candidates with special needs).

CONGRATULATIONS TO ONE AND ALL!

An Addendum: Professor Dr Tele Tan, Curtin University and Founder Director of AASQA

Thank you, Jan Kornweibel CF FACS, and Mortaza Rezae for mentoring this year’s cohort of ISTQB candidates. The results are amazing as with previous years. In the four years that we have been running this program, we have successfully certified close to 24 candidates from the Autism Academy; many of them have established their career as professional software tester or developer. We could not have done this without the support of our generous donors from Planit Testing and BHP and support from ANZTB. 

Thanks especially to Kieran McCluskey and Andrew White for believing in the potential of neurodiverse individuals and the talent they bring to the technology industry. Let’s make tomorrow better. Curtin University