Dirk – QA officer – explains how his current client is completely changing tack to solve the lack of experienced Software Quality Testers.

Lack of experienced Software Quality Testers forces to change tack

In the “war for talent,” it is becoming increasingly difficult to find experienced ICT people, employ them within your company, and keep up with them long-term. ICT people with some experience (it’s not just about +10 years of experience) often have multiple offers to choose from. Wages, legal and fringe benefits play a big role in this but these are only a few aspects. A vision of the future, great projects, social involvement, technology, etc… also play a role in the decision to join a company.

At my current client (where I am QA officer) we take a completely different approach viz. we recruit junior and we train them. Now you will say we do that too but we have little success with that. Within the company where I currently operate, we are having great success with this approach. If you want to know how this comes about, be sure to read on, because I am convinced that some of the steps are very applicable in your organization.

• An important aspect is that the approach is used for both internal and external employees. We realize that we’re never going to have everyone in salaried positions, so we have to commit to long-term and also train the external employees along with us.
• An intake interview is conducted with each new person regardless of the person’s experience to see what training needs are immediate. These needs will be addressed and/or planned for as soon as possible.
• A coach is also designated to guide the person’s growth and a “buddy” to help with day-to-day questions (e.g., completing timesheets).
• For junior employees, we have developed a complete learning program incl. the knowledge they must acquire and the training that must be taken to grow from junior to advanced level.
• The learning path for the other levels will be worked out in the future but will be done in the same way.
• The different levels (junior, advanced, experience,…) already have a knowledge description and a competency matrix.
• All this acquired information is used to determine what knowledge the person lacks to move to the next level, and provide training coaching, etc… that is needed.
• Finally, all individuals are asked to identify where they want to be in their career within 2 years. To achieve this goal, a learning plan is agreed upon with learning objectives. Learning objectives for the current year are added to their annual objectives.

This is followed up through regular 1on1s where a conversation is held about progress, obstacles that are occurring, and, if necessary, changes are made. – – The important thing is that this is an honest conversation and that the difficult points are also addressed.
* 1st tip – if the person wants to achieve something she/he is not suited for, this should be said.

* 2nd tip – if the person aspires to a position outside of testing then you need to allow and guide this as well. It is always better to keep a person within a company than for the competition to pick them up.

Blog: Dirk – QA officer