Helping out the Government - I

Did you know that the United States Department of Labor funds a annual survey and report on nearly every job you can think of? It's called the Occupational Information Network, (oNet) and Software Quality Engineer/Software Tester is on the list.

This year, oNet asked me to particpate as an "Occupation Expert." (Mostly because I am a member of the Software Division of the American Society for Quality and have a few years of applicable experience. )

This means that in trade for the title of "Occupation Expert" about software testing (James Bach, eat your heart out), I spent about an hour filling our surveys to help define the role.

Oh, I also got a small honoraium, a certificate, and, um ... a clock. The big thing was the title.

The surveys consisted of one book specific to that job, followed by workbooks on activities, skills, knowledge, work context, and my background. You can see the surveys online.

The very act of filling out the forms forces you to think about what is required to be a software tester, and that made consider what it takes to be a good one. More about that next time ...