Over the past 10 years Time2test has gained invaluable experience in testing systems/infrastructure on a technical level and are now excited to announce that we have added technical training as a new service offering. Testers require a general understanding of technical knowledge compared to a developer who will generally specialise in a few areas therefore the courses are designed to reflect this.

Why has Time2test added training to their service offerings?
We have noticed that testers are sometimes technically unequipped and remain too high level when testing systems. This adds more pressure to developers and technical staff to provide the gaps and reduces confidence in the testers abilities. Gaining some of the developer’s skills allows testers to work smarter and more confidentially. Smarter working improves quality and organisations are able to deliver projects faster.

What courses are on offer?
At launch date, we are planning to offer 5 one day courses in London and Birmingham initially that will have a mix of lecture based and hands on approach. Some example courses are Selenium for testers, SQL for testers and Unix/Cygwin for testers. The course will cover areas from installation to scripting and automation as part of agile continuous integration environments.

How does a course, say the SQL for testers’ course differ from an existing SQL course?
There are many SQL for beginners courses available but they often are too detailed for testers and often do not cover the general knowledge required for testers such as database backups, restoring databases, version controlling scripts e.t.c. Usually that knowledge would be gained in more advanced courses which would be too much information for a tester. What a tester requires is overall general knowledge in areas that a tester can and will benefit. These courses are designed for testers and to give them the tools to be better technical testers.

Why take a course with Time2Test?
We have been on a few courses ourselves and our own experiences have been very mixed. That is why the courses have been designed with the following positive benefits:

* Lovely training centres and great locations
* Complimentary lunch and refreshments
* Courses delivered by experienced industry professionals
* Technical courses geared for testers
* Tehnical knowledge will enhance your professional career development
* Practial courses aim to give you “hands on” learning

Time2test’s background?
Time2test Limited was started by Viresh Doshi in 2000 and has always focused in the area of Software Testing and Quality Assurance. Time2test specialises in providing technical software testing solutions for many sectors including internet, media, retail and banking.

There are many software methodologies in the software devleopment world but one that stands out and one that Time2Test use to deliver is the Agile Methologoy. The following is a list of principles behind Agile which comes from the Agile Manifesto site.

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.

Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need,and trust them to get the job done.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.

The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.