Top QA Certifications for Beginners & Advanced Professionals

When it comes to software development, the QA team plays a huge part in ensuring that the product is compatible and functions as designed. Having a Software Testing certification helps build your strategic thinking capabilities and learn new testing trends, tools, etc. Not just that, with the growing competition, talents with QA certifications are given preference for a job role compared to the others. 

In this article, you will find some industry-renowned QA professional certifications that you can add to your CV.

Top QA Certifications for every Professional

1. BrowserStack Test University

Originally, BrowserStack is a cloud-based web and mobile application testing software provider. It helps QA teams test their website and applications across various devices, browsers, and operating systems. Recently, BrowserStack launched BrowserStack Test University, an online learning platform for Quality Analysts (QA) and developers. This platform aims to be the go-to place for software development teams to learn everything related to testing.

Test University offers 40+ courses that can help you hone your testing skills. The courses are completely free of cost and are comprised of interactive video tutorials, lab exercises relevant to common testing scenarios, etc. 

Signing up to Test University allows you to:

• Enroll for 40+ courses
• Be BrowserStack certified
• Learn as you can (Self-paced)
• Get certifications free of cost
• Lifelong validity
• Learn new frameworks and languages

These are hands-on courses where you are expected to perform different types of tasks such as discovering challenges, cloning the test repositories, executing live tests, etc. 

Get BrowserStack Certified for Free

2. International Software Certifications Board (ISCB)

The International Software Certifications Board (ISCB) is one of the most widely accepted certification boards in the domain of software testing and quality. The main goal of ICSB is to become the international standard of definition for proficiency as a software quality or information services practitioner. The certification exams of this scheme are conducted on a daily basis at Pearson VUE Testing Centres.

Some of the Software Testing Certifications offered by Software Certifications are as follows:

• Certified Associate in Software Testing (CAST): This QA certification for beginners demonstrates the candidate’s high level of proficiency in the Software Testing principles and practices in the IT domain.

Prerequisites: 

• Degree certificate (3 years or 4 years) from an accredited college-level institution
• Degree certificate (2 years) from an accredited college-level institution and 1 year of work experience in the IT domain
• 3 years of work experience in the IT domain

• Certified Software Tester (CSTE): This QA certification demonstrates the candidate’s high level of competence in the Quality Control principles and practices in the IT domain.

Prerequisites:

• Degree certificate (4 years) from an accredited college-level institution and 2 years of work experience in the IT domain
• Degree certificate (3 years) from an accredited college-level institution and 3 years of work experience in the IT domain
• Degree certificate (2 years) from an accredited college-level institution and 4 years of work experience in the IT domain
• 6 years of work experience in the IT domain

3. International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB)

The International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) is another globally recognized certification scheme in the domain of software testing. The board has conducted more than a million examinations and granted more than 806,000 certifications worldwide. It offers four streams (Foundation level, Core Advanced, Agile, and Specialist) with varying depth and specialization in software testing.

Some of the Software Testing Certifications offered by the International Software Testing Qualifications Board® (ISTQB®) are as follows:

• Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL): This QA certification for beginners enables professionals to learn important test skills and knowledge that can be used to excel in the software testing domain. It is relevant to most of the software development frameworks like Agile, Waterfall, etc.

4. International Institute of Software Testing

The International Institute of Software Testing aims to enhance the skills of software testing and quality assurance professionals. They have a faculty comprising expert practitioners and consultants with practical work experience in relevant fields.

Some of the Software Testing Certifications offered by the International Institute of Software Testing are:

• Certified Software Test Professional Associate Level (CSTP-A): This course helps the candidates to demonstrate skills and knowledge in Software Testing at an Associate level.

• Certified Agile Software Test Professional Practitioner Level (CASTP-P): This QA professional certification helps the candidates to develop the skills required to participate in Agile Testing Projects at an Associate level.

5. Software Testing Certification by Edureka

Edureka is popularly known for its courses in computer science background. They host numerous tech certification courses that help one in staying competitive & relevant with current industry trends. A few of the courses offered by Edureka in the field of testing that is focused on the core web and mobile automation frameworks are listed below.

• Selenium Certification Testing course:  This QA professional certification covers the basics of Java, Selenium, and Selenium Web Driver & locations.
• Mobile App Testing Using Appium: This QA certification course teaches about the fundamentals of mobile app testing and the basics of Appium.

Keep learning and keep testing! Take your career to different heights with these 5 core QA Certifications.