ISTQB Certified Tester Test Automation Engineer (CTAL-TAE) V2.0

The ISTQB Advanced Test Automation Engineer is principally aimed at test practitioners who have achieved an advanced point in their careers in software testing and are expecting to be actively involved in the technical aspects of software testing, including test automation, non-functional testing, white-box testing, and who want to increase their knowledge and skills beyond the levels covered by the Foundation and Intermediate qualifications. This includes people in roles such as testers, test analysts, test engineers, test consultants, test managers, user acceptance testers and software developers.

This Advanced Level qualification is also appropriate for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of software testing, such as project managers, quality managers, software development managers, business analysts and management consultants.

Advanced Level testers who have passed the “Advanced Test Automation Engineer” module exam should be able to accomplish the following Business Objectives:

• Contribute to the development of a plan to integrate automated testing within the testing process
• Evaluate tools and technology for automation best fit to each project and organization.
• Create an approach and methodology for building a test automation architecture (TAA).
• Design and develop (new or modified) test automation solutions that meet the business needs.
• Enable the transition of testing from a manual to an automated approach.
• Create automated test reporting and metrics collection.
• Manage and optimize testing assets to facilitate maintainability and address evolving (test) systems.

Certified Advanced Test Automation Engineers should be able to demonstrate their skills in the following areas:

• Explain the objectives, advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of test automation.
• Identify technical success factors of a test automation project.
• Analyse a system under test to determine the appropriate automation solution.
• Analyse test automation tools for a given project and report technical findings and recommendations.
• Understand “design for testability” and “design for test automation” methods applicable to the SUT.
• Explain the structure of the Generic Test Automation Architecture.
• Analyse factors of implementation, use, and maintenance requirements for a given Test Automation Solution.
• Explain the factors to be considered when identifying reusability of components.
• Apply guidelines that support effective test tool pilot and deployment activities.
• Analyse deployment risks and identify technical issues that could lead to failure of the test automation project, and plan mitigation strategies.
• Understand which factors support and affect maintainability.
• Classify metrics that can be used to monitor the test automation strategy and effectiveness.
• Explain how a test execution report is constructed and published.
• Apply criteria for determining the suitability of tests for automation.
• Understand the factors in transitioning from manual to automation testing.
• Explain the factors to consider in implementing automated regression testing, new feature testing, and confirmation testing.
• Verify the correctness of an automated test environment including test tool setup.
• Verify the correct behaviour for a given automated test script and/or test suite.
• Analyse the technical aspects of a deployed test automation solution and provide recommendations for improvement.

The entry requirements for the Certified Tester Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst qualification are that the candidate must hold the ISTQB Foundation certificate and it is also suggested that candidates have a minimum of 3 years testing experience.

Note that it is recommended that you attend an accredited training course run by an accredited training provider, as the overall exam pass rates are notably higher for candidates attending such courses.

The Advanced Level Test Automation Engineer exam is comprised of 40 multiple choice questions, with a pass mark grade of 65% to be completed within 90 minutes. Participants that take the exam not in their spoken language, will receive additional 25% time, and will have 23 minutes more, or a total of 113 min.

The Advanced Level establishes a platform from which further skills and knowledge may be acquired at the Expert Level. Holders of the Advanced Technical Test Analyst qualification will be eligible to continue with other Advanced exams as well as progressing to Expert level qualifications, such as Test Automation and Security Testing.  

About ISTQB and the ‘Certified Tester’ Scheme

Founded in 2002, ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) is a not-for-profit association comprising 47 national boards (including the UKTB) covering 71 countries worldwide.

ISTQB has defined the Advanced certification as part of their ‘Certified Tester’ scheme that, with over 240,000 certifications, has become the de facto world-wide standard for software testing qualifications.

The ‘Certified Tester’ scheme:

• provides a set of professional qualifications widely-recognised by employers, customers and peers;
• enables software suppliers to hire and train certified testers and thereby gain commercial advantage over their competitors by advertising their tester recruitment and development policies; and
• enables comparison of testing skills across different countries, testers to move across country borders more easily, and multi-national/international projects to have a common understanding of testing issues.