Table 1Transition record

database developertosoftware tester

A database developer already meets 53% of what the software tester role asks for. The move turns on 8 required skills not yet in the profile.

From database developer

53%

Overlap1

To software tester

49 Skills carried over

8 Required, not held

56.8 Difficulty2

adjacent 0–30

moderate 30–55

substantial 55–75

career change 75–100

this move, 56.8

This move: 56.8 of 100 · substantial

1 Share of the software tester role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the database developer profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 49 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A software tester role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a database developer background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area

already held execute integration testing working with computers
already held execute software tests working with computers
already held LDAP information and communication technologies (icts)
already held MDX information and communication technologies (icts)
already held XQuery information and communication technologies (icts)
already held query languages information and communication technologies (icts)

All 49 carried skills, including the 2 the software tester role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 31 missing skills fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier

01 information and communication technologies (icts) 4 required, 9 supplementary

required, not held levels of software testing required
required, not held software anomalies required
required, not held software architecture models required
required, not held software metrics required

optional, not held ICT debugging tools optional
optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
optional, not held application usability optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held tools for ICT test automation optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held digital systems optional
optional, not held hardware components optional

02 working with computers 2 required, 4 supplementary

required, not held perform software unit testing required
required, not held replicate customer software issues required

optional, not held conduct ICT code review optional
optional, not held debug software optional
optional, not held perform software recovery testing optional
optional, not held use scripting programming optional

03 communication, collaboration and creativity 1 required, 2 supplementary

required, not held provide software testing documentation required

optional, not held develop ICT test suite optional
optional, not held develop automated software tests optional

04 information skills 1 required

required, not held report test findings required

05 business, administration and law 5 supplementary

optional, not held Agile project management optional
optional, not held ICT project management methodologies optional
optional, not held Process-based management optional
optional, not held lean project management optional
optional, not held audit techniques optional

06 management skills 2 supplementary

optional, not held plan software testing optional
optional, not held manage schedule of tasks optional

1 further area in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a software tester role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 49 skills that carry over

Skill Type

already held address problems critically skill
already held execute software tests skill
already held ABAP knowledge
already held AJAX knowledge
already held APL knowledge
already held ASP.NET knowledge
already held Assembly (computer programming) knowledge
already held C# knowledge
already held C++ knowledge
already held COBOL knowledge
already held CoffeeScript knowledge
already held Common Lisp knowledge
already held Erlang knowledge
already held Groovy knowledge
already held Haskell knowledge
already held Java (computer programming) knowledge
already held JavaScript knowledge
already held LDAP knowledge
already held LINQ knowledge
already held Lisp knowledge
already held MATLAB knowledge
already held MDX knowledge
already held ML (computer programming) knowledge
already held Microsoft Visual C++ knowledge
already held N1QL knowledge
already held Objective-C knowledge
already held OpenEdge Advanced Business Language knowledge
already held PHP knowledge
already held Pascal (computer programming) knowledge
already held Perl knowledge
already held Prolog (computer programming) knowledge
already held Python (computer programming) knowledge
already held R knowledge
already held Ruby (computer programming) knowledge
already held SAP R3 knowledge
already held SAS language knowledge
already held SPARQL knowledge
already held Scala knowledge
already held Scratch (computer programming) knowledge
already held Smalltalk (computer programming) knowledge
already held Swift (computer programming) knowledge
already held TypeScript knowledge
already held VBScript knowledge
already held Visual Basic knowledge
already held XQuery knowledge
already held computer programming knowledge
already held execute integration testing skill
already held query languages knowledge
already held resource description framework query language knowledge

The 1 learning area not shown above

Skill to acquire Tier

07 constructing 1 supplementary

optional, not held measure software usability optional

23 supplementary skills, helpful but not required

Skill to acquire Tier

optional, not held Agile project management optional
optional, not held ICT debugging tools optional
optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
optional, not held ICT project management methodologies optional
optional, not held Process-based management optional
optional, not held application usability optional
optional, not held conduct ICT code review optional
optional, not held debug software optional
optional, not held develop ICT test suite optional
optional, not held develop automated software tests optional
optional, not held lean project management optional
optional, not held measure software usability optional
optional, not held perform software recovery testing optional
optional, not held plan software testing optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held tools for ICT test automation optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held use scripting programming optional
optional, not held audit techniques optional
optional, not held digital systems optional
optional, not held hardware components optional
optional, not held manage schedule of tasks optional

67 held skills the software tester role does not ask for

Skill Type

not needed by the target role Ajax Framework knowledge
not needed by the target role CA Datacom/DB knowledge
not needed by the target role DB2 knowledge
not needed by the target role Filemaker (database management systems) knowledge
not needed by the target role IBM InfoSphere DataStage knowledge
not needed by the target role IBM InfoSphere Information Server knowledge
not needed by the target role IBM Informix knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT infrastructure knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT power consumption knowledge
not needed by the target role Informatica PowerCenter knowledge
not needed by the target role JavaScript Framework knowledge
not needed by the target role MarkLogic knowledge
not needed by the target role Microsoft Access knowledge
not needed by the target role MySQL knowledge
not needed by the target role ObjectStore knowledge
not needed by the target role OpenEdge Database knowledge
not needed by the target role Oracle Application Development Framework knowledge
not needed by the target role Oracle Data Integrator knowledge
not needed by the target role Oracle Relational Database knowledge
not needed by the target role Oracle Warehouse Builder knowledge
not needed by the target role Pentaho Data Integration knowledge
not needed by the target role PostgreSQL knowledge
not needed by the target role QlikView Expressor knowledge
not needed by the target role SAP Data Services knowledge
not needed by the target role SAS Data Management knowledge
not needed by the target role SQL knowledge
not needed by the target role SQL Server knowledge
not needed by the target role SQL Server Integration Services knowledge
not needed by the target role Teradata Database knowledge
not needed by the target role TripleStore knowledge
not needed by the target role WordPress knowledge
not needed by the target role apply information security policies skill
not needed by the target role balance database resources skill
not needed by the target role collect customer feedback on applications skill
not needed by the target role create data models skill
not needed by the target role create solutions to problems skill
not needed by the target role data engineering knowledge
not needed by the target role data extraction, transformation and loading tools knowledge
not needed by the target role data quality assessment knowledge
not needed by the target role data storage knowledge

27 further entries not listed here

18 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier

required, not held levels of software testing required
required, not held software anomalies required
required, not held software architecture models required
required, not held software metrics required
optional, not held Agile project management optional
optional, not held ICT debugging tools optional
optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
optional, not held ICT project management methodologies optional
optional, not held Process-based management optional
optional, not held application usability optional
optional, not held lean project management optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held tools for ICT test automation optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held audit techniques optional
optional, not held digital systems optional
optional, not held hardware components optional

Index

Other moves recorded from database developer

Full index of moves from database developer

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.