Career Overlap Transition record
RecordMove

ICT system analyst to software tester

An ICT system analyst already meets 58% of what the software tester role asks for. The move turns on 7 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional
From ICT system analyst
58 % overlap
Partial match
To software tester
52 You already bring
7 Still to learn
80 Skills in the target role2
Learning distance Real move, short list to learn

52/ 100

1 How much of what a software tester is expected to do is already part of an ICT system analyst’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the software tester role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

A software tester role treats 3 of its required skills as things an ICT system analyst already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

  • levels of software testing
  • software architecture models
  • software metrics

What stands in the way is 7 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 52 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 an ICT system analyst background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held software metrics information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held software architecture models information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held ICT performance analysis methods information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held levels of software testing information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held LDAP information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held MDX information and communication technologies (icts)

All 52 carried skills, including the 3 the software tester role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 28 missing skills fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier
01 working with computers 3 required, 5 supplementary
  • still to learn execute software tests required
  • still to learn perform software unit testing required
  • still to learn replicate customer software issues required
  • optional, not held conduct ICT code review optional
  • optional, not held debug software optional
  • optional, not held execute integration testing optional
  • optional, not held perform software recovery testing optional
  • optional, not held use scripting programming optional
02 communication, collaboration and creativity 2 required, 2 supplementary
  • still to learn provide software testing documentation required
  • still to learn address problems critically required
  • optional, not held develop ICT test suite optional
  • optional, not held develop automated software tests optional
03 information and communication technologies (icts) 1 required, 7 supplementary
  • still to learn software anomalies required
  • optional, not held ICT debugging tools 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 hardware components optional
04 information skills 1 required
  • still to learn report test findings required
05 business, administration and law 4 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
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 52 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held levels of software testing knowledge
  • already held software architecture models knowledge
  • already held software metrics knowledge
  • 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 ICT performance analysis methods 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 audit techniques knowledge
  • already held computer programming knowledge
  • already held digital systems knowledge
  • already held query languages knowledge
  • already held resource description framework query language knowledge
The 1 learning area not shown above
Skill to pick up Tier
07 constructing 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held measure software usability optional
21 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to pick up Tier
  • optional, not held Agile project management optional
  • optional, not held ICT debugging tools 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 execute integration testing 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 hardware components optional
  • optional, not held manage schedule of tasks optional
45 held skills the software tester role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role Apache Tomcat knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ICT infrastructure knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ICT process quality models knowledge
  • not needed by the target role NoSQL knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Open source model knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Outsourcing model knowledge
  • not needed by the target role analyse ICT system skill
  • not needed by the target role analyse business processes skill
  • not needed by the target role analyse software specifications skill
  • not needed by the target role analyse the context of an organisation skill
  • not needed by the target role apply statistical analysis techniques skill
  • not needed by the target role attack vectors knowledge
  • not needed by the target role automate cloud tasks skill
  • not needed by the target role conduct quantitative research skill
  • not needed by the target role core banking software knowledge
  • not needed by the target role create data models skill
  • not needed by the target role data mining knowledge
  • not needed by the target role decision support systems knowledge
  • not needed by the target role define technical requirements skill
  • not needed by the target role design information system skill
  • not needed by the target role distributed computing knowledge
  • not needed by the target role execute analytical mathematical calculations skill
  • not needed by the target role execute feasibility study skill
  • not needed by the target role hardware architectures knowledge
  • not needed by the target role hardware platforms knowledge
  • not needed by the target role hybrid model knowledge
  • not needed by the target role identify ICT system weaknesses skill
  • not needed by the target role identify customer requirements skill
  • not needed by the target role implement a firewall skill
  • not needed by the target role implement a virtual private network skill
  • not needed by the target role interact with users to gather requirements skill
  • not needed by the target role manage ICT legacy implication skill
  • not needed by the target role manage system testing skill
  • not needed by the target role monitor system performance skill
  • not needed by the target role object-oriented modelling knowledge
  • not needed by the target role online analytical processing knowledge
  • not needed by the target role perform ICT security testing skill
  • not needed by the target role provide ICT consulting advice skill
  • not needed by the target role service-oriented modelling knowledge
  • not needed by the target role solve ICT system problems skill

5 further entries not listed here

12 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 pick up Tier
  • still to learn software anomalies required
  • optional, not held Agile project management optional
  • optional, not held ICT debugging tools 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 hardware components optional
Index

Other moves recorded from ICT system analyst

Full index of moves from ICT system analyst

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an ICT system analyst become a software tester?

Yes, and it is a moderate move. An ICT system analyst already covers 58% of what a software tester is expected to do: 52 skills carry over, 3 of which the software tester role treats as required.

What skills does an ICT system analyst need to become a software tester?

7 required skills are missing, plus 21 optional ones. They fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by working with computers. The single most important is execute software tests.

How hard is the move from ICT system analyst to software tester?

Its learning distance is 52 out of 100, which is the moderate band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

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.