Software tester to ICT system tester
A software tester already meets 67% of what the ICT system tester role asks for. The move turns on 5 required skills not yet in the profile.
38/ 100
1 How much of what an ICT system tester is expected to do is already part of a software tester’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 ICT system tester role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
An ICT system tester role treats 7 of its required skills as things a software tester already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- address problems critically
- execute software tests
- levels of software testing
- provide software testing documentation
- replicate customer software issues
- report test findings
What stands in the way is 5 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 30 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An ICT system tester role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a software tester background worth leading with.
- already held perform software recovery testing working with computers
- already held execute integration testing working with computers
- already held replicate customer software issues working with computers
- already held develop automated software tests communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held provide software testing documentation communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held develop ICT test suite communication, collaboration and creativity
All 30 carried skills, including the 7 the ICT system tester role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 12 missing skills fall into 4 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.
- still to learn apply ICT systems theory required
- still to learn identify ICT system weaknesses required
- still to learn perform ICT security testing required
- optional, not held solve ICT system problems optional
- still to learn systems theory required
- optional, not held ICT network simulation optional
- optional, not held ICT system integration optional
- optional, not held ICT system programming optional
- optional, not held attack vectors optional
- still to learn manage system testing required
- optional, not held monitor system performance optional
- optional, not held give live presentation optional
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries an ICT system tester role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 apply ICT systems theory practise this
- 02 identify ICT system weaknesses practise this
- 03 manage system testing practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 30 skills that carry over
- already held address problems critically skill
- already held execute software tests skill
- already held levels of software testing knowledge
- already held provide software testing documentation skill
- already held replicate customer software issues skill
- already held report test findings skill
- already held software anomalies knowledge
- already held Agile project management knowledge
- already held ICT debugging tools knowledge
- already held ICT project management methodologies knowledge
- already held LDAP knowledge
- already held LINQ knowledge
- already held MDX knowledge
- already held N1QL knowledge
- already held Process-based management knowledge
- already held SPARQL knowledge
- already held XQuery knowledge
- already held conduct ICT code review skill
- already held debug software skill
- already held develop ICT test suite skill
- already held develop automated software tests skill
- already held execute integration testing skill
- already held lean project management knowledge
- already held manage schedule of tasks skill
- already held measure software usability skill
- already held perform software recovery testing skill
- already held query languages knowledge
- already held resource description framework query language knowledge
- already held tools for ICT test automation knowledge
- already held use scripting programming skill
7 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held ICT network simulation optional
- optional, not held ICT system integration optional
- optional, not held ICT system programming optional
- optional, not held attack vectors optional
- optional, not held monitor system performance optional
- optional, not held give live presentation optional
- optional, not held solve ICT system problems optional
50 held skills the ICT system tester role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role ABAP knowledge
- not needed by the target role AJAX knowledge
- not needed by the target role APL knowledge
- not needed by the target role ASP.NET knowledge
- not needed by the target role Assembly (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role C# knowledge
- not needed by the target role C++ knowledge
- not needed by the target role COBOL knowledge
- not needed by the target role CoffeeScript knowledge
- not needed by the target role Common Lisp knowledge
- not needed by the target role Erlang knowledge
- not needed by the target role Groovy knowledge
- not needed by the target role Haskell knowledge
- not needed by the target role ICT performance analysis methods knowledge
- not needed by the target role Java (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role JavaScript knowledge
- not needed by the target role Lisp knowledge
- not needed by the target role MATLAB knowledge
- not needed by the target role ML (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role Microsoft Visual C++ knowledge
- not needed by the target role Objective-C knowledge
- not needed by the target role OpenEdge Advanced Business Language knowledge
- not needed by the target role PHP knowledge
- not needed by the target role Pascal (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role Perl knowledge
- not needed by the target role Prolog (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role Python (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role R knowledge
- not needed by the target role Ruby (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role SAP R3 knowledge
- not needed by the target role SAS language knowledge
- not needed by the target role Scala knowledge
- not needed by the target role Scratch (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role Smalltalk (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role Swift (computer programming) knowledge
- not needed by the target role TypeScript knowledge
- not needed by the target role VBScript knowledge
- not needed by the target role Visual Basic knowledge
- not needed by the target role application usability knowledge
- not needed by the target role audit techniques knowledge
10 further entries not listed here
5 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice
Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.
- still to learn systems theory required
- optional, not held ICT network simulation optional
- optional, not held ICT system integration optional
- optional, not held ICT system programming optional
- optional, not held attack vectors optional
Common questions about this move
Can a software tester become an ICT system tester?
Yes, and it is a moderate move. A software tester already covers 67% of what an ICT system tester is expected to do: 30 skills carry over, 7 of which the ICT system tester role treats as required.
What skills does a software tester need to become an ICT system tester?
5 required skills are missing, plus 7 optional ones. They fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by working with computers. The single most important is apply ICT systems theory.
How hard is the move from software tester to ICT system tester?
Its learning distance is 38 out of 100, which is the moderate band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
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.