QCTO Accredited Occupational Qualification:
Software Tester
Part Qualification | NQF Level 5 | SAQA ID – 119438
Put a trained tester between your developers and your clients with
our Software Tester Occupational Part-Qualification.
- Duration: 6 Months
- Credits: 60
- Internationally Recognised QCTO Certificate
Understanding the Software Tester Qualification
Software Tester Overview
The Software Tester Occupational Part-Qualification prepares staff to assess whether an application actually does what the client specified. Learners perform functional and non-functional tests, and test or debug source code against client requirements, supported by a grounding in software engineering fundamentals, project participation and the mathematics that underpins the discipline.
This is a Part Qualification of 70 credits over roughly six months, not a full qualification. It is deliberately narrow, which is its strength: for organisations that already employ developers but have no independent testing capability, it fills that single gap quickly and at a recognised NQF Level 5 outcome.
What individuals will learn
- Software engineering fundamental concepts
- How software is designed, built and structured, and why that affects testability
- Project concepts and how to participate effectively within project management
- Working within a development team's delivery cycle
- Basic mathematical concepts and their application in a software engineering environment
- Digital business mathematics applied to software problems
- Performing functional tests against a client specification
- Performing non-functional tests such as performance and reliability checks
- Testing and debugging source code to confirm client requirements are met
- Recording and communicating test outcomes so developers can act on them
Details to know
Our occupational qualifications are conducted with maximum use of practical application of the skills acquired. After facilitator led training has taken place via the course material, group work and scenario driven exchanges, learners will have the opportunity to relate the information back to their workplace. We offer a fun and relaxed learning environment, where participants will learn from each other, gain knowledge and acquire skills that will result in improved work performance.
This qualification is designed for any individual who is, or wishes to be, part of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry. It will give students the skills they need to excel in this area of your organisation.
Learners will need competency in the following areas:
- NQF Level 4 or Information Communication Technology related qualification
After completing a Software Tester Occupational Part-Qualification an individual can work in the following roles:
- Software Tester
- Quality Assurance (QA) Tester
- Test Analyst
- Functional Test Analyst
- Manual Software Tester
This Occupational Qualification is fully accredited with QCTO. By choosing an Occupational Qualification that is accredited with QCTO, you can ensure you obtain BEE points for your Skills Development efforts and your students receive an education that is of high quality.
Businesses that we have done staff training for:
How to make the most of a Software Tester QCTO Qualification
Why choose this Qualification?
Short, targeted, and honestly labelled. Seventy credits over roughly six months, and it is a Part Qualification, which we state plainly rather than in a footnote. For an organisation that needs a testing capability rather than another developer, that scoping is the point: one capability, delivered properly, without a two-year commitment.
Software engineering knowledge carries most of the credits. Software Engineering is worth 20 of the 70 credits, with digital business mathematics adding a further 15. That is a deliberate choice, because a tester who understands how the software was built writes defect reports a developer can act on, while a tester who only knows the test script writes tickets that get reopened.
Equal weight on doing and on workplace exposure. The practical module on testing and debugging source code and the work experience module in software testing carry 15 credits each. Thirty of the seventy credits are spent testing real code, which is the only way this skill is ever actually acquired.
Software Tester NQF Level 5 Module Breakdown
Qualification Breakdown
KM-01 Software Engineering (Credits 20)
KM-02 Fundamentals of Project Management in relation to Software Engineering (Credits 5)
KM-03 Digital Business Mathematics (Fundamentals of Software Engineering Mathematics) (Credits 15)
PM-01 Test or Debug Source Code to Ensure Client’s Needs Are Met (Credits 15)
WE-01 Software Testing (Credits 15)
Take a look at the other occupational qualifications we have on offer