MSTB Launches Country’s First Ever ‘Test Design’ Competition

Local board emulates Japan-initiated competition to advocate interest in software testing; 
RM10,000 in prize money for open and RM5000 for students

Kuala Lumpur, April 24, 2014 – The Malaysia Software Testing Board (MSTB) today announces the launch of the inaugural Software Test Design Competition, a national-level competition that will test the software testing skills and creativity of participants.

Adopting the theme of Testing IT Right!, the competition urges participants to come up with an original Test Design based on the Test Object provided, in the form of specifications for a real software application.

“We aim to increase the visibility of Software Testing Professional Practices in Malaysia. Through the competition, we hope to provide industry recognition for excellence in testing skills among the professionals. In addition, we hope the competition will also promote the interaction among participants and their colleagues, leading towards the creation of a Community of Practice among our software testing professionals,” says MSTB President Mastura Abu Samah.

"At the same time, it is also intended to spur the interest of university students to choose software testing as a career option."

Modelled after a similar event held annually in Japan, the competition is divided into Open and University categories. The Open Category offers a cash prizes of RM10,000 for the Open category and RM5,000 for the University category. The two categories will be given Test Objects of different complexity for the competition.

The Open category is open to all Malaysian practicing software test professionals and entries can be submitted individually or in groups (up to five members). While the competition is primarily targeted for Malaysian citizens, groups of five may include one suitable qualified foreign national as a member.

Meanwhile, the University category is limited to students undertaking courses relevant to SQA and software testing in Malaysian universities. Entries for this category must be in groups of five members or less, and includes a lecturer as the group’s supervisor.

Preliminary judging is expected to be held in July and the final round will be held on September 9, 2014. The Prize-giving ceremony will take place during the closing of SOFTEC 2014 on September 11. Judging criteria will be based on elements including effectiveness, efficiency and creativity of solutions submitted. The panel of judges will be headed by Dr Nishi Yasuharu, the Assistant Professor of the Department of Informatics at University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo.

In addition to increase awareness on Software Quality Assurance (SQA) practices, MSTB hopes that this competition will also highlight the important roles of software testers in the quest for software quality excellence.

MSTB will organise a special briefing for those interested to participate in the competition.

For more details, you can register your interest, at www.qportal.com.my, or please email  softec.secretariat@mstb.org.

Software Testing Conference (SOFTEC) 2014

Presentations by the Software Test Design Competition’s finalists will be held as one of the events leading to SOFTEC 2014. The conference, which is organised annually by MSTB, will be held from  10 to 11 September, 2014 at the Intercontinental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

"We are excited to be organising the seventh edition of SOFTEC. Since our humble beginning in 2008, SOFTEC has grown to become the premier English-medium software testing event the region," says MSTB President Mastura Abu Samah.

Adopting the theme of 3600 Testing, SOFTEC 2014 will feature over 30 tutorial, keynote and presentations by speakers comprising software testing experts and practitioners from the international and domestic scenes.

In conjunction with SOFTEC 2014, the event will also feature a Postgraduate Research Workshop (PRW) – a colloquium track for the academia, and a CIO Roundtable – a dedicated track for Chief Information Officers (CIOs).

Some of the international speakers that are scheduled to present their research papers at the SOFTEC 2014 conference include:
• Clive Bates, Managing Consultant of Experimentus Ltd (UK)
• Rob Sabourin, President of Amibug.Com Inc (Canada)
• Jennifer Bonine, Vice President of tap|QA Inc (USA)
• Shaun Bradshaw, Vice President of Consulting Solutions Zenergy Technologies (USA)
• Ken Pugh, Fellow Consultant of Net Objectives (USA)
• Steven ‘Doc’ List, Vice President of Learning & Development Santeon Inc (USA)
• Dr. Mark Kiemele, President & Co-Founder of Air Academy Associates (USA)
• Thomas McCoy, Instructional Designer at Department of Social Services (Australia)

For more information and online registration, visit www.qportal.com.my.