Testers Career Development Vaidyanathan Ramalingam
1. Systematic Competency Development Approach
for IT Professionals
An implementation experience sharing
Key Note Speech
Vaidyanathan Ramalingam (Vaidya)
Director Engineering (Test)
Huawei Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, INDIA
2. Key Note Coverage
• Competency Development - Problems & Challenges
• Competency Development Model - Concept & Big Picture
• Implementation Experience Sharing
• Key Note Conclusion
Huawei is a global telecommunications solutions provider with long-term partnerships with operators around the world.
Huawei actively participates in 91 international standardization organization including ITU, 3GPP, 3GPP2, ETSI, IETF, OMA and
IEEE. Huawei holds the world’s #1 position in PCT Patent applications (WIPO 2008) and is ranked among the top 3 in LTE
essential patents. Huawei’s products and solutions have been deployed in over 100 countries and have served 45 of the
world's top 50 telecom operators, as well as one third of the world's population.
Mr. Vaidyanathan Ramalingam (Vaidya) has >20 Years of experience, primarily in Software Testing with Fortune 100 companies,
www.huawei.com such as Motorola, Nortel Networks ODC, Siemens, Indus EDC, Intel, HP and Huawei (Present).
He is Director Engineering (Test) in Central Research & Development Business Line @ Huawei R&D. He is Honorary Member in
Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI), established on 1916 by Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya,
which has representation in several Boards & Advisory Committees in Government and Institutions. He is also a member of IEEE,
USA; Holds honorary editorial position in ISQT Newsletter -Software Testing and Technical Committee Member in STEP-AUTO
Y2011 International Conference on Software Testing. Vaidya is qualified with M.Tech - IT and B.S. - Information Systems. He is
interested to write a software testing book and do research in Competency Development & Software Testing.
The content of this conference presentation is non commercial and based on self experience, interpretations/view points. The data
provided may not be full, accurate and latest. The intention is knowledge sharing & to promote the software testing.
3. Competency Development - Problems & Challenges (1 of 2)
No Systematic Competency Development Model / Approach
No single & uniform/consistent approach (across teams/organization; Y-o-Y)
Often assessment score/methodology/scope leads to subjectivity / dis-agreement
Individual development plans are not dynamic, multi-dimensional
and has no support framework to achieve
Poor adoption of relevant industry standards & best practices benchmarking
Often considered as short term / tactical instead of long-term & strategic!
Not Standardized Competency Assessment & Individual Development Framework
Poorly defined individual competency assessment & individual development focus
Non availability of single employees repository (system / database):
competency score
development plans
Knowledge management repository
Synchronization between individual career aspirations & Org. requirements
Missing hierarchical & secured employee data base for workflow approach
4. Competency Development – Problems & Challenges (2 of 2)
Comprehensive, Sustainable & Evolving Competency Development Eco System
Competency profile (show case your competencies, experience & domain)
Skill inventory, Certifications, Awards & Patents/Ideas (show case your achievements)
Functional groups / Professional internal networking
(connections, skill search, info. exchange, posting questions/resolutions)
Collaboration framework (web 2.0):
Blogs, Forums/Threads
Wiki (internal – organization specific encyclopedia that anyone can edit with moderation)
Artifacts repository (documents, audio, video files, Ref URL, and books)
Communication channel (chat, files upload, integrated email framework)
Potential Implementation Challenges
Management support
budget
formal organization development focus (business plan)
Long term (strategic) & continuous focus on employees development
Participation from engineers/internal professional community
Sincere attempt
Real interest for their own development (not only the company wants it)
Partial automation & many manual / Ad-hoc process
no end to end & conceptually integrated framework
External vendor’s solutions does not cover all aspects
Internal solutions not scalable, comprehensive & consistent
5. Competency Development Model – Concept & Big Picture
Competency Employee
Leadership
Assessment Networking
Development
Framework Framework
Framework
Proof based objective Enable employee credibility
assessment questions Mentorship & Grooming
Co-ownership assignment showcasing for Professional &
Individual Score Authentic internal networking:
(role/designation & goal) Career aspiration based
•Profile, Skill Inventory
Theoretical (academic) & Succession plan
•Certification
Practical capabilities Target & Potential based
•Awards, Patents, Ideas, Papers
(business scope/results) (leadership pipeline) •FPG Connections
Score by Self & Retention Management •Recommendations/Appreciations
SME’s authentication Recruitment (rare skills) •Communication channel
Individual Training Knowledge
Development Management Management
Framework Framework Framework
Individual Development by:
(I) Self: study, hands-on, Training requirements Collaboration tools (web 2.0):
certification, higher studies Training administration - Blogs
(II) Org: work assignments,
Feedback and continuous - Forums/Threads,
mentorship, training, research - Artifacts
Improvement
(III) Industry: forums, conf, - WIKI
standard bodies, university Results Analysis &
- Websites / KM Portals
Short/medium/long term Strategy refinement
Knowledge Management Office
dev. plans & measurement
Drive: Individual & Drive: Drive: Individual &
SME (Subject Matter Expert) / Reporting Individual &Organization Internal Community
Supervisor
6. Implementation Experience Sharing
Systematic Competency Development Model / Approach
Idea demonstration with Excel (Macro) based PoC, Pilot.
Web based platform implementation
Research & Industry References/Benchmark
Continuous research & conceptualization (self patent pending)
Ref: People CMM Level 3 Process Area Threads (Comp. Analysis & Comp. Dev), SEI, USA
Ref: Swedish Standard, SS 62 40 70 (Comp. Management & System Requirements), Swedish Standards Institute
>2.5 years of implementation exp. & For different teams (test, dev, quality, info. dev etc)
Individual Competency Assessment (example: software test engineers)
Skill Areas: Domain, Test Techniques, Test Automation, Scripting/Programming, Process
Sample Skills -per- Skill Area (as per project need);
Test Techniques: applicable test techniques (example: boundary value analysis)
Hypothesis Based Testing (HBT); (Ref: STAG software)
Test Automation: QTP (GUI automation, HP) / RFT (GUI automation, IBM)
Model Based Testing - MBT (Ref: Conformiq / Ideabytes)
Script-less automation (Ref: Qualitia from Zensoft)
Assessment Question Framing:
Fixed Alternative Questions, fact/result based, answer to have less ambiguity
Individual Competency Development Plan
Type: Self driven, Org. based & Industry based; Objective/fact based Measurement
Duration: Short term (6 months); Medium term (1 year) & long term (> 1year)
Recommended Cycle of Competency Assessment: every 6 months
* Note: Product names, logos, brands, standard body/institute’s names & other trademarks referred within the presentation are the property of their respective trademark holders.
7. Key Note Conclusion
Business Values:
Strategic organization development
Individual competency development
Employee retention
Efficiency improvement (S/w saves time and helps with data)
Knowledge retention
Competency development is a long journey
It is complex. Proper plan & execution will fetch results in phases
Needs dedicated focus, management support & employees’ interest
Concept / approach is important, not only the tools / software
Always stick to the core principles & never compromise
Start with simple approach (excel/macro)
The key is actual competency development
Every company do have one or other model
Learn industry practices from conferences like STEP-AUTO and contribute/share
in your company – Thanks in advance for your Test Community Service!
8. Knowledge Is Power
Thank You!
Share your feedback & suggestions to: rvaidya67@hotmail.com
http://in.linkedin.com/in/rvaidya67