Firms face shortage of software testers

Higher salaries alone might not solve the problem

Firms are facing a potentially serious shortage of experienced software testers as growing demand outstrips the number of graduates entering a profession that many reject as unglamorous.

That was the warning from industry experts last week, who said that despite increasing the salaries they offer, many firms find it difficult to attract testers.

Neil Davidson, co-founder and technical director of Microsoft software development tools specialist Red Gate Software, admitted the company was struggling to achieve its goal of employing one tester for every developer. "We can find software developers, but we are finding it much harder to find testers, " he said. "[It is] definitely a constraint on growth. We can't hire developers because we don't have enough testers to ensure we can ship the code they write. "

This scarcity of experienced testers has led to rapid wage inflation. One expert said starting salaries have risen almost 15 percent over the past two years to £32,000.

However, higher salaries are not ending the shortage, according to Davidson, as many computer science graduates continue to see software development as a more glamorous career path. "[Software testing] is often seen, inaccurately, as a secondary profession done by failed software developers," he added. "The view persists that developers build things of value to the business, while testers just break stuff."

Neil MacGowan, director of technology at software testing tools provider Mercury, accepted the profession has an image problem that is increasingly serious. "I'm not sure there are less people going into software testing, but there is greater demand for them as firms are finally focusing more on software quality," he added.

Andy Loakes of IT managed services provider Spring IT Solutions, a subsidiary of recruitment firm Spring, agreed demand for testers was increasing. He said firms were also being more selective about the type of staff they want. "Firms want people who have several years' experience using [testing] tools," he added.

Some have argued that outsourcing testing work offshore could provide the answer to the skills shortage, but Davidson dismissed the idea. He said the need for developers and testers to co-operate closely makes it difficult to use offshore facilities effectively.

Loakes said firms should consider tackling tester shortages by investing in training for new or existing staff. "It may make sense to appoint junior testers and put a structured programme in place to train them," he said. "Otherwise you will end up paying a lot for experienced people - assuming you can find them."

Software testers also need to be more vocal about the benefits they deliver the business if they are to attract more people into the sector and challenge the perception that the profession is a poor relation to development work, MacGowan argued. "The belief remains in some IT departments that testers are the release-prevention team," he said. "But in fact they prevent critical errors going into core apps and they need to articulate that and demonstrate the value of testing."

Davidson warned that a failure to raise the profile of testing and attract more graduates would result in higher testing costs as salaries continue to climb, and ultimately to poorer-quality software. "A lot of suppliers and IT departments haven't got enough testers but are releasing products or applications anyway," he said.