Should a tester take the ISTQB?

Question

Software testing

Got a question. There is a certain organization that conducts certification. Commercial organization. Breaks 150 Euros per attempt. The certificate is given forever. You cannot select the required certificate from Basic/Professional/Expert. First you take the Basic, then all the rest.
In short, there are a lot of questions - why this particular organization? Is the certificate really quoted all over the world? Does it give any real competitive advantages when applying for a job? Is it possible to ask the authorities for more money if there is such a certificate? Well, etc.
Please share your experience. The toad is suffocating, but at the same time, there is some kind of excitement around.

Answer 1

Let's go in order.
Yes, ISTQB costs money, even for an "unsuccessful" attempt to pass it.
This is how certification works everywhere and always.
Discussions about the semantic meaning of obtaining a certificate have been going on for more than one year, there is no consensus.
In short: no one will be worse off from this, although it makes no sense to expect that this will give a tangible result.
As for employers: you need to understand that during an interview, the employer has the goal of completing certain tasks for N money. If you were able to convince him that you can do it, he will not care about all the pieces of paper. If they could not, the certificate is also unlikely to help.
There are employers and situations when a certificate plays a plus (for example, when applying for relocation to another country, any certificates will be an additional plus in the eyes of bureaucrats from the immigration service).
Well, the last question: the situation when the current employer pays for the certification of an employee is quite standard. In most cases, this is done with the condition that if you quit before N - you will return the cost of certification.
Although, from the point of view of the employer, I would rather send a person to courses that increase his skills, rather than to get a certification that allows you to check how well a person is oriented in professional terminology (and the whole ISTQB is essentially memorizing terms).

Answer 2

Definitely worth it, ISTQB provides real knowledge of theory, which most testers do not have. At the same time, it is worth preparing for the exam and taking it in English. At the same time, improve technical English if there were problems with this before.
Moreover, in the recommendations for the ISTQB Foundation Level there is a very correct clause: "It is not recommended to take it to people who have less than 6 months of experience." If you have no experience, you have just started working or are just planning to switch to testing - do not go to take the exam. You simply will not understand why it was invented and how to apply it in real life.
By the way, the ISTQB Foundation is largely based on the books of my beloved Copeland.

Answer 3

1. costs decent money
2. from knowledge it gives only terms that are absolutely not useful to you in your work.
3. not everyone in the Russian Federation even knows about this certificate, not to mention understanding its value , it’s
better to spend money on some course