Belonging to a professional organization is a good way to be part of a community and learn some tricks of the trade. As a software tester, I’ve found it hard to find an organization that seriously dealt with the area of work I engage in. I felt I should belong to some sort of professional organization, so I finally picked one. I didn’t get a lot from it, so I let my membership lapse when I heard about the formation of the Association for Software Testing.

I’m impressed by the goals of this association. This is a community I can respect, identify with and learn from. It isn’t an organization that is peddling certifications or shilling flavor of the month methodologies or tools. This is a serious effort to bring together practitioners, experts, students and academics in the software testing field. If you are a software tester who is looking for a professional organization to join to really get something from, I’d recommend taking a look.