A Professional Organization for Software Testers

The Association for Software Testing (AST)  is a professional organization for software testers. We strive to build a testing community that views the role of testing as skilled, relevant, and essential to the production of faster, better, and less expensive software products. We value a scientific approach to developing and evaluating techniques, processes, and tools. We believe that a self-aware, self-critical attitude is essential to understanding and assessing the impact of new ideas on the practice of testing.

The AST was incorporated on Apri 14, 2004. We ran our first CAST conference in June 2006 and our first Black Box Software Testing (BBST) courses in October 2007. We are a non-profit association with members across the world.

Our Mission and Purpose

The Association for Software Testing is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the science and practice of software testing according to Context-Driven principles.

Our Objectives

  • Host an annual AST Conference to bring together developers, testers, management, and researchers in an exchange of testing practices, theories, and techniques.
  • Encourage, facilitate, and coordinate partnerships between testing experts at all levels: practitioners, management, and researchers.
  • Publish content both online and in print containing leading-edge information on testing practice and theory.
  • Support the teaching of software testing by encouraging projects to develop and publish resources that assist classroom presentation, grading, and self-study.

Our General Guiding Principles

As a professional organization for software testers, we:

  • are focused on supporting the development of professionalism in software testing, among practitioners and academics, at all levels of experience and education.
  • view software testing as an empirical, technical investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with quality-related information.
  • view software testing as a cognitively complex activity that requires critical thinking, effective communication, and rapid self-directed learning.
  • believe willingness to work collaboratively through controversy is vital to the growth and education of the field and those in it.
  • foster future generations of leadership in software testing through emphasis on personal growth in both ethical behavior and technical competence.
  • support the credentialing of software testers to the extent that the credential is marketed and presented consistently with the levels of knowledge, skill and experience that the credential measures or reflects.
  • value all types of instruction in software testing, from all sources, to the extent that the instruction, instructional materials, and assessment are marketed honestly and promote the development of knowledge, skills, critical thinking, and respect for the diversity of well-informed views in the field.
  • believe in ethical and transparent governance and we have published our our governance principles.