Breaking the Poverty Cycle with Software Testing – Doran Jones and Per Scholas

[Keith]

This is a follow up Q&A from the EuroSTAR Webinar “Breaking the Poverty Cycle with Software Testing” with Doran Jones CEO, Keith Klain.

[Teri]

Nice job, Keith. How do the students find out about Per Scholas and Doran Jones? Do you work with different agencies, non-profits, high schools, etc? Do you advertise?

[Keith]

@Teri – Hi – Per Scholas do various outreach activities locally and nationally through advertising, community colleges, etc. to find the people of the program.

[Teri]

Do potential students have to go through something (testing, etc.) to qualify?

[Keith]

@ Teri – There are series of interviews, tests, etc. that students have to go through to get into the initial Per Scholas program and then they are reviewed again and selected for the STEP classes.

[Teri]

@Keith – Thanks. And thanks again for the great information you provided today!

[Rasmus]

Thanks for the webinar 🙂
You mentioned showing that your students have a higher skill level than many offshore companies can offer. Can you give us an example of how you can prove this to a company looking to hire testers?

[Keith]

@Rasmus – My personal experience in hiring lots of offshore test analysts and comparing them to the graduates of the STEP program, is that their ability to model the testing space, ask questions, and think critically about quality/testing far exceeds the abilities of the large outsourcing companies. This is primarily a result of having completed RST, RTI, and weeks of lab work utilizing those skills combined with all the coaching and mentoring that happens during the STEP class.

[Nicholas]

Hi Keith,

thank you for the webinar, I really enjoyed it and hope you continue to do the great work you’re already doing. I’m curious about what you see as the biggest challenges for exporting the model to other countries like in the UK or Australia? I realise the model is still in development but I’m sure you have some ideas.

[Author]

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