With the emergence of the software development sector in Mauritius, Rushmore Business School entered into an agreement with the South African company, Rubric Consul¬ting (Pty) Ltd, to offer courses in ‘software testing’. A first group of some 20 executives have followed the intensive training course lasting an average of two weeks.
These executives were from Accenture, Ceridian, DCDM Consulting and other companies. The first batch of graduates has already completed the training programme and Certificates have been awarded to them.
Dr Nittin Essoo, Director of the Rushmore Business School, says: “The course of ‘software testing’ consists in checking and testing software to ensure their reliability. We are responding to a lack of training at this level where the Mauritian companies have to send their software developers abroad for such courses.”
The Mauritian companies often develop software for their own use, such as inventory management interface with customers at points of sale. They need to test all the features beforehand; otherwise there is a risk of develpoing problems with those software.
Richard Clark, the Director of Rubric Consulting (Pty) Ltd, is a South African-British-born engineer specializing in electrical and electronics. He points out that : “Many websites of Mauritian firms have problems where the icons do not function or that the required data are not provided. The testing of the software logistics accounts for 30% of the development cost because we have to test all stages from the definition of specifications and design.”
In addition to these training courses, Rubric Consulting (Pty) Ltd has proceeded to recruit nine young graduates in computing and have formed a ‘software testing’ team so that they can intervene on behalf of both local companies and foreign companies.
“We also intend to target firms from South Africa because verification of software can be done remotely through the Internet. Currently, many companies based in South Africa, have resorted to the services of ‘software testers’ in India or the Philippines. Mauritius lies in a time zone which is more favourable than those countries and computer engineers here have a strong academic base,” adds Richard Clark.
This training is a great way to further your skills and make sure you stay marketable in this ever-changing and evolving market. I can’t wait until this starts!