Seite - 175 - in The Future of Software Quality Assurance

DevelopingSoftware Quality andTesting Capabilities inHispanicAmerica: Challenges andProspects IgnacioTrejos-Zelaya Abstract This chapter presents a summary of the Hispanic America region status and prospects in software engineering—particularlythose regardingsoftware qual- ityandsoftware testing. Keywords Software testing · Softwarequality · Software tester · Software testingskills · Softwareengineering 1 Introduction By the turn of the century, humankind had already entered the information age. Modern societies have grown increasingly dependent on information and tech- nology for their proper functioning, growth and survival. For over two decades, developed countries have found that shortages of capable Information Technology (IT)workersmayhinder theirprosperity [1]. Inthelastyearsofthetwentiethcentury,theITsectorwasexperiencinganabrupt growth [2, 3]. The Computer World weekly reported an exceptional growth of IT employmentpositions: from160,000jobs in 1997 to800,000inyear2000[4]. In emerging economies such as those in Spanish-speaking America, software development has opened opportunities for establishing export and outsourcing services industries. For example, during the same period, Costa Rica had software companiesand start-upsexportingsuccessfully to Latin America and North Amer- ica,growingata rateof40–60%in headcount [5,6]. A successful software ecosystem requires that all aspects of software devel- opment, integration, reuse, and maintenance be considered and performed with excellence. Most computing higher-education programmes in Latin America lean either towardsComputerScienceor InformationSystems [7];althoughmost include several programming courses in their curricula, few of them embrace Software I. Trejos-Zelaya Universidad Cenfotec & Tecnológico de Costa Rica,San José, Costa Rica ©The Author(s) 2020 S.Goericke (ed.), The Future of Software QualityAssurance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29509-7_14 175