Table 1Transition record

chief information officertosoftware tester

A chief information officer already meets 47% of what the software tester role asks for. The move turns on 9 required skills not yet in the profile.

From chief information officer

47%

Overlap1

To software tester

44 Skills carried over

9 Required, not held

62.8 Difficulty2

Career overlap Partial match

47%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

62.8/ 100

Easy adjacentmoderatesubstantialcareer change Hard

1 Share of the software tester role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the chief information officer profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A software tester role treats 1 of its required skills as things a chief information officer already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

software architecture models

What stands in the way is 9 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 44 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A software tester role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a chief information officer background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area

already held software architecture models information and communication technologies (icts)
already held Process-based management business, administration and law
already held digital systems information and communication technologies (icts)
already held lean project management business, administration and law
already held Agile project management business, administration and law
already held ICT project management methodologies business, administration and law

All 44 carried skills, including the 1 the software tester role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 36 missing skills fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier

01 information and communication technologies (icts) 3 required, 16 supplementary

required, not held levels of software testing required
required, not held software anomalies required
required, not held software metrics required

optional, not held ICT debugging tools optional
optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
optional, not held LDAP optional
optional, not held LINQ optional
optional, not held MDX optional
optional, not held N1QL optional
optional, not held SPARQL optional
optional, not held XQuery optional
optional, not held application usability optional
optional, not held query languages optional
optional, not held resource description framework query language optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held tools for ICT test automation optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held hardware components optional

02 working with computers 3 required, 5 supplementary

required, not held execute software tests required
required, not held perform software unit testing required
required, not held replicate customer software issues required

optional, not held conduct ICT code review optional
optional, not held debug software optional
optional, not held execute integration testing optional
optional, not held perform software recovery testing optional
optional, not held use scripting programming optional

03 communication, collaboration and creativity 2 required, 2 supplementary

required, not held provide software testing documentation required
required, not held address problems critically required

optional, not held develop ICT test suite optional
optional, not held develop automated software tests optional

04 information skills 1 required

required, not held report test findings required

05 management skills 2 supplementary

optional, not held plan software testing optional
optional, not held manage schedule of tasks optional

06 business, administration and law 1 supplementary

optional, not held audit techniques optional

1 further area in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a software tester role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 44 skills that carry over

Skill Type

already held software architecture models knowledge
already held ABAP knowledge
already held AJAX knowledge
already held APL knowledge
already held ASP.NET knowledge
already held Agile project management knowledge
already held Assembly (computer programming) knowledge
already held C# knowledge
already held C++ knowledge
already held COBOL knowledge
already held CoffeeScript knowledge
already held Common Lisp knowledge
already held Erlang knowledge
already held Groovy knowledge
already held Haskell knowledge
already held ICT project management methodologies knowledge
already held Java (computer programming) knowledge
already held JavaScript knowledge
already held Lisp knowledge
already held MATLAB knowledge
already held ML (computer programming) knowledge
already held Microsoft Visual C++ knowledge
already held Objective-C knowledge
already held OpenEdge Advanced Business Language knowledge
already held PHP knowledge
already held Pascal (computer programming) knowledge
already held Perl knowledge
already held Process-based management knowledge
already held Prolog (computer programming) knowledge
already held Python (computer programming) knowledge
already held R knowledge
already held Ruby (computer programming) knowledge
already held SAP R3 knowledge
already held SAS language knowledge
already held Scala knowledge
already held Scratch (computer programming) knowledge
already held Smalltalk (computer programming) knowledge
already held Swift (computer programming) knowledge
already held TypeScript knowledge
already held VBScript knowledge
already held Visual Basic knowledge
already held computer programming knowledge
already held digital systems knowledge
already held lean project management knowledge

The 1 learning area not shown above

Skill to acquire Tier

07 constructing 1 supplementary

optional, not held measure software usability optional

27 supplementary skills, helpful but not required

Skill to acquire Tier

optional, not held ICT debugging tools optional
optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
optional, not held LDAP optional
optional, not held LINQ optional
optional, not held MDX optional
optional, not held N1QL optional
optional, not held SPARQL optional
optional, not held XQuery optional
optional, not held application usability optional
optional, not held conduct ICT code review optional
optional, not held debug software optional
optional, not held develop ICT test suite optional
optional, not held develop automated software tests optional
optional, not held execute integration testing optional
optional, not held measure software usability optional
optional, not held perform software recovery testing optional
optional, not held plan software testing optional
optional, not held query languages optional
optional, not held resource description framework query language optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held tools for ICT test automation optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held use scripting programming optional
optional, not held audit techniques optional
optional, not held hardware components optional
optional, not held manage schedule of tasks optional

45 held skills the software tester role does not ask for

Skill Type

not needed by the target role Agile development knowledge
not needed by the target role DevOps knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT architectural frameworks knowledge
not needed by the target role Prototyping development knowledge
not needed by the target role Rapid application development knowledge
not needed by the target role Spiral development knowledge
not needed by the target role Waterfall development knowledge
not needed by the target role World Wide Web Consortium standards knowledge
not needed by the target role administer ICT system skill
not needed by the target role attack vectors knowledge
not needed by the target role carry out statistical forecasts skill
not needed by the target role carry out strategic research skill
not needed by the target role coordinate technological activities skill
not needed by the target role decision support systems knowledge
not needed by the target role define technology strategy skill
not needed by the target role deploy ICT systems skill
not needed by the target role engineering processes knowledge
not needed by the target role ensure adherence to organisational ICT standards skill
not needed by the target role ensure information privacy skill
not needed by the target role establish an ICT customer support process skill
not needed by the target role forecast future ICT network needs skill
not needed by the target role implement ICT risk management skill
not needed by the target role implement ICT security policies skill
not needed by the target role implement corporate governance skill
not needed by the target role incremental development knowledge
not needed by the target role information architecture knowledge
not needed by the target role information structure knowledge
not needed by the target role internet governance knowledge
not needed by the target role iterative development knowledge
not needed by the target role lead technology development of an organisation skill
not needed by the target role maintain plan for continuity of operations skill
not needed by the target role manage budgets skill
not needed by the target role manage software releases skill
not needed by the target role manage staff skill
not needed by the target role market analysis knowledge
not needed by the target role monitor ICT research skill
not needed by the target role monitor technology trends skill
not needed by the target role optimise choice of ICT solution skill
not needed by the target role oversee development of software skill
not needed by the target role protect personal data and privacy skill

5 further entries not listed here

20 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier

required, not held levels of software testing required
required, not held software anomalies required
required, not held software metrics required
optional, not held ICT debugging tools optional
optional, not held ICT performance analysis methods optional
optional, not held LDAP optional
optional, not held LINQ optional
optional, not held MDX optional
optional, not held N1QL optional
optional, not held SPARQL optional
optional, not held XQuery optional
optional, not held application usability optional
optional, not held query languages optional
optional, not held resource description framework query language optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held tools for ICT test automation optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held audit techniques optional
optional, not held hardware components optional

Index

Other moves recorded from chief information officer

Full index of moves from chief information officer

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.