Is ISTQB Foundation worth anything?

I always believed any job could be learnt on the job.

I recently passed the ISTQB Foundation Level exam with 85%, and I'm genuinely proud of it. At recent conferences (Agile Cambridge and MoTaCon) I heard very mixed opinions on ISTQB. Some saw it as a great way to establish a shared language for QA across teams. Others didn't shun it, but softly dismissed it as impractical compared with the reality of their own organisation. Both views make sense, but my situation is a little different.

I have 7 years' experience in QA. Across 3 workplaces, not having a QA certification never stopped me landing a job and learning the role within a couple of months. That belief was reinforced in 2025, when I took a sabbatical to teach myself to code and build games through my own indie studio.

But the tougher job market has shown me that universally recognised certifications act as a shorthand, and for QA, ISTQB seems to be the international standard. The biggest clue is how many job descriptions list it as a soft requirement.

My honest take? It was worth it. Studying for the exam reinforced the why behind the processes I'd practiced over 7 years, and plugged gaps I'd never been exposed to, because no two jobs are the same.

A real example for me is static testing. In 7 years, the term never came up once, yet an entire chapter in the syllabus was dedicated to the concept.  As I studied, the penny dropped: I'd been doing static testing for years, we just never called it that. I'll now go into every future review with a much better understanding of the techniques available and how to add value for the dev team.

If I'd known this 7 years ago, I'd have been significantly more proactive in pushing for QA involvement at every step of development, and I'd have had the vocabulary to explain to dev teams why early QA involvement saves expensive time and effort before release.

So if you're an active QA without ISTQB, I'd recommend it. Best case, you deepen your understanding of the value you bring and accelerate your career growth. Worst case, you gain a shorthand that recruiters and hiring managers recognise.

Next up for me is the Test Automation Engineer Advanced Level, which I've already started studying for.

For anyone who doesn't know, I'm a senior QA engineer currently looking for my next role. If you hear of any QA roles going, please send me a DM. I'd really appreciate it!