Ministry of Testing | Latest News

The Next Chapters: Philippines, Manchester, Edinburgh & Newcastle

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:01:00 -0000

Chapters (previously Meetups) are happening in the MoTaverse, one-click registration makes it easy to attend free local Chapters. We've been building the MoTaverse to be your one-stop shop to learn, connect and grow your career. ⭐️ Upcoming Chapter Events: MoT Philippines : MoT Philippines online chapter event — Thu, 19 Mar MoT Manchester : MoT Manchester Chapter's first gathering of the year! — Thu, 19 Mar MoT Edinburgh : MoT Edinburgh Pub Social — Thu, 19 Mar MoT Newcastle : Shift Left Security Testing and We Need to Talk About Cucumber — Tue, 24 Mar 🎉 What's more! New Chapters are starting up and they could use your help, as volunteers, sponsors or attendance: MoT New York MoT San Francisco 👀 View the full list of Chapters , is there one near you? What are Chapters? They are free events organised by members of the community and often supported by companies too. We used to call them Meetups, but we are transitioning away from Meetup.com as a platform due to the many restrictions it beholds upon our needs as a professional community of practice. Join local chapters to receive updates .

Creating new layers of care for Professional Membership

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:21:00 -0000

TLDR; We’re creating a layer of care to enable us to smoothly run the MoTaverse, this means participation requires a Professional Membership. Let’s face it. Change is a constant, right now it just so happens to be happening faster. And that creates interesting situations. There isn’t a career path that isn’t being impacted with the forces of change. Whether it be economic, of what comes with the likes of AI. We’re here for it. Change also happens faster when we’re trying to be audacious. As a team we’re embracing building big things. Exploring creative boundaries. Absolutely loving serving quality and tech people. I won’t go into the boring details of how, yet for quite a while now we’ve been targeted with spam profile creation. It’s something that people don’t tend to see, but in the background, we manually review all accounts and delete those that are not deserving of our quality space. What’s more, we’ve exposed ourselves a bit more with the addition of memes, memories, and job postings as free content. These now require a layer of protection as some users try to abuse them. Annoying, yes, but as the saying goes, it’s a good problem to have. It’s also an opportunity for us to be creative and think differently about what we are creating. This includes the work we feel happy to do as a team. MoT Profiles are genuinely useful, especially when it comes to helping your work stand out instead of getting lost in the busyness of the internet. They can also be a great addition to your CV. Employers love them! Other members can easily recommend you too. I like to call MoT Profiles an essential part of an MEO strategy (instead of SEO), it’s a MoTaverse Engine Optimisation strategy. Yes, it’s a bit of fun and tongue in cheek, but it’s also a serious mission of ours to uplift our members in many ways. Many MoT members also appear on the first page of Google search results and in AI (GEO and AEO) results. This does not happen by accident. This is part of what we call Community-as-a-Service. (Learn a bit more on it here , here or here !) We will get better at explaining this over time, but for now, we see what we offer as part of membership as a service. We’re not here just for a laugh, or a chit-chat. You can get literally everything you need to expand your career. Events, conferences, informal and formal learning, opportunities to participate, and organising of events. How is this different from other traditional offerings? By bundling it up, it simply...

Follow your favourite brands in the MoTaverse

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:26:00 -0000

Now companies can have their own page on the MoTaverse to not only connect with quality people, but to share the quality things you care about. Along the way, companies and people will earn stars and badges, in addition to improving your MEO (MoTaverse Engine Optimisation), SEO, AEO and GEO. Here are some you can follow today: Smartbear WonderProxy TestMuAI Parasoft Testrail Maestro Robot Framework Foundation Postman Ranorex Ministry of Testing :) Xray Kualitee Squerist Ten10 Ramen Space! 🍜 Email hello@ministryoftesting.com to find out how to get yours. And thanks to all the organisations and their recent support of the MoTaverse. 🙏

Here's Your MoTaCon MoTivation

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 15:35:00 -0000

It was previously TestBash, but as the world shifts to a more holistic view of product quality and development, so are we. Fundamentally, we believe in advancing the industry to build quality products, software testing is part of that. 🎉 Today the MoTaverse is here to MoTivate you to submit to speak at MoTaCon . The deadline is February 28th 2026. 🪐 Learn more about MoTaCon , registration is open and 133 quality people have already registered. A MoT Professional Membership is required to attend, no separate conference ticket purchase is required . 🎙️ Apply to speak by February 28th 2026 You may have noticed that we're building something different in the MoTaverse, we're currently referring to it as a Community as a Service model, our goal is to serve our people, help them grow in a whole variety of ways, 24/7/365. MoTaCon is part of this, an important part, but just one of many things we do. Contributing to MoTaCon means expanding the MoTaverse, for yourself and all those around you. Through particpation you will find yourself falling Into The MoTaverse . It's beautiful to be able to offer all these things under one banner and our ask for you today is to give it a go. It might surprise you.

What happens when you explore My Reports?

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0000

We’ve launched a new feature called My Reports! A very handy view to explore how active you’ve been in the past year, exclusive to all Professional Members. Why does it matter? Professional growth happens one activity at a time, the MoTaverse is here to help you holistically grow your career. It might show up in reading an article, completing lessons in a course, watching a talk, attending an event…and so much more! Here’s why it matters: The more active you are. The more you contribute. The more you learn. The more you build relationships. The more resilient you become. The more you support your career growth. The more we support the career growth of each other. The more our industry strengthens. We are tracking and supporting all of this as a vision of the future. Visit My MoT > My Reports to see how you’re getting on. What do you see? Let me know. If you have any questions or thoughts about your reports, comment on this post or use the chat feature on ministryoftesting.com . Happy Fri-yay! P.S. You can also see your courses progress at ministryoftesting.com/learn and easily pick up where you left off.

Apply to be a MoT Ambassador for 2026

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:18:00 -0000

In the MoTaverse, our Ambassadors are MoTivated and trusted members of our community, who understand and represent the MoT vision, values and ethos, and have the community at heart in everything they do. View our Ambassadors from 2025 . They are passionate professionals who actively contribute by sharing knowledge, organising events or fostering connections among testers worldwide. Through their dedication, our MoT Ambassadors inspire others to engage, learn and grow within the testing community. We are now looking to work with a new round of Ambassadors for 2026. 👉 Apply now , applications close on January 25th. Frequently Asked Questions: What is the role of a Ministry of Testing Ambassador? MoT Ambassadors are volunteers who represent the Ministry of Testing within their local and global communities. They can organise meetups, share insights, mentor fellow testers and promote the values, and initiatives of the MoTaverse, to advance the software testing profession. How can I become an MoT Ambassador? You need to apply by January 25th . Being an active member of MoT is required and your MoT Profile should reflect this. We will make decisions based on your MoT Profile. What support do Ambassadors receive from the Ministry of Testing? Ambassadors receive support in various forms, as with all things in the MoTaverse, it depends on the person and what we have going on at the time. There will be a private Slack channel for conversations, support and opportunities. All opportunities are opt-in. What benefits are there for being an Ambassador? Being in the midst of the MoTaverse, networking and building up your confidence to support your future career and portfolio. You'll get a digital badge for your MoT profile and we will also unlock Unlimited Membership.

Are you Open to Work?

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:58:00 -0000

In 2026, the MoTaverse is here to help you have the most super year. To do this, we are building a platform to help grow your quality career . It's worth visiting every single day. Even if just for a few minutes, for a snippet of micro learning. (⭐️ Remember to tap that star button) Today, we'd like to give a bit of focus to those who are looking for new work. Did you know the MoTaverse can help? Just this week our job board helped Richard Hinton get a new job . Our job board is open to anyone to add opportunities, it doesn't have to be a job you are specifically hiring for. Sharing a job on the job board helps the community and also earns you recognition with a community star. But that's not all. You can also mark yourself as Open To Work. This will appear on your MoT Profile. Becky Norville is Open To Work . This is what it looks like on an MoT Profile. What's more . If you upgrade to Professional Membership, you can see the full list of everyone who has marked themselves as Open To Work . It's a great place to hire quality people, people in the MoTaverse love all things testing and quality and apply themselves to continuous learning. ⭐️ Mark yourself as Open To Work and let's work towards a super 2026 together.⭐️

⭐️ The social networks don’t serve your career. The MoTaverse does. 🌶️

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 13:04:00 -0000

Community stars recognition is expanding. It now goes two ways. Don't sleep on this! We're expanding our community algorithm, and now it means as part of our belief that we all learn in community, that we can learn and progress through all forms of content (not just certs or courses). All content matters. All content can lead to inspiration. Anything can lead you towards the right path. What does this mean? We now have 'Thanks ️' button on more content pieces. When you click it, the creator(s) earn a star. It's your way of saying you read it, learned or appreciated it. The creators can then see that their work matters whilst also being able to directly connect with you. What's more. You also earn a star when you thank someone. Why, you might ask? It's because it's part of your learning journey. It's a way of seeing that you are growing, participating and learning. We believe every day interactions and learning matters, now it is visible. For those on a Team Account , it's handy to view, track and support your team with what they are learning. You can follow your team, and see their activity to follow along with them. Of course, anyone can be followed if you want to get a taste of what your MoTaverse friends are up to. Not to forget. There's confetti for extra joy. Go give it a test run? We'd love your feedback, and it probably has bugs! A big thanks to Simon Tomes and Andrew Morton for making it happen!

Leading With Quality and MoTaCon registration is open and filling up quickly!

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:39:00 -0000

What's the story? We recently made changes to our MoT Professional Membership offering. Our goal is to simplify everything. Not only does it mean you get access to more, it also means it simplifies the process of registering for events. No more extra budget approvals are required. As long as you have a Professional Membership, you can register in literally one click . 1️⃣ Yes, one click! We've simplified the process and created incredible value . This inevitably leads to consequences, as we anticipate our events selling out in advance. It is our job to prepare you for this as much as possible. Please keep an eye on our events calendar. We quietly launched registration for Leading With Quality in Brighton . We're still working on the lineup, but with a great experience from our first event, people are already booking. It is already at 45% capacity. Save your spot today . MoTaCon is also available for registration . And we're already close to the magical number of 99 registered attendees. There is a larger capacity for MoTaCon, but with the newer model, we anticipate reaching our capacity. Register or apply to speak for MoTaCon . We plan to host smaller events in different locations, keep your eye on our events page and news announcements . ⚠️ Please bear in mind that we are making a strong and clear shift to being a members' organisation. Attendance at events requires a MoT Professional Membership , it is no longer possible to buy tickets separately . It also means that an event registration is only valid with an active membership. If your membership lapses, then your registration will be released. As a reminder, MoT Professional Membership is available to Individuals or Teams. Standard Professional Membership includes access to all events in addition to unlocking our content online. Unlimited Membership is Standard Membership plus access to all our certifications. Got questions? Email hello@ministryoftesting.com or reach out on our Slack, available to Professional Subscribers.

MoTaCon 2026 call for contributions, now open!

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 15:27:00 -0000

TLDR; You can now apply to contribute to MoTaCon 2026 . Our flagship conference and community gathering is now open to accept contributions. What you need to know: It's happening on October 1st 2026 in Brighton. It is a one-day conference Leading With Quality will be happening the day before We are looking for 30 minute talks or 99 minute workshops We cover travel and entry costs for all accepted contributors We strive for diversity in people, ideas and experiences You must have an up to date MoT Profile to be considered We actively use your MoT Profile to help us make decisions about who to accept We will close submissions on Saturday the 28th of February 2026 We don't accept talks that have been previously presented elsewhere We expect to have 750+ attendees MoTaCon is a conference for Professional Members of the MoTaverse, no separate ticket is required. Save your place today . Get a vibe check and see the talks from MoTaCon 2025 . 👉 Apply via Continuous Call for Contributions What's more! Leading With Quality is back in Brighton the day before MoTaCon, and this too is included within Professional Membership. It is likely to sell out, it's already at 40% capacity.

The MoTaverse community algorithm continues to evolve

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:50:00 -0000

The catch . There is no catch. We're here to build a different type of network, a different type of community, and a different kind of algorithm. And we do it one iteration at a time. The algorithm we are building taps straight into valuing every community interaction, it's open, and there are no secrets about how it works. We are not modelling social media algorithms, we're building something completely different. It's not even been a year . In February, we shared how we were creating a community algorithm via our Community Stars system . It's hard to believe we were doing that all manually behind the scenes. Thankfully, in March, we were able to start building the tech foundations of the Community Star system, and every day it continues to demonstrate meaningful value and credibility. The path is transparent . You can view the Community Algorithm and in our Slack we share MoTifications as they happen. No secrets are held here, we add new ones on a regular basis, though we don't always announce them. Our culture is one of shipping fast and monitoring the response. The most recent Community Star addition was awarding stars to both the learner and teacher when a lesson from a certificate or course is completed. It shows the activity that is happening behind the scenes and didn't have real visibility, by MoT staff or members. To see it live feels all kinds of amazing. It celebrates the learner moving along in their learning journey. It also acknowledges the creator of the courses, we know it's not easy going through the process of creating a course and we're exploring how better to give credit for these efforts. Having this feedback loop MoTivates both sides of the experience. And to see Community Stars on people's profiles increase every day feels like a really positive move forward. Diversity is key . We're a big believer that people can learn, contribute and gain recognition in many ways. Learning, teaching, doing a talk, posting a meme, a memory, an observatory link, sponsoring an event…they are all important and are considered part of our algorithm. The community stars is a social capital system that only gets better with time and activity.

Everyday security testing: A practical guide to getting started

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:08:00 -0000

TL;DR: A brand-new hands-on course for Professional Members: Everyday security testing: A practical guide to getting started is has launched today! Created by Richard Adams, this course shows you how to incorporate simple, powerful security checks into your everyday testing. 👉 Enrol in the course now! Who is it for? This course is for anyone who wants to add security testing to their everyday work. Whether you're an exploratory tester, automation engineer, or developer, you’ll learn how to spot risks without needing prior security experience. So, what? Security flaws are among the most damaging issues in software today, but you don’t need to be a specialist to start finding them. This course helps you take a practical, lightweight approach. You’ll learn to spot risks early, test for vulnerabilities hands-on, and build confidence in your ability to add security thinking to your work. In the course, you’ll: Get comfortable with security testing terminology. Perform simple but powerful techniques like URL manipulation and bypassing UI validation. Learn how to test for XSS, injection, and SQL injection vulnerabilities. Practice using tools such as Postman, Chrome DevTools, and ZAP. Explore threat modelling step by step, including Data Flow Diagrams and STRIDE. Bring it all you've learnt together in a final hands-on challenge. All 11 lessons are packed with activities, including hands-on testing, guided demonstrations, and reflections to help you apply your learning directly to your own work. What’s more! Practical Activities: You’ll test against safe demo sites, including Richard's own site, designed to surface common security vulnerabilities and allow you to practice safely. Threat Modelling in Action: Go beyond the basics and learn to run your own threat modelling session with your team. Community Reflection: Share your experiences and insights with others in the MoTaverse! 👉 Start the course today and begin building security into your testing.

MoTaCon (previously TestBash) and all in-person events are now part of Professional Membership

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:27:00 -0000

It's time to bundle. We recently rebranded TestBash to MoTaCon. This is part of a transition to ensure we lead with relevancy and extreme value. Another part of the transition is to simplify how we operate, businesses can quite easily become bloated. As we've grown as a business and increased our offerings, it's time to simplify. So, what? We recognise that the constant budget requests our members need to seek are proving to be a real blocker for people learning and attending our events. Our goal is to unlock learning and opportunities for as many quality people as possible with one-click registration . The MoTaverse has everything your team needs . It's your one-stop shop for those who care about exploring what quality software means. Stop your team wasting precious time hunting down resources, we've got everything you need. on-demand courses : on quality topics that are not available elsewhere certifications : full certification pathways, we currently have four and plan to create at least 2 new certifications per year. community : 24/7/365 and all the people and knowledge that brings conferences, events and workshops : in-person and online partnerships : as part of our strategy we are partnering with companies to help us deliver some of these things, do reach out. What does this mean? Our goal is to unlock access to Professional Membership to entire teams, everyone should have access to learning and development opportunities in the MoTaverse. We've simplified our Professional Membership model: MoTaCon (previously TestBash) is now part of Professsional Membership Other in-person events, like Leading With Quality is also included as part of Professional Membership This unlocks one-click registration An active Professional Membership is required to attend events Tickets to events are not available to buy separately Invites to participate and share experiences You still get access to all previous benefits, such as our entire archive of talks, trends and on-demand courses. Go Unlimited! Our Standard Professional Membership includes events, but you and your team can upgrade to Unlimited Membership to unlock access to all certifications , we've also tweaked and improved the pricing! Need help signing up? You can sign up online , or if you need help with Purchase Orders, invoices or approval processes, email us at hello@ministryoftesting.com and we'll get back to you.

TestBash is now MoTaCon

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 20:28:00 -0000

TLDR; We have rebranded TestBash to MoTaCon to better communicate our commitment to leading with quality. The last TestBash happened last week, we also wasted no time to name that same conference as MoTaCon. Check out the vibes that were had . In some sense, nothing changes. In another sense, it enables us to have clarity and focus on moving the quality craft forward, and it could change everything. So, what? Over the past couple of years it has become increasingly difficult to talk about and advocate for the work we do under the banner of ‘testing’. Testing has always supported quality, yet quality is about supporting the whole system. All our work in the MoTaverse is shifting towards that quality mindset. Software testing will continue to be a huge part of what we do, yet to advance the industry we feel it is essential to swiftly change with the times. With a quality mindset we can give more focus to the systems we build. This change is a cultural change. We aim to innovate, remove silos and build bridges across the tech industry. And of course, it will be led by the energy of the MoTaverse people. There is more! MoTaCon and all in-person events are now part of (and require) Professional Membership. Professional Members can get their MoTaCon tickets today .

Advanced prompting for testers

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:52:00 -0000

TL;DR: We’ve just published a hands-on course for Professional Members: Advanced prompting for testers . Go beyond the basics and unlock the full potential of AI in testing. Learn advanced prompting that improves reliability, speed, and results. Every lesson includes a practical activity. You finish by building your own custom AI testing assistant. Transcript Who is it for: This course is for testers of all levels, leaders, managers, and developers who want to go beyond prompting basics and confidently use advanced AI prompting techniques to enhance software quality practices. So, what? AI is now part of everyday testing. Your prompts shape the value you get in your output. This course helps you design better prompts, judge outputs, and keep humans in charge. You learn to reduce hallucinations, use memory well, and apply multi-model thinking to real testing work. In the course, you’ll: Build reusable prompt templates and lightweight test assistants. Write concise, token-aware prompts that keep context. Reduce hallucinations and improve reliability. Use memory features safely across short and long tasks. Try multimodal prompts (images, video) to speed test design and reviews. Compare ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to spot overlaps, gaps, and risks. Understand RLHF and where human feedback matters in complex, opinion-led work. Each lesson begins with a broken-down essential concept and ends with a hands-on activity. Examples include: creating a prompt template, testing memory settings, trying a multimodal prompt, comparing models, building custom GPTs and debugging suspicious outputs. What’s more! Expert Voice: The course is led by Rahul Parwal, a highly experienced tester and international speaker. This course builds on the foundation of Rahul Parwal's popular " Prompting for Testers " course. He's also running the "Unlock AI potential: prompt engineering for testers" workshop at TestBash Brighton 2025 this October. Prompting Playgrounds: Hone your skills by experimenting in dedicated prompting playgrounds, where you can tune settings, compare models, and debug your prompts. Capstone Project: The course culminates in a project where you'll build your own AI testing assistant, applying all the concepts you've learned. 👉 Start learning Advanced prompting for testers today , or upgrade to Professional Membership for access.

First request to test suite: 30 days to API testing confidence

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 08:22:00 -0000

TL;DR: We’ve just published a 30-episode educational podcast for Professional Members: First request to test suite: 30 days to API testing confidence . Curated and presented by Mark Winteringham , author of Testing Web APIs, each short episode introduces a key part of API testing and sets you a 10-minute hands-on activity. So, what? APIs are everywhere in modern web applications. This podcast helps you build confidence to test them directly. Over 30 sessions, you’ll move from sending your first request to creating and running a complete test suite. In the course, you’ll: Identify potential risks that could affect a Web API. Execute different test ideas against GET, POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE endpoints. Organise HTTP requests into Collections in Postman and run them as suites. Add simple checks and run them through Postman or the CLI. Demonstrate proficiency in Web API testing and discover new opportunities to take it further. Each episode begins with a short introduction to a concept, feature, or idea around testing web APIs. Mark then sets a 10-minute activity to try while the podcast runs. Using tools like Postman and the deliberately buggy restful-booker API, the activities build on each other to grow your skills step by step. What’s more! Expert voice: Mark Winteringham has over 20 years’ experience in software testing and quality engineering. He’s the author of Testing Web APIs, and he built the Restful-Booker API playground you’ll use throughout the course. Unique format: Inspired by creative learning podcasts, the series links short explanations with practical activities that build your experience session by session. Capstone project: The final sessions guide you to apply what you’ve learned by building and running a complete API test suite. Next-step roadmap: The series closes with clear paths into advanced topics like exploratory API testing, automation, security, and performance. 👉 Start learning First request to test suite: 30 days to API testing confidence today, or upgrade to Professional Membership for access.

We're investing in the future of quality engineering, will you be a part of it?

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:40:00 -0000

It's never just a conference. It's a point of no return. Once you attend, you'll understand why. It's a commitment to testing and quality engineering. We build 24/7/365, TestBash is where we gather to let out all our energy. Testing and quality is everywhere. It's continuous. It's shifting everywhere. And we're so excited to be embracing it. TestBash hits differently, as Ben Dowen loves to say. It's where learning and making friends is inevitable and in the past year we've doubled down on creating the MoTaverse platform for you. ❤️ You see, what we now clearly see is that quality is at the heart of building software products—we've always known that, haven't we? But what's different now is that others are starting to see it too. Our goal is to make quality people at the centre of building good software quality. It's increasingly possible that we are getting our seat at the table. It's where our research is reflected through the relationships and research we've invested in. It's where we bring you what you need to help you build quality software products. Not only through the talks, workshops and meetups, but also with the conversations that you are guaranteed to have. It's where we invest in new voices, which could be you next time? It's where we bring people from across the world to share and geek out on all things quality. These are your people and life is better with them. TestBash happens on October 1st-2nd, 2025. You are most definitely invited . Here's a mini guide on how to make the most of it: Early bird ends August 31st, book before then ! Professional members get 20% discount on tickets Ask about team discounts, the more the merrier and the cheaper! Go Unlimited as an individual or as a team, Lynda came for the MoT certifications and stayed for the TestBash ! We have no-brainer Unlimited discounts for teams that unlocks Professional Membership, Certifications, Leading with Quality and TestBash! Check out our TestBash MoTebook and show it to your boss to show how much you could be learning from the experience Companies can support with sponsoring or simply buying a ticket, we'd love to meet you too! If you are out of work, we have a scholarship fund just for you . What's more . If you are a leader in quality, we're creating things for you , the day before TestBash. Do you have questions or would you like to discuss options? Send an email to hello@ministryoftesting.com 🎟️ Get your TestBash tickets 🎟️

Introducing: Software Testing and Quality Engineering Salary Database

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:33:00 -0000

What's happening? We’re collecting live and anonymous salary data to help make sense of the industry landscape of salaries for software testing and quality engineering professionals. Why it matters . Understanding global salary data is helpful at an individual and organisational level. It helps us all understand better trends and plan for hiring requirements. Of course, salaries vary widely across the board, as a result, we are surveying based on location, currencies, industries and sizes of companies. Coming soon . The live incoming data will be made available to Professional Members. An analysis and report of the data will be made available in the future and at regular intervals. 💰 Submit your salary details

MoT Monthly - June 2025

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:30:00 -0000

👋 Welcome to June’s issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of how the MoTaverse has expanded. Let’s go! 🚀 🆙 Product and Community updates Our small team has been working hard to ship continuously. Here’s what we’ve been working on: We recently launched “following” on the MoTaverse. Learn how to follow MoT Profiles . This is the foundation for many more exciting features. New certificate incoming: MoT's Software Quality Engineering Certificate . Explore SQEC and snag the early bird discount. We’ve made enhancements to the community star feature so it’s been easier for us to administer stars for all the brilliant things the community has been up to. You can now see your star count on your public MoT Profile and view all the community stars . Memories got a boost . You can now post video and micro-blogging style posts. Got something to share with the community, post a memory and also see it on your profile page. Here's a good example from Lisa Crispin . It’s now possible to like a piece of content on MoT. Liking something notifies the contributor and sends a message that you’re grateful for their contribution. What might you like today? Professional members can now mark their profile as “Open to review CVs/Resumes” and “Open to meet at TestBash 2025”. Available in My MoT . We've also set up a dedicated collection for those going to TestBash. View the instructions in the collection to get involved. Help us get to – at least – 99 selfies. 🤩 🗓️ Events Keep checking the events page for the most up-to-date info. This Week in Testing Fri 13 Jun 🎙️ Tunis Meetup Sat 14 Jun 🇹🇳 Milan Meetup Mon 16 Jun 🇮🇹 Barcelona Meetup Tue 17 Jun 🇪🇸 Software Testing Live Wed 18 Jun 🔎 Valencia Meetup Thu 19 Jun 🇪🇸 This Week in Testing Fri 20 Jun 🎙️ Porto Meetup Wed 25 Jun 🇵🇹 Athens Meetup Thu 26 Jun 🇬🇷 London Meetup Thu 26 Jun 🇬🇧 Cork Meetup Thu 26 Jun 🇮🇪 Cincinnati Meetup Thu 26 Jun 🇺🇸 Accelerating Test Design: From Chaotic Requirements to Ready-to-Run Test Assets Fri 27 Jun 🖥️ Plymouth Meetup Wed 9 Jul 🇬🇧 Newcastle Meetup Tue 15 Jul 🇬🇧 Software Testing Live Wed 16 Jul 🔎 Leading with Quality Tue 30 Sep 🇬🇧 TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 🚀 Get the details on all our upcoming community-led meetups . All recorded events are added to the Ministry of Testing catalogue. Professional members have access to the entire catalogue of learning material . 🤩 ⛳️ Courses API mocking made easy. ...

MoT Meetups: June / July 2025

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 09:27:00 -0000

Summer sparks and the MoTaverse answers. Milan steps up, Athens shines with Angie Jones, and London pushes the limits. From AI-powered insights in Valencia to hands-on BDD in Newcastle, fresh ideas ripple across continents. Meetups buzz in Tunis, Barcelona, Cincinnati, and beyond. Quality is moving—fast, curious, and collective. Tune in. Tunis Meetup 🇹🇳 Date: Saturday, 14 June 2025 The third Ministry of Testing Tunis Meetup is coming soon—an exciting gathering for QA professionals, developers, and anyone passionate about software testing, AI, and tech innovation! Milan Meetup 🇮🇹 Date: Monday, 16 June 2025 After the excitement and support we receive every day from the global Ministry of Testing community, we are ready to launch the very first Ministry of Testing Milan meetup. If you're interested in automation, software quality, or simply want to discover what “testing” means in an open and friendly environment, this is the right place to learn, network, and grow together. Barcelona Meetup 🇪🇸 Date: Tuesday, 17 June 2025 If your test suite takes an hour, are you testing—or stalling? Learn how breaking old habits and adopting smart dev-led automation unlocks speed, trust, and clarity. In 2025, test pipelines are product pipelines—are we still treating them like second-class citizens? Valencia Meetup 🇪🇸 Date: Thursday, 19 June 2025 Are you running the right tests—or just running all the tests? Discover how Telefónica’s AI-powered Smart Test Adviser redefines test selection for speed and impact. In 2025, AI won’t replace testers—but it might just challenge everything we prioritize in quality engineering. Porto Meetup 🇵🇹 Date: Wednesday, 25 June 2025 Join us for the 2nd Ministry of Testing Porto Meetup hosted by Xelerate.tech! Enjoy talks by Paulo Cruz on automation in distributed teams and Vitor Mata on embedding quality in software development. Connect with the QA community over insights, coffee, and networking! Athens Meetup 🇬🇷 Date: Thursday, 26 June 2025 Can test leadership be technical, global, and community-driven—all at once? Join Angie Jones and fellow trailblazers at MoT Athens to explore bold new paths in testing. In 2025, the best testers aren’t just writing scripts—they’re rewriting what influence in tech looks like. London Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday, 26 June 2025 Is scale killing community in tech—or making it stronger? London MoT 4.0 with Monzo proves that big can still mean bold, curious, and deeply connected. In 2025, testing isn’t...

Announcing SQEC! MoT's Software Quality Engineering Certificate

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 13:31:00 -0000

TL;DR: We've just published the outline for our next MoT Certification: Software Quality Engineering Certificate (SQEC) . For the past few months we've been doing deep research into all things Quality Engineering. This has meant exploring things like continuous quality, systems thinking, quality coaching and the varying models that are used by practicing and leading experts. So what? With 80% of quality and testing professionals identifying as “quality engineers” it's clear there is a real shift in how we think and approach building quality products. Testing will always exist, but the full challenges to build quality are better addressed with a Quality Engineering mindset. Why bother? With MoT's Software Testing Essentials Certification (STEC) we created a community-led model for creating relevant, engaging and educational certifications. It has the the balance of community soul, expert insight and educational pedagogy. We're excited to keep adopting this model—the feedback has been so positive and we believe it simply works. What's more! Explore the curriculum outline: we've published the outline of the certification, have a peek! Releasing in module increments : we're a small team, who build with an iterative mindest, we will release SQEC module by module Would you like to contribute? Email sarah@ministryoftesting.com with a link to your MoT Profile alongside an explanation of how you would like to contribute. This certification is built by people like you! Expand the MoTaverse : as a learner or a contributor. We believe every interaction expands the MoTaverse. All participation leads to Community Stars, Badges or Certifications. Early bird rates are currently available : get a discount whilst also supporting the MoTaverse to ship this quality engineering beast. 👉 Explore SQEC and snag the early bird discount

API mocking made easy

Wed, 28 May 2025 07:05:00 -0000

TL;DR: We’ve just published a 12-lesson course for Professional Members: API mocking made easy . José Carrera walks you from the very first “Why bother mocking?” conversation to running Mockoon servers in CI, all without writing code. Mockoon requires no coding at all, so it’s a quick and easy way to get your mocks running. - José Carrera So, what? External services and dependencies can be slow, flaky or unfinished, and that makes UI/E2E tests brittle. A realistic mock keeps your feedback loop fast and lets you hit edge-cases on demand. In short, mocks can give you better coverage, quicker pipelines, and fewer surprises. Why bother? In the course, you’ll: Decide when to mock (and when not to). Capture traffic and create a mock in one click. Return any status code, randomised data, or custom latency on the fly. Organise large mock suites with folders, sequential responses, and Git versioning. Spin up Mockoon in CI so every branch gets the data it needs. Each video lesson (8–30 min) ends on a hands-on activity for you to practice your skills and optional Club discussions with folks in the MoTaverse — learn, try, share . What's more! Expert voice: Every lesson comes straight from José’s day-to-day practice, packed with tips, tricks, and the pitfalls he learned to avoid. Reusable sandbox: Clone José’s repo and keep it as your personal sandbox for future mock experiments. Next-step roadmap: The final lesson helps you review your own test strategy, pinpoint where mocks will add the most value, and sketch a quick proof-of-concept you can take back to your team. Start learning API mocking made easy or upgrade your professional membership for access.

MoT Monthly - May 2025

Thu, 15 May 2025 11:30:00 -0000

👋 Welcome to May's issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of how the MoTaverse has expanded. Ready? Let's go! 🚀 🆙 Product and Community updates Our small team has been working hard to ship continuously. Here’s what we’ve been working on: We’re making great progress on the Software Testing Essentials Certification (STEC). Read an important update . It’s now easier than ever to earn a community star . Why bother? Community stars are a great way to showcase your commitment to your professional development. We're starting to automate more of the star reasons and can now deliver manual stars immediately via the MoT site. So you’ll get a star quicker — no more waiting for a month to see if you’ve got one. Check out your profile to see how many stars you have and explore all the reasons. Need inspiration? See who has earned a star this month . A tester’s role in continuous quality is now live . Enrol in the latest on-demand course. ♾️ TestBash returns this October — our annual community-powered celebration of testing. Want in at the best value? Super early bird pricing ends 31st May. But this message isn’t just about price tags and dates . MoT Profiles just got an upgrade. MoT verification is a new layer of credibility in the MoTaverse — a user-friendly, easily recognisable purple check that demonstrates your commitment, presence and credibility as a software testing and quality engineering professional. Look who is leading with quality 👀 There are three parts to consider when building a community. We aim to find the win-win-win for all three. Become a Friend of the Ministry of Testing . 🤗 As quality and testing professionals, we’ve long felt like second-class citizens. Rosie Sherry, CEO and founder of Ministry of Testing, wants to be audacious and believes we can be at the centre of building amazing products . 🗓️ Join these events Keep checking the events page for the most up-to-date info. Barcelona Meetup Thu 15 May 🇪🇸 Cambridge Meetup Thu 15 May 🇬🇧 Manchester Meetup Thu 15 May 🇬🇧 This Week in Testing Fri 16 May 🎙️ Souss Meetup Sat 17 May 🇹🇳 Newcastle Meetup Tue 20 May 🇬🇧 Manila Meetup Tue 20 May 🇵🇭 Leeds Meetup Thu 29 May 🇬🇧 Cincinnati Meetup Thu 29 May 🇺🇸 Ghana Meetup Sat 31 May 🇺🇸 Software Testing Live Wed 18 Jun 🔎 Athens Meetup Thu 26 Jun 🇬🇷 Cincinnati Meetup Thu 26 Jun 🇺🇸 Software Testing Live Wed 16 Jul 🔎 Leading with Quality Tue 30 Sep 🇬🇧 TestBash Brighton 2025 ...

We're building space for quality leaders

Sun, 11 May 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Have you noticed that we've been shifting? To stay relevant, we all have to evolve and adapt. That's definitely something we are doing over here in the MoTaverse. As part of this, we have been talking to testers. Lots of them. We've been taking a research driven approach to the work we commit to doing. The research has meant a lot of listening, from all the places. As part of this, the need for quality leadership kept coming up time and time again. There were a whole variety of reasons for this. Sometimes it was career-related — where is my career heading? Sometimes it was industry related — what the heck is going on in our industry? Other times it was feeling lost and lacking relatable stories — where are the stories how others are approaching shipping quality products? Often it's, where do I find other quality leaders? So, within the MoTaverse we've committed ourselves to explore, dive deep and expand how we can lead with quality . Community as education. As part of our culture, we want to make it very clear that when done well, with care and with intention, community is the best kind of education out there. This doesn't mean no effort goes into it, if anything, the opposite is true. The heart, mind and souls of so many people go into sharing everything they know, for the benefit of others. Community is required to get to the nuances of what really matters. Every conversation, piece of knowledge and resources will be shared in whichever format feels best. Community as education is our thing. It can show up as events, as courses, as conversations, as research…and so much more. The key point is that community is always at the heart of everything we do. In 2025 we're committed to building a leading with quality community space in three ways: Leading with quality : connect in real life and make friends for life in Brighton on 30th of September, right before TestBash A private channel in our Slack only for Leaders in Quality: a place to connect and seek support. (available for Professional Members ) Leading with quality conversations: an opportunity to learn from how others are leading with quality (coming soon for Professional Members ) 🤝 We believe this is just the beginning. Come and lead quality with us.

STEC: The modern, essential and foundational testing education, co-created with 58 practicing experts

Wed, 07 May 2025 08:25:00 -0000

TLDR; it’s a special, comprehensive, community created certification that aims to become the defacto standard foundational education for software testing and quality engineering professionals. When we set out to create the Software Testing Essentials Certification (STEC), we wanted it to be valuable, modern and co-created with the community. And it’s been a long journey. A bit more precisely. It’s been a year-long journey of heads down in creation mode. It’s been a huge investment on our side. This shows in the 18 modules that it consists of and the 58 people who contributed with their knowledge and expertise. And honestly, from my perspective as Founder and CEO of MoT, I’ve been personally reviewing every module. It’s been such a joy to see this come to life with the people who care so much about the software testing craft. The energy shows up in every part of the certification. People talking about and explaining testing things from their own passions, perspectives and experiences. The stories that are told are real and relevant. It touches on knowledge and theory, backed by so many fascinating stories of the people to help make it make sense. Help it make sense! The people help it make sense. This is what I love so much. The great thing is that there’s a good chance you will converse and meet with these very people who helped create the course. That could be in The Club, TestBash, our Slack, local meetups…basically within the MoTaverse. Yes, it’s a certification. It’s designed to get you from A to B as quickly as possible. It’s also got community by your side, all along the way. You never have to walk alone. Even better, it will help you walk with confidence. It is the community by your side that will expand your confidence. STEC is different to other certificates like ISTQB, BBST and many others. And we’re proud to offer something different. “Should I get a testing certificate?” can polarise, yet STEC is here to harmonise. There is simply nothing else like it. It’s taken longer than expected. It’s definitely one of those things that could be easy to think would take a few weeks, but here we are, a year later, finishing it up. There’s still work to do, but it’s mostly editing and processing work. We’re just about to ship Module 12 of 18. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has helped make this a reality: Beth Marshall, Ady Stokes, Sarah Deery, Aj Wilson, Cassandra H. Leung, Melissa Fisher, Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Nicola Lindgren, Gwen...

A tester’s role in continuous quality

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 11:43:00 -0000

TLDR; We've just launched a new course for Professional Members. A tester's role in continuous quality : We have all heard the expression, ‘quality is everyone's responsibility,’ coined by W. Edwards Deming in a manufacturing context. It has been widely accepted within software development that everyone has a role in contributing to the overall product quality of the software we develop. But how do we do that consistently and continuously, and what is our role in doing that? Just like testers have a continuous learning mindset. Our processes have continuous improvement through retrospectives. We can treat quality the same way and look to continuously improve it, too. Through this course, you will learn what continuous quality (CQ) is and how a culture of (continuous) quality can bring many benefits to both teams and the products they develop. From how individuals can contribute to strategies, to models and metrics that can help evolve a team's CQ through the development process. You will hear real-life stories and advice from experts. So, what? We view it as our role to observe and research testing trends on behalf of and with the people. We don't want to just gather and talk, our goal is also to take concise action on what we discover. This course is us taking action on our discoveries over the past few months. Worth watching . The MoTaverse observes and then takes action on your behalf. Through our Testing Planet virtual events , Testing Trends and community discussions , we spent the past few months exploring and expanding our collective community knowledge on continuous testing, continuous quality, holistic quality, shift-left, shift-right, and shift-everywhere! It's now bundled up into a concise short course. Catch up quick . It's designed to bring you what you need to know in the quickest possible timeframe. Just what we need in this fast-moving world. What's more . It's created with leading testing and quality experts. Where else can you get such an awesome collective of knowledge together in one place? Many thanks to Stu Day , Lisa Crispin , Janet Gregory , Ady Stokes , Rahul Parwal , Barry Ehigiator and Nataliia Burmei for leading the way. Start learning with a tester's role in continuous quality or upgrade your professional membership for access.

TestBash 2025: Gather, Expand, and Go Beyond

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 08:44:00 -0000

TLDR; TestBash returns this October — our annual community-powered celebration of testing. Want in at the best value? Super early bird pricing ends 31st May. But this message isn’t just about price tags and dates. This is your signal to gather, to reconnect IRL, and to expand what testing means — for you, your team, and the wider MoTaverse. We’re designing TestBash 2025 as a space to explore ideas, share challenges, and celebrate our craft through real, meaningful connections. You’ll discover new stories, earn new badges, and leave with fresh perspectives from a community that truly gets it. What’s coming in 2025? Two days inside The Dome — our iconic Brighton venue — filled with talks, workshops, and cosmic conversations. Two in-person socials to gather and unwind with the wider Ministry of Testing community. And for those looking to go even further… Leading With Quality — an optional pre-conference training day designed to level up leaders in testing. Early bird pricing for this exclusive experience also ends 31st May. Whether you’ve been orbiting the MoTaverse for lightyears or are simply set to launch, there’s space for you. This is the year to land in Brighton and expand the MoTaverse — together. There’s nothing like it. P.S. Ticket holders get exclusive access to our MoT Slack. Chat about TestBash, testing, quality engineering and more!

A new form of verification in the MoTaverse

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 10:47:00 -0000

What is it? MoT verification is a new layer of credibility in the MoTaverse— a user-friendly, easily recognizable purple check that demonstrates your commitment, presence and credibility as a software testing and quality engineering professional. So what? As it becomes harder to stand out in a modern professional world, MoT Profiles are increasingly becoming the portfolios for testing professionals. They are a showcase of your knowledge, activity and credibility. You can showcase your contributed knowledge, earn badges, community stars, and prove you have earned a certification. What's more… MoT Profiles are increasingly showing within Google Search and ChatGPT results. They are fast becoming the way to standout in a crowded market. Can you show me an example? Sure. Here's Ben Dowen's MoT Profile . You can see the tick to the right of his name. How to get verified in the MoTaverse . All members with an active MoT Professional Subscription get a verification tick on their MoT Profile. Get yours today !

Look who is leading with quality 👀

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 17:09:00 -0000

Join us for an exclusive one-day immersive experience designed for forward-thinking leaders in software testing, software development and quality engineering. This is a strategic space to gather, question, and reimagine quality from the ground up. So, who is leading with quality? YOU! Nicola Sedgwick – Agile champion and tech optimist driving transformative change Ash Hynie – Cultural strategist shaping equitable, inclusive tech spaces Barry Ehigiator – Developer, tester, and empowering force for high-performing teams Keith Klain – Global quality leader driving enterprise digital transformation Five things you'll walk away with: Fresh thinking from four powerful voices in quality A strategic lens on today’s testing and engineering challenges Ideas to fuel inclusive, effective quality practices Connections and ongoing community with like-minded peers leading the charge A chance to shape the future of quality leadership What’s more… MoT Professional Members and Leading with Quality get access to our private channel just for quality leaders. Look out for a Slack invite in your Leading with Quality registration email or in MyMoT . This day is built for: Quality Staff Engineers Engineering Managers Heads of Testing/Quality CTOs, CEOs, and Tech Leaders Team Leads Test Managers Let’s explore what quality can become— together . 👉 [Reserve your spot now] Early Bird Pricing Ends: 31 May 🔔 Ministry of Testing events: There is simply nothing else like it.

Become a Friend of the Ministry of Testing

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 23:08:00 -0000

If there is one thing we believe in within Ministry of Testing, it's the win-win-win. And no, this is not a typo. We did not accidentally add an extra win. Nor is this AI hallucinating. The Win-Win-Win For those that don't know, for fun and a side-gig I write about community building over on Rosieland . As part of this community mindset, my goal with Ministry of Testing is not to create any old business. I want to create something with heart, soul and amazing community at the heart of it. If I can't do it differently, there is simply no reason for me to go on. A short while back I came up with the term the win-win-win . It's a simple model about how to think about building with care and community in mind. As we build the MoTaverse, and basically with every decision we make, we try our best to make the best decisions for the people, the organisation and the ecosystem. It doesn't mean we will always satisfy each part, but we will try our best to find a fair balance. MoT Friends is a referral program built with the win-win-win in mind One of our biggest challenges at MoT is for people to understand that we are a business. Yes, we are a community too, but fundamentally we can't survive if the business side doesn't work. We're trying to get the business side of things to work better, but in a way that the people and the ecosystem will win too. We are building this for you, so that planet earth can benefit from the better software that it deserves. The TLDR; of the referral program is: An affiliate type set up with links for people to share It's valid for purchases of Professional Membership and Certifications It applies to individual or team purchases A percentage of revenue goes to MoT Friends in addition to a discount made available to customers It's open to Professional Members only because that is the strongest signal that you care about what we are building We've opened the doors in beta mode, DM me on the MoT Slack for more specific details (Access details for MoT Slack are in MyMoT ) We can't promise results, no snake-oil here, but we're going to try our best to help make it happen Our goal is an audacious one. We believe in a future where every software testing professional should have an MoT Professional Membership and also aspire to our certifications in addition to our community-focused learning opportunities. We're not there yet. We'd love for you to be audacious with us. Become an MoT Friend today, DM me on the MoT Slack to...

MoT Meetups: April / May 2025

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 23:00:00 -0000

Bug’s antennas buzz non-stop. All across The MoTaverse, meetups signal — Accra, Barcelona, Berlin, Manchester, Munich, Newcastle, Castelo Branco, and beyond. Signals cross oceans. Cities light up. New voices join the constellation of testers shaping the future of quality. TestBash rises on the horizon, but right now the world is awake, connected, and full of possibility. The network hums. Tune in. Ghana Meetup (Accra) 🇬🇭 Date: Saturday, 12 April 2025 Is manual testing slowly becoming the next floppy disk — outdated and overlooked? At MoT Ghana’s hands-on Appium workshop, you’ll learn mobile automation skills, best practices, and Agile testing insights designed to future-proof your QA career. Dust off your curiosity cap and join us — who knows, you might just automate your way into your dream job!. Munich Meetup 🇩🇪 Date: Tuesday, 15 April 2025 If reading code feels like deciphering ancient runes, are you really ready for the AI era? Join MoT Munich’s advanced online Code Reading Club with Samuel Nitsche to sharpen your skills in interpreting unfamiliar code using smart visualization and analysis techniques. Bring your brain, a sense of adventure, and maybe even a lightsaber — this isn't just reading code, it’s leveling up your software superpowers! Berlin Meetup 🇩🇪 Date: Tuesday, 15 April 2025 If testing practices are evolving faster than you can say “AI-driven automation,” how are we keeping pace as a community? This spring, while MoT groups bloom across Munich and Berlin, join us for a relaxed open-air meetup at Mauerpark — no presentations, just real conversations about testing, careers, and the craft of quality. Look for the Ministry of Testing sign, bring your best ideas, and let's shape the future of testing one conversation at a time. Tunis Meetup 🇹🇳 Date: Thursday, 17 April 2025 If AI can automate everything from bug detection to deployment, what new superpowers will testers need? Celebrate the return of MoT Tunis with an online meetup diving into how AI is reshaping testing and where your career can grow next. Bring your questions, your ideas, and a fresh perspective — the future of testing is being built by those who show up. Castelo Branco Meetup 🇵🇹 Date: Tuesday, 6 May 2025 Every great community starts with a first hello. MoT Castelo Branco kicks off with a big-hearted evening of talks on the future of testing, AI, and how continuous learning is shaping the next wave of QA. Come meet the pioneers, swap ideas, and be there when it all...

On being audacious, together

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0000

I’m not new to the scene. I’ve been in testing since the year 2000. I remember the run up to Y2K, though perhaps I was lucky enough not to have to test for it. I’ve lived through many iterations of testing. Including it dying, evolving and coming back to life! The resurrection is here! What I do know is that it’s been a whopping 25 years and I’m still here. I’ve watched our space evolve. Some for better, some for worse. Some is just the way of the world. I’ve seen the evolutions we’ve been through. I’ve experienced the frustrations. I’ve tried to convince people of what I see. Sometimes succeeding, often not. What is clear, is evolution is necessary. And maybe as I get older, gain a bit more wisdom, gain a sense of confidence within myself, and realise life is short, I’ve come to the conclusion that life is too short not to pursue being audacious . What does being audacious mean in the context of Ministry of Testing? As professionals, we’ve long felt like second-class citizens. I want to be audacious and believe that we can be at the center of building amazing products. With the rise of AI and developers fearing their roles with writing code, I believe there’s an opportunity for quality engineering professionals to step up and take a leadership role. Is it audacious to believe that potentially that the best engineering leaders may come from a quality background? The language I use involves saying that the MoTaverse is the center of the testing universe. It’s audacious language, that I believe in the possibility of. The learning opportunities to advance our craft are not good enough. And yes, we want MoT Certification to replace ISTQB as the de facto standard. It’s audacious to believe that we can do that. But learning is not just about certifications, of course we know that. We audaciously believe we can refine our community-led approach to learning and career advancement to an extent that every industry will want a MoTaverse. We believe we can innovate and build the best tech related community in the world. Not just the best testing and quality engineering community. But the best community in the world. It’s audacious to believe it, it’s even more audacious to say it out loud. We believe we can be a model for others to aspire to replicate. Just imagine all the other professions wishing they had a community like ours? It’s audacious thinking! We are a small bootstrapped team on a small budget. It’s audacious to believe in the change we believe we can...

MoT Monthly - April 2025

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 11:30:00 -0000

👋 Welcome to April’s issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of how the MoTaverse has expanded. Let’s go! 🚀 🆙 Product and Community updates Our small team has been working hard to ship continuously. Here’s what we’ve been working on: There’s now a handy PDF for people to dig deeper into the benefits of a professional membership. Read it online too . TestSphere expands in the MoTaverse — it's now available digitally We’ve launched a new exclusive in-person event for Quality Leaders: Leading with Quality The TestBash Brighton 2025 Lineup is HERE! 🎉 Photo memories can now be added to collections. Check out the SeleniumConf 2025, Valencia, Spain collection , what collections of photos would you consider creating? Professional members can now add external links in the MoTaverse – to showcase your helpful blog posts, podcasts, videos and more. They can even show up on profile pages. For example, look at Alessandra Moreira’s profile page . We now publish our weekly Radio Show, This Week in Testing (TWiT) , as a podcast on the same day. Find it on your favourite podcast app. 🗓️ Join these events Keep checking the events page for the most up-to-date info. Munich Meetup Wed 9 Apr 🇩🇪 Leiria Meetup Thu 10 Apr 🇵🇹 This Week in Testing Fri 11 Apr 🎙️ Ghana Meetup Tue 12 Apr 🇬🇭 Munich Meetup Tue 15 Apr 🇩🇪 Software Testing Live Wed 23 Apr 🔎 London Meetup Thu 8 May 🇬🇧 Coventry Meetup Thu 8 May 🇬🇧 Leeds Testing Atelier Tue 13 May 🇬🇧 Manchester Meetup Thu 15 May 🇬🇧 Newcastle Meetup Tue 20 May 🇬🇧 Software Testing Live Wed 18 Jun 🔎 Software Testing Live Wed 16 Jul 🔎 Leading with Quality Tue 30 Sep 🇬🇧 TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 🚀 All recorded events are added to the Ministry of Testing catalogue. Professional members have access to the entire catalogue of learning material. 🤩 🥞 Collections The Community’s Guide to Test Environments The Community's Guide to Pair Testing A first time for everything The Testing Planet News An exploration of test design The Community's Guide to Quality Coaching 🎓 Certifications The MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate (STEC) gives junior testers confidence, community and connections. A true alternative to ISTQB, STEC is a modern introduction to the world of testing software. It features knowledge-filled lessons from trusted software testing industry experts. Module 9 - Exploring test design and Module 10 - Doing the testing...

Community bookmarking is now available in the MoTaverse

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0000

TLDR; At Ministry of Testing we have enabled community bookmarking. Professional members can now boost everyone's contributions with links to the MoTaverse. Community bookmarking > Social bookmarking. Innovation doesn't always come from new ideas. Sometimes, it's about taking what exists, combining them in a new way and creating a nurturing environment. In that sense, the ability to add links is nothing new, but in the context of the MoTaverse it expands our world. Where is it going? We are looking at this through a different lense. It's not just about adding links. It's also about: uplifting other people's work : bookmark their links and tag them in it. Imagine coming to the MoTaverse and discover others sharing your work? I believe we can create that culture. creating a testing and quality engineering knowledge base : we encourage you to add what is interesting, what matters and to tag it accordingly do more with links : adding a link will appear on your MoT Profile, if a person is tagged it will appear on their profile too. In addition to this links can be added to collections. Here's an example of a collection on MCPs that has links. identifying trends, together : community bookmarking is an observatory, it gives us an opportunity to see what is happening within the ecosystem, and then figure out ways to use the insights. saving time : let's be honest, finding information is time consuming, we're here to not only respect your precious time, we also believe that by sharing links together will enable us all to learn better Only available to Professional Members . At Ministry of Testing we are working towards sustainability, both as a business but also in our workload. Enabling Community Bookmarking for everyone would lead to a spam fest that would end up serving no one. As a result, this feature is available to Professional Members. This means it supports our needs as a business, whilst also doubling down on people who are more likely to care and submit great content. Reality check . Within TeamMoT we have a saying to not let the social networks have all the fun. This is partly because we believe social networks lack the depth that professional industries need. However, it's also about recognising that we can bring in some of the social network ideas into a space of more serious knowledge exploration. With the goal of creating a space of deep and immense value to all. Let's explore three ways of community bookmarks in action . An MoT...

MoT Professional Membership: For the advancement of software testing and quality engineering

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:49:00 -0000

Ministry of Testing has been changing so much that now a big challenge of ours is to communicate all the things that are happening! Core to what we offer is our MoT Professional Membership, we've been doubling down to create a community of practice like no other. You see, humans are a diverse bunch of people. All with different needs. At different points in their careers. And most definitely with very different approaches to learning. We playfully call ourselves “The MoTaverse” as a way to show that we are building an extensive planet to cater for all testing and quality engineering professionals. You won't find any of this anywhere else . 👉 Join today! 📁 Download the PDF version here. Our goal is to have something for everyone, for example: a text based forum for those who like to write and process in their own time A Slack for more deeper collaboration, private and ad-hoc conversations This Week in Testing for those who want to share, process and listen into what they've been doing recently OnDemand courses for short focused async learning Certifications for those who want to go deep into specific areas of testing and quality engineering 99 second and 404 talks for those wanting to dip their toes into public speaking Articles for those that love to write Longer talks that require more time to go into depth into specific topics ….and some much more! Our MoT Professional Membership supports this in every way. We can contribute and learn in very small or huge ways. And along the way members can build beautiful and visible proof of their learning contributions via their MoT Profiles—this is a living, online and forever updating personal portfolio of contributions that help expand the MoTaverse. We are here to help testing and quality engineering professionals become their best selves. When we started our membership it consisted mostly of TestBash talks. We're pleased to say we've expanded it in so many ways. It's not just talks. It's Testing Trends. It's OnDemand courses. It's Certifications. It's Lead with Quality. It's TestBash. It's knowledge, knowledge, everywhere. And contributed by the people. We currently have 23 OnDemand courses, including: But we're working on more. Here's what is in the near pipeline: We will also be collaborating with the community to create MoT courses. These are all super relevant and hot topics that every modern software testing professional needs to have an understanding of. We've had amazing feedback from out...

The MoTaverse expands again with ‘Leading with Quality’

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 09:05:00 -0000

We’re thrilled to announce Leading with Quality , an exclusive, in-person event designed for leaders who are shaping the future of quality in software. This one-day experience takes place on Tuesday, the 30th of September, at The Old Courthouse in Brighton, just a stone’s throw from the Brighton Dome, where TestBash unfolds the following day. As technology accelerates and systems grow more complex, the role of quality leaders has never been more critical. Leading with Quality is our response to this evolving landscape. A space where the best minds in quality engineering, testing and leadership come together to expand their thinking, challenge assumptions and build stronger strategies for the future. What Awaits You? Four insightful sessions led by industry experts exploring what quality engineering looks like in the years ahead (speaker details coming soon!). Meaningful networking opportunities with peers who share your passion for quality. Engaging conversations that move beyond surface-level discussions into real, actionable insights. A rare chance to step back and think strategically about the role of quality in your organisation. Why Join? Shape the future of quality in software development. Connect with fellow leaders who understand the challenges and opportunities of modern quality practices. Gain fresh perspectives on models, frameworks and leadership approaches that will drive innovation. Be part of a growing movement that redefines how businesses approach quality at every level. Who Should Attend? This event is built for leaders who drive quality initiatives and influence strategic decisions, including: Engineering Managers Heads of Testing/Quality CTOs and CEOs Staff Engineers Team Leads Leading with Quality is more than just an event, it’s a step towards a stronger, more connected community of quality leaders. Join us in Brighton and be part of this pivotal conversation before the TestBash energy takes over! Early Bird Tickets Now Available 🎟️ Professional Members get a whopping £100 discount, and Unlimited Members go free, as long as they're in a leadership role! Stay tuned for updates about the lineup as we continue to expand the MoTaverse and create new opportunities to lead with quality.

🌊 The TestBash Brighton 2025 Lineup is HERE! 🎉

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 09:00:00 -0000

The MoTaverse is expanding once again, and we’re beyond excited to unveil the full lineup of speakers, teachers and hosts for TestBash Brighton 2025 ! TestBash is not just a conference. It’s a reflection of the community research we do throughout the year. We’re not jumping on hype, we’ve been in deep research mode for the past 12 months to bring you themes that matter to software testing and quality engineering professionals. You better believe that we pay attention to everything and strive to bring you what matters the most to you. Every community conversation, Testing Trend, This Week in Testing, community-contributed article, The Club post, Testing Planet session, talk, Slack chat, glossary entry and certification contribution have influenced our decision-making on who and what should be represented at TestBash. This is what sets TestBash apart. The 24/7/365 contributions from the community enable us to set trends together. We haven’t nominated a theme for this TestBash, but what has become apparent for 2025 is that testing needs to happen everywhere . This shows up in the trend towards the need to explore continuous quality, holistic and quality engineering as an overarching trend. Quality is everywhere, it’s not shift left, it’s shift everywhere 80% of people like us now identify as Quality Engineers We have real potential to guide AI development through a critical and ethical lens; deeper conversations around AI are required A black and white, or a pass-or-fail mindset, doesn’t help us build better products. We have to think in systems. What comes as standard at TestBash Diversity of voices Investment in new voices Every talk is a keynote talk Authentic community vibes Accessibility and inclusivity at the heart Engaging activities and social opportunities for all The option to take to the stage as a first-time speaker Actionable takeaways to bring back to your workplace Yes, talks will be digitised, but in-person brings deeper connections Here’s what the community have to say about TestBash Great day at #TestBash definitely some very nice speakers, for first time attendance definitely recommend it. Wish I attended some of the workshops though that’s the plan for next year, keep up the good work! Haris Mavrokefalidis It was amazing to be back in Brighton at #testbash with the Postman team. We shared many new features like Postman Vault, Postbot and the Package Library which all help to facilitate team based API Collaboration...

MoT Monthly - March 2025

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:30:00 -0000

👋 Welcome to March’s issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of how the MoTaverse has expanded. Let’s go! 🚀 🆙 Product and Community updates Our small team has been working hard to continuously be shipping, here’s what we’ve been working on: Did you know? The MoTaverse is here to answer your questions you never knew needed answering! MoT Profiles appear in MoT search, why not give it a go ? Add your interest to your MoT Profile : They even show up in search results. For example, you can see who is interested in Space Duck . 🦆 MoT Glossary : We’ve been working hard on adding terms to our glossary and it has been a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The goal we have is to collect definitions from across the community. Professional Members can add definitions to existing terms, why not give it a go? These days we’re exploring how we describe who we are at Ministry of Testing and what we are trying to achieve for you. The MoTaverse is a bit of this and a bit of that . 🗓️ Join these events New events are always added, so keep checking the events page for up-to-date info. This Week in Testing Fri 14 Mar 🎙️ Accra Meetup Sat 15 Mar 🇬🇭 Software Testing Live: Episode 02: Access All Areas Wed 19 Mar 🔎 SeleniumConf & AppiumConf Valencia 2025 Wed 26 Mar 🇪🇸 Episode Ten: Exploring Quality Coaching Thu 27 Mar 🪐 Cincinnati Meetup Thu 27 Mar 🇺🇸 London Meetup Thu 3 Apr 🇬🇧 Gloucestershire Meetup Thu 3 Apr 🇬🇧 TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 🤩 All recorded events are added to the Ministry of Testing catalogue. Professional members have access to the entire catalogue of learning material. 🤩 🥞 Collections The Community's Guide to Requirements Exploring Quality Engineering - The Testing Planet - Episode 8 Systems Thinking - What Is It? The Community's Guide to Continuous Quality The Community's Guide to Test Automation The Community's Guide to Quality Coaching 📊 Testing trends Testing Trends Weekly — Issue 4 Hybrid, remote, or office? The changing work trends for software testers Is the AI bubble bursting? Testing Trends Weekly — Issue 5 80% of people like us identify as Quality Engineers Testing Trends Weekly — Issue 6 Exploring the software testing career path towards Quality Engineering How is a Quality Engineer different from a Test Engineer? Is Quality Engineering an evolution of the software testing role? 🎓 Certifications The MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate (STEC) ...

The MoTaverse: a bit of this and a bit of that

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:00:00 -0000

These days I'm exploring how we describe who we are at Ministry of Testing and what we are trying to achieve for you. We've been around in our earliest life form since 2007. Hosted our first conference in 2012. Started building a membership platform around 2015. Started publishing articles and running MoT Meetups across the globe around 2016. Hosted OnDemand courses around 2017. Hosted online conferences around 2020. Launched our first certifications in 2024 and a second one in 2025. Started Testing Trends in 2024. Started MoT memories and memes in 2024. Started a glossary in 2025… As someone who has been in deep research mode around businesses and communities, I refer to this as a community of practice. However, even that doesn't really reflect what we are doing and trying to do. We're trying to be brave. We're stepping up when the world feels crazy. We aspire to expand the software testing universe in ways that haven't been done, anywhere. The MoTaverse should be where software testing and quality engineering professionals can dip in and dip out at any point of their lives to not only learn, but to be inspired and to connect with those around them. We believe the world will be a better place with the MoTaverse, not only to us as professionals, but also to the quality of software across the globe. How exciting is this to think about? We also believe we are building another model for other professions to follow. A beautiful space, of learning, career advancement and opportunities. A place where we are better together. A place where we can make better sense of all the knowledge out there. I believe we can be a positive example to the world. We can show other professions how to gather and expand knowledge. We are a place that considers diversity. Not only of people, but that of how we learn. We all learn differently. Some through courses. Some through conversations. Some through presenting and sharing their ideas. Some through attending meetups or conferences. Some love video, others prefer audio, some are visual people, others love text, and some simply love absorbing what is around them. From this perspective, we can't just be one thing; we are many things, but with a very clear purpose of creating the most supportive space out there for people like us. We're a bit like: YouTube and Netflix — have you watched any of our videos recently? LinkedIn — contributions you make will make your profile and profession shine bright Instagram — come share...

MoT Meetups: March 2025

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 05:18:00 -0000

Risk, agility, precision, and inclusion—testing isn’t just about catching issues; it’s about reshaping how we build. From risk strategy in Newcastle to AI-powered Agile in Cincinnati, from London’s buzzing networking scene to deep-diving into accessibility in Gloucestershire, there’s a meetup for all testers and quality engineers. Which challenge will you tackle next? We’re all meeting in Brighton this October! 🌊 Have you got your ticket for TestBash? Newcastle Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Monday, 10 March 2025 Risk is everywhere—most teams just don’t see it until it’s too late. How do you plan for the things you don’t know are coming, and does your strategy actually hold up under pressure? Maybe the real risk isn’t in the backlog—it’s in assuming your team actually knows what could go wrong. Gather in Newcastle, break things in a safe space, and leave with a sharper strategy (and hopefully, fewer production fires). Ghana meetup (Accra) 🇬🇭 Date: Saturday, 15 March 2025 Ministry of Testing Ghana kicks off “The Truth About Testing” on March 15, 2025—an online event for all tech enthusiasts. If testing ensures quality, why is it often sidelined? Maybe it’s time to rethink. If you've ever trusted “bug-free” code and regretted it, this is your chance to set things right! Riskstorming: a guide and deck of cards to help explore risk analysis and quality strategy. 🌪️ Available in print and digital packs Cincinnati Meetup 🇺🇸 Date: Thursday, 27 March 2025 An Agile testing workshop on March 27, 2025, dives into test automation, continuous testing, and AI-assisted planning. If Agile moves fast, why is testing often a bottleneck? Learn how to integrate AI into your workflow and make quality assurance as agile as your development cycle. London Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday, 3 April 2025 London MoT 2.0 kicks off on April 3, 2025, with more games, giveaways, and networking! If testing is about precision, why do so many rely on luck to grab a spot? Secure your place or join the waitlist—because the best bugs aren’t the only thing worth catching. Gloucestershire Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday, 3 April 2025 An evening of accessibility testing insights awaits on April 3, 2025, in Gloucestershire! If software is built for everyone, why is accessibility still an afterthought? Learn from experts, refine your toolkit, and ensure your testing doesn’t leave users behind—because exclusion is the worst kind of bug. The certification that gives junior testers confidence, community and connections....

Did you know?

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Did you know… that 80% of people like us identify as Quality Engineers? there's an AI worry list? it's not about shift-left any more, it's more about shifting everywhere and continuously we are your research, network and educational ondemand partner? And we couldn’t be more excited about it. The future is changing right before our eyes. The Ministry of Testing here is to guide you and your team along the way. What an honour it is to be able to support the people who care deeply about quality software products. We believe our fresh take on deep research with educational and community experiences will positively impact software quality across the globe. What we do now directly impacts the future of software. That’s a mind-blowing thought. We’re not just a conference. We’re not just a community. We are here to help the software testing and quality engineering industry thrive. We’re your research partner. We’re your insight discoverer. We’re your education partner. We’re expanding the MoTaverse to help you navigate the challenges of building better software. Exploring essential new boundaries: Today, we want to highlight some worthy trending areas that are worthy of exploring: The Community’s Guide to Quality Engineering : We recently discovered that 80% of people like us identify as Quality Engineers. Do you know what this means for your career and your organisation? The Community’s Guide to Continuous Quality : In late 2024, we took a deep dive into Continuous Quality. This one is for you if you’re sick of hearing about shift-left. The Community’s Guide to AI and Testing : Do you worry about AI? Yeah, so do others. So much so that, amongst other great pieces, we wrote an AI worry list! Prompting for testers : AI ain't going anywhere. Learn the art of prompting from the incredible Rahul Parwal Come and explore with us—the only place that provides 24/7/365 support for software testing and quality engineering. The MoTaverse is aptly holistic, continuous, engineered and tested for and by people like us. Upgrade to a Professional Membership . You can go Unlimited to access all our certifications and TestBash conference too! Over the past year, MoT has made incredible strides and has advanced significantly. The difference is evident throughout the entire community. Huge congratulations to the leadership team of MoT! – Petros Plakogiannis

Expand your testing Universe with Systems Thinking

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

Prepare for lift-off on Thursday, 27th February 2025 , from 14:00 to 17:00 GMT, as The Testing Planet continues its intergalactic journey with Episode 09: Exploring Systems Thinking . This free, online broadcast from the MoTaverse, will transmit fresh insights into how systems thinking can expand your approach to testing and beyond. In this episode, we’ll uncover the fundamentals of systems thinking and explore models that help us better understand complex systems. 🔭 Mission Highlights Cosmic Conversation: Systems thinking models decoded! With Isabel Evans and Joep Schuurkes In this panel discussion, Isabel and Joep will guide us through the interconnected galaxies of systems thinking. Questions that will be explored: What are systems thinking models, and how can they guide software quality efforts? How can systems thinking theory be applied in practice to solve software quality challenges? How do feedback loops and delays impact system behaviour and software quality? What are the challenges and benefits of adopting systems thinking models across teams? 🚀 Register for free Work as Designed With Elisabeth Hendrickson In this talk, Elisabeth Hendrickson shares powerful insights on how systems thinking can transform the way we work. Deming said, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” Back in 2001, I presented a paper titled “Better Testing, Worse Quality” at the SM/ASM Conference. In it, I demonstrated how a heavy investment in building up a QA group ironically caused overall quality to go down. We designed the system to improve quality, but it got worse. How could that possibly be? The answer is that all the elements of a system influence each other, sometimes in surprising ways. When we increased the investment in QA, the developers decreased their investment in testing. It makes sense once you find the hidden connection, but until then it is maddeningly counterintuitive. That’s how systems are. In this talk, Elisabeth Hendrickson examines the nature of software development systems with thinking tools like causal models and Shewhart charts, as well as frameworks like the Theory of Constraints and Queueing Theory. You’ll learn how to reason about the interactions and (sometimes hidden) relationships between different aspects of the software development system. By the end of the talk, you’ll be more equipped to understand why things are the way they are and help others see what you see. 🚀 Register for...

We're building the MoTaverse. 🪐

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

Whilst we use the term with a bit of tongue and cheek, we're very serious about our mission. We're not letting social have all the fun and we're co-creating a special place for software testing and quality engineering professionals. We're building a software testing planet: - we run a job board - we educate via memes - we have an active forum - we publish Testing Trends - we publish talks on-demand - we publish articles every week - we create on-demand courses - we operate virtual and in real life - we host virtual Testing Planet events - we share photos via our MoT Memories - we gather across the globe at local meetups - we create deep in-depth certification pathways - we're exploring language through a co-created glossary - we have a celebration once a year at TestBash in Brighton - members can create their own public MoT Profile and page - members can mark themselves as open to work, write, teach We're a bit like a news organisation. We're a bit like LinkedIn. We're a bit like Instagram. We're a bit like YouTube. We're a bit like Urban Dictionary. We're a bit like a University. We're a bit like an online school. We're a bit like a professional network. We're building something that doesn't exist anywhere else. Here's the catch: it's co-created. Let's expand our horizons together, we can't do it without you.

MoT Monthly - February 2025

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:30:00 -0000

👋 Welcome to February’s issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of the ever-expanding MoTaverse. We recommend exploring the following links. Let’s go! 🚀 🆙 Product and Community updates Our small team has been working hard to continuously be shipping, here’s what we’ve been working on: Releasing new modules for STEC, Module 7 is live! We launched a glossary, and added a whole bunch of terms that you can also add to yourself. We’ve been improving our MoT Profies with new content pieces now being added automatically to help build up your portfolio. Badges are here, have you gotten any yet? We’re just getting started and have new ones dropping regularly. In addition to our Community Certificates, community contributions can now lead to an Above & Beyond badge. We’re doing the work to remove links to X. They are no longer allowed on our platform and we have removed the option to have them on MoT Profiles. Our localised meetups are growing, over 500 people across the world gathered in January and two new meetups groups have been started just in the past week. Is there one near you? We’ve been onboarding companies onto our Partner Program. Rosie Sherry soft launched a newsletter — Letters from the CEO. Introducing the 2025 Ministry of Testing Ambassadors . 🤩 🗓️ Join these events New events are always added, so keep checking the events page for up-to-date info. T his Week in Testing Fri 7 Feb 🎙️ Topic Speed Up, Scale Up: Smarter Test Management with AI & Kualitee! Wed 12 Feb Berlin Meetup Thu 13 Feb 🇩🇪 Coventry Meetup Thu 13 Feb 🇬🇧 This Week in Testing Fri 14 Feb 🎙️ Manila Meetup Thu 18 Feb 🇵🇭 Athens Meetup Tue 25 Feb 🇬🇷 Episode Nine: Exploring Systems Thinking Thu 27 Feb 🪐 What Sets a Top API Testing Solution Apart? Thu 27 Feb Munich Meetup Wed 5 Mar 🇩🇪 Newcastle Meetup Mon 10 Mar 🇬🇧 SeleniumConf & AppiumConf Valencia 2025 Wed 26 Mar 🇪🇸 Episode Ten: Exploring Quality Coaching Thu 27 Mar 🪐 TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 🤩 All recorded events are added to the Ministry of Testing catalogue. Professional members have access to the entire catalogue of learning material. 🤩 🥞 Collections AI & Automation Career Toolkit Building Effective Streams of Communication The Community's Guide to Systems Thinking Regression Testing Interviews, Resume, CVs The Community's Guide to Quality Engineering 📊 Testing trends Do you proactively read pull requests? Testing Trends Weekly —...

MoT Meetups Feb 2025

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:09:00 -0000

February’s here, and the Ministry of Testing Meetups are buzzing. January started strong—London’s first meetup sold out, Athens packed the house, and testing brains bonded over AI, strategy, and quality. Missed Sheffield on the 6th of Feb? No sweat. Athens is hosting Women in Test on Feb 25, and Newcastle dives into RiskStorming with Beren Van Daele on March 10. Plenty more where that came from—don’t miss out! 🌪️ Riskstorming: a guide and deck of cards to help explore risk analysis and quality strategy. Available in print and digital packs Sheffield Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday, 6 February 2025 Testing, pizza, and a room full of sharp minds—Sheffield is setting the bar for 2025. Will your go-to bug-hunting technique hold up under scrutiny, or will you leave with a better one? Maybe the real defect is assuming networking isn’t part of quality engineering. Organiser : Melissa Rocks Berlin Meetup 🇩🇪 Date: Thursday, 13 February 2025 Bug hunts, edge-case charades, and production fire drills—Berlin is turning testing into a game. Can you outwit a critical defect before it ships, or will you be the one holding the sev-1 hot potato? Maybe the real test is explaining a race condition without watching everyone's eyes glaze over. Organisers : Jan Eumann , Nico Neuschitzer Coventry Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday, 13 February 2025 Quality is everyone’s responsibility—great soundbite, but what does it actually mean? Can a team truly own something they can’t define, or are we all just nodding along to a feel-good slogan? Maybe real quality starts when we stop assuming we all agree on what it is. Attend, challenge the idea, and make it make sense. Organisers: Russell Thomas , James Wadley , Andrew Morton "MoT is becoming a paradise for testers to experiment, extend, and innovate. In a world of limited opportunities for testers, MoT is creating the difference we all needed!" — Rahul Parwal Upgrade your software testing career with Ministry of Testing Manila Meetup 🇵🇭 Date: Tuesday, 18 February 2025 AI, automation, and quality engineering—buzzwords or the future of testing? Can we trust AI to catch what humans miss, or are we just training it to repeat our blind spots at scale? Maybe the real challenge isn’t AI, but how we integrate it without losing the craft. Show up in Manila and put the hype to the test. Organiser: Anthony Seumal Athens Meetup 🇬🇷 Date: Tuesday, 25 February 2025 Some memorise test cases. Others rewrite the script. Can we really...

The MoTaverse Community Algorithm

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0000

In the MoTaverse we know the direction we are heading in, but we don't plan for every detail. Everything we do is intended to help us get a little bit closer to our dreams of the best tech community out there. Yes, software testing and quality engineering professionals, I believe we can do this! Our internal philosophy is to build upon one little iteration at a time. Crucial for this is doing the work, making observations and then looking for opportunities to improve. It's a whole team approach, and it's beautiful. Sometimes to build in iterations, we commit to something publicly and then figure out how to do it. This is what we did with Community Certificates . We announced them, then many months later, found a system that would lead to us issuing them. At the time I didn't realise it, but the system we started creating was actually a community algorithm — a set of rules and processes to help us make decisions. It started by logging community interactions that we appreciated and didn't want to forget. We internally logged them manually under the code name of ⭐️ Community Star ⭐️. What started out as a very short list of reasons has evolved into a much longer list. No doubt the list will only get longer, this is largely down to our constant observation of the community and our continuous search for new Community Star opportunities. How do Community Stars work? Internally, we award members a point for every positive interaction with the community. It only takes one positive interaction to earn a community star. People can earn a maximum of one star a month. Once they earn 5 stars they are awarded a Community Certificate. More recently, we've started awarding an Above and Beyond Certificate for people who have earned “many” points within a calendar month. This is because some people deserve recognition for simply going above and beyond! How are points for Community Stars earned? We've created a list of reasons to award a point. This is currently done manually and we are fully aware that the process is error-prone. This list is forever evolving, we are always adding, adjusting and removing. We also make human decisions on whether or not we decide to award points outside of this list. We've not shared our process of the Community Algorithm. Publishing it is our way of operating as openly as we can. We recognise that people may try to hack the system. We are prepared to adapt if we feel people are behaving in a manner that doesn't align with our community...

Introducing the 2025 Ministry of Testing Ambassadors!

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 15:10:00 -0000

We’re thrilled to officially announce our 2025 Ministry of Testing Ambassadors ! These incredible community members have been selected for their passion, expertise and dedication to supporting the Ministry of Testing (MoT) community. Please give a warm welcome to: ✨ Nataliia Burmei ✨ Jenna Charlton ✨ Cassandra Leung ✨ Christine Pinto ✨ Gwen Diagram ✨ James Wadley ✨ Rahul Parwal ✨ Jesse Berkeley ✨ Petros Plakogiannis ✨ Ben Dowen ✨ Ady Stokes ✨ Scout Burghardt What does being an MoT Ambassador mean? In the MoTaverse, our Ambassadors are passionate and trusted members of our community, who understand and represent the MoT vision, values and ethos, and have the community at heart in everything they do. They are passionate professionals who actively contribute by sharing knowledge, organising events or fostering connections among testers worldwide. Through their dedication, our MoT Ambassadors inspire others to engage, learn and grow within the testing community. 🎉 Join us in celebrating them! We’re so excited to have this amazing group join us as Ambassadors and are looking forward to everything we’ll accomplish together in 2025. Let’s celebrate them and the impact they have and will continue to make this year!

📰 Quality Engineering in focus: don’t miss The Testing Planet, episode 8 🪐

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 09:00:00 -0000

Stop what you're doing! We’re about to take off once again to The Testing Planet and this is one mission you don’t want to miss! We’re landing on Wednesday, the 29th of January, at 1400 (GMT) where we will be Exploring Quality Engineering . The MoTaverse’s finest quality engineering minds are ready to share their knowledge and boldly go where few testers have gone before! Here’s a sneak peek at the stellar lineup for Episode 8: 🌌 Cosmic Conversation: Quality Engineering Models & Systems Anne-Marie Charrett : Quality engineering trailblazer with a knack for transforming chaos into elegant systems Niko Mangahas : The maestro of innovative quality systems, making the impossible seem routine 🚀 Cosmic Discussion: Quality Engineering People Jitesh Gosai : Champion of quality-focused teams with an eye for unlocking human potential Steven Knopf : Collaboration superhero who turns "teamwork" into an art form Alessandra Moreira : Advocate for inclusive excellence, building diverse, quality-driven teams. Carlos Kidman : Educator extraordinaire, empowering teams with his signature training style. 🌠 The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Quality Engineering Nataliia Burmei : Explorer of uncharted territories in quality engineering—sharing lessons from the frontlines 🛰️ The Testing Planet News Simon Tomes : Your lively guide to the latest and greatest from The Testing Planet Philippa Jennings : Serving sharp insights with a side of wit and wisdom Melissa Fisher : Always a step ahead in testing trends and tech tales Matthew Whitaker : Your cosmic compass for the future of quality engineering Don’t miss the chance to hear these legends share their stories, ideas and actionable tips that you can bring back to your own testing planet. 👉 Register now ! 👈

Find software testing professionals on Bluesky 🦋

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 09:00:00 -0000

TLDR; We're working on connecting you to each other, wherever you may be. We may start playfully referring to this the MoTaverse. We are highlighting this with an example with Bluesky , a Twitter/X-like replacement. So what? Don't groan at the idea of yet another social network. The world is changing around us, unpredictably and constantly. We view it as our role to stay on top of what is happening for software testing and quality professionals and find ways to help us continue to thrive. Why it matters… we are being digitally displaced. We don't know where to go as companies and social networks continue to fail us. The ethics of companies are questionable and change under increasing pressures around them. And whilst I don't want to get political, what I do believe is that together, as community, we are stronger. At Ministry of Testing we are doing what we can to help connect people, wherever they are. Adapt to survive… every company out there needs to adapt, we are no different. The work we do is how we adapt. We shared what MoT worked on in 2024 . As part of this, we launched MoT Profiles , which we wanted to specifically call out the ability to easily find other Bluesky users. We created Bluesky Starter Packs (view one and two ) as a way to find fellow community members, but the reality soon kicked in that it's a total pain to maintain on our end. It ends up becoming a flawed way of trying to finding people. Whilst we try to be inclusive with the lists, it's very error-prone, and it's reliant on MoT (and usually me at this point, to be honest) to spot requests to be added. The reality is that we believe it would be easier for software testing professionals to be the ones who update and maintain their MoT Profiles as a way to connect with others elsewhere. What's next? The reality is that building, maintaining and sustaining MoT is very much like building a plane whilst flying. As a small team we are pushing forward with features and shipping them in iterations. They are good enough, but not quite in a state that we envision to them to be longer term. Partly we ask for forgiveness for not being perfect, but we also ask for feedback and help in spotting problems. The good news is that we ship things fast(er). And in this case, you can view a list of MoT members who have updated their MoT profile with their Bluesky username . There's a screenshot below of a small view of MoT Members who have added their Bluesky profile. What's more… there's...

MoT Monthly - January 2025

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:00:00 -0000

👋 Happy new year and welcome to January’s issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of our testing events, new content we’ve shipped and ways to help each other. We recommend exploring the following links. Let’s go! 🚀 🗓️ Join these events New events are always added, so keep checking the events page for up-to-date info. This Week in Testing Fri 10 Jan 🎙️ Newcastle Meetup Tue 21 Jan 🇬🇧 Manchester Meetup Thu 23 Jan 🇬🇧 Bengaluru Meetup Sat 25 Jan 🇮🇳 Episode Eight: Exploring Quality Engineering Wed 29 Jan 🪐 Auckland Meetup Thu 30 Jan 🇳🇿 London Meetup Thu 30 Jan 🇬🇧 Leeds Meetup Thu 30 Jan 🇬🇧 Sheffield Meetup Thu 6 Feb 🇬🇧 Episode Nine: Exploring Systems Thinking Thu 27 Feb 🪐 Episode Ten: Exploring Quality Coaching Thu 27 Mar 🪐 TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 🤩 All recorded events are added to the Ministry of Testing catalogue. Professional members have access to the entire catalogue of learning material . 🤩 🥞 Collections A short, sharp and handy set of “404” Talks. Quick talks to learn from when there’s little time available. The Community's Guide to Test Management . Managing testing, test management and organising testing. The Community's Guide to Mobile Testing . Mobile testing, mobile automation, mobile testing frameworks. Software Testing and QA Skills . An exploration of the skills required by software testing and quality professionals. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment Continuous Quality - The Testing Planet - Episode 07 . In this episode, you'll have the chance to listen to brilliant minds explore the topic of Continuous Quality and the limitations of shift-left. The Community's Guide to Quality Coaching . What is quality coaching? What does a quality coach do? How does quality coaching fit into testing? 📊 Testing trends Are software testers responsible for continuous quality? The lines between testing and quality are blurring. The comb-shaped tester, does it make them a specialist or generalist? The testing community is multi-talented. Do you understand what is meant by Continuous Quality? The quality engineering and testing space continues to shift everywhere. New test team: 70% put test strategy as the most critical . What is the most critical first step in setting up a testing function? 🎓 Certifications Software Testing Essentials Certification (STEC) is a true alternative to ISTQB . It’s time to approach learning about testing...

MoT Meetups: January 2025

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 07:31:00 -0000

January 2025 marks the start of a new chapter, and what better way to begin than by coming together as a global community of testing and quality professionals? These meetups are more than events—they’re opportunities to exchange insights, elevate our craft, and connect with others who share a passion for excellence in technology. Wherever you are in the world, there’s a place for you in this thriving conversation. Newcastle Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Tuesday, 21 January 2025 Experience accessibility in a whole new way on January 21st at ThoughtWorks, Newcastle, with Sage’s Accessibility Team. Step into their empathy lab to explore barriers faced by people with accessibility needs, from visual and motor impairment simulators to screen reader demonstrations. Gain practical insights to elevate your testing practices, enjoy food and drinks, and connect with fellow testers. Talks begin at 6:30 PM, with post-event mingling at Bar Baccus—come along for an inspiring evening! Manchester Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday, 23 January 2025 We’re kicking off the new year with an exciting evening hosted by Auto Trader at their Manchester offices (4th Floor, 1 Tony Wilson Pl, Manchester, M15 4FN). On January 25th, explore The Power of Collaboration in Cross-Functional Software Delivery Teams with three fantastic speakers.Expect insightful talks from Auto Trader’s Gina Chelton and Sam Farndale, who’ll share how they integrate testing into every stage of software development, and Mike Kennedy, discussing Testing for Accessibility and the Euro Accessibility Act.Join us from 6 PM for food, drinks, and networking, with talks starting at 6:30 PM. Secure your spot today and let’s start 2025 together! Bengaluru Meetup 🇮🇳 Date: Saturday 25 January 2025 Begin 2025 with an inspiring morning at Qualitrix, Bengaluru, on January 25th. From thought-provoking sessions to hands-on activities and exclusive swag giveaways, this event has something for testers at every stage of their journey. In a city humming with techies, it’s the perfect space to exchange ideas, sharpen your craft, and connect with peers who share your passion for quality. Running from 10 AM to 1 PM, it’s a date not to be missed—see you there! Leeds Meetup 🇬🇧 Date: Thursday 30 January 2025 Start your 2025 with excitement at MoT Leeds. Join us on Thursday, 30th January, 18:00–20:00 GMT at BJSS Leeds for an evening designed to develop your testing career. Curious about what the job market demands or how to make applications and...

🔭 Exploring Quality Engineering - The Testing Planet Ep 08

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:25:00 -0000

Ready to start up the year with some inspiring testing insights? Join us for The Testing Planet: Episode 8 , the first episode of 2025! 🗓️ When : Wednesday, 29 January 2025, 2 to 5 PM (GMT) 🌍 Location : Online The Testing Planet Episode 08 In this episode, the community will introduce you to the principles and practices that make up quality engineering. Let's go exploring different models that drive quality engineering thinking: An introduction to quality engineering Quality engineering models & systems Quality engineering people The pitfalls and possibilities of quality engineering The future of quality engineering What to expect: Cosmic Conversation: Quality Engineering Models & Systems - Speakers TBC Cosmic discussion: Quality Engineering People with Jitesh Gosai, Steven Knopf, Alessandra Moreira and Carlos Kidman The pitfalls and possibilities of quality engineering with Keith Klein The Testing Planet News with Simon Tomes, Philippa Jennings, Melissa Fisher and Matthew Whitaker Don’t miss this chance to learn from some of the best and connect with the vibrant Ministry of Testing community . This is your opportunity to start the year on a high note! Can't wait to see you there!

This Year in MoT

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:00:00 -0000

We're not gonna lie, it's been a tough year for Ministry of Testing. We've had a real mess to clean up behind the scenes, but we're ending it on a positive note. We took a moment to reflect on the new things we've done this year as a way to remind ourselves of how far we've come. And what can I say? We've been pushing for action and change and the team has delivered! Infact, one of the challenges we've had this year is communicating everything that we've been shipping. New things in MoT in 2024 The TLDR; Polls Radar TikTok Badges Memes MoTadon 404 talks Memories Collections Rebranding MoT Profiles RiskStorming 30 Days of AI Testing Trends Find Bluesky users TestBash back home Double email list size Test Automation Cert Prompting for Testers MoT Partner Program New swag in our store Unlimited membership Enhanced MoT Weekly Delivered MoT Monthly MoT revamped glossary ️ Community Star Badges Community Certifications ✏️ Great articles every week Above and Beyond Badges 100k followers on LinkedIn 🍪 We now have a Cookie planet ☎️ Hundreds of community calls Slack for Professional Members Grew LinkedIn newsletter to 54k 10k active members on The Club Continuous Call for Contributions Print version of The Testing Planet Revamped and more Meetup groups Daily publishing, more often than not! Software Testing Essentials Cert (STEC) TWiT as a podcast, and now on Crowdcast 🦆 SpaceDuck, SpaceSeagull and Bug mascots Hundreds of Open To Work LinkedIn reposts OpenTo [work/teach/speak/mentor/apprenticeship] Events page, new and improved to include meetups too Over £15k in Scholarship Funding given back to the community The Testing Planet – Important news and many topic deep dives This Week in Testing dedicated community, 100+ people on stage. Several thousand listeners. 🥂 Thank you to the community, we couldn't do it without you. We're optimistic for 2025! Our mission is to promote and elevate the standards of software testing, QA and quality engineering. Let’s go! The longer expanded version A bit of an explanation of each thing to give more understanding: Polls : This was the foundation of us becoming more research focused. We started creating polls on our forum and LinkedIn. We then used the results and comments to write a Testing Trend (see further below). Radar : We created a page that autofeeds in content based on RSS feeds we have collected and organised. See it in action . We had the RSS feeds for...

We’re ready to be inspired. Are you ready to inspire?

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 14:38:00 -0000

⌛️ Time is running out! The final deadline to submit your talk or workshop ideas for TestBash Brighton 2025 is just around the corner: 22nd December 2024 . If you’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to share your brilliance with the testing community, this is it. 💡 What do you want the future of testing to look like? Your voice, your experiences and your unique insights could inspire hundreds. Whether you’re a first-time speaker or not, this is your chance to make an impact. Not sure what to talk about? Consider these trending topics (or surprise us with something unexpected): Automation & Advanced AI Leadership & Quality Coaching DEI, Accessibility, & Mental Health Security & Risk Management Continuous Quality & Quality Engineering Community Growth & Collaboration And everything in between! TestBash isn’t just a conference. TestBash is a stage for change makers, a celebration of diverse ideas and a chance to leave your mark on the testing planet. 🌍 Don’t let this opportunity slip away. Submit your idea now! Have a friend with an amazing idea? Give them a nudge before it’s too late! 😄 We’re ready to be inspired. Are you ready to inspire? Let’s make history together.

MoT Monthly - December 2024

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 12:00:00 -0000

👋 Welcome to December’s issue of MoT Monthly. Once a month we share a round-up of our testing events, new content we’ve shipped and ways to help each other. We recommend exploring the following links. Let’s go! 🚀 🗓️ Join these events New events are always added, so keep checking the events page for up-to-date info. This Week in Testing Fri 6 Dec Auckland Meetup Tue 10 Dec 🇳🇿 Berlin Meetup Thu 12 Dec 🇩🇪 Manchester Meetup Thu 23 Jan 🇬🇧 London Meetup Thu 30 Jan 🇬🇧 TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 🤩 All recorded events are added to the Ministry of Testing catalogue. Professional members have access to the entire catalogue of learning material . 🤩 🥞 Collections Curious and Courageous Career Paths for Testing Professionals The Community's Guide to Regression Testing The Community's Guide to Test Charters The Community's Guide to Onboarding TestRail: Test Management Platform Software Testing and QA Reporting Xray - Native Quality Management Software Testing and QA Skills Allure TestOps & Allure Report Ranorex - empowering testers Interviews, Resume, CVs Communities of Practice TestBash Talks Revisited Ady Stokes on MoT 📊 Testing trends Open to Work: October 2024 What defines a junior software tester? What’s a red flag for hiring a software tester? Do you delete tests as part of your testing strategy? Half of testers think prompting will impact test case design 🎓 Certifications At Ministry of Testing we are finally doing something about creating something educationally different. Software Testing Essentials Certification (STEC) is a true alternative to ISTQB . We believe testing and quality matters. STEC is built with those who believe that too. You will smile as you learn. You will meet people along the way. You will have the ability to build your network and tap into the mindhive of a global testing community. 🎄 Early bird pricing ends 22nd of December, the perfect Christmas bonus . 🖼️ Memes and memories Photo memories and memes create history and stories for the testing community. Add a meme or photo memory today. 99 little bugs Constant Struggle Tests in Production 14th meetup in Athens Integration test "passed" Tested all the requirements All the tools - yet Excel prevails Vancouver QA TrailTalks meetup TestBash TestMatch Memory lane Where's Bug and Cosmo? – No. 7 Auckland NZ MoT Community learns about AI the only web developers in the world who love finding bugs When you can't quite commit to accepting and...

Software Testing Essentials Certification (STEC), a true alternative to ISTQB

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 14:45:00 -0000

At Ministry of Testing we are finally doing something about creating something educationally different. For years, the testing community has debated about foundational education for software testers, with ISTQB often quoted as simultaneously the only thing on offer, while people are also dissatisfied with what it is. To be clear, we are not in the business of debating, nor putting down ISTQB. It is what it is. Competition is healthy. We are here to say we’re creating a viable modern alternative. It’s been years in discussion. One year in the making. We’re about 3 months from completion. And it’s beautiful. STEC is Mac. Where ISTQB is PC. We can co-exist, but STEC is different. We believe testing and quality matters. STEC is built with those who believe that too. You will smile as you learn. You will meet people along the way. You will have the ability to build your network and tap into the mindhive of a global testing community. STEC will give you confidence because of the practicing, value driven and diverse experts who share the knowledge and insights. STEC will give you confidence because you will see yourself in their stories. STEC will give you confidence because what is taught is modern, practical and relevant. STEC will give you confidence because we are here for you 24/7/365 and for years to come. It’s time to approach learning about testing differently. It’s time to invest in your and the industry’s future with STEC from Ministry of Testing. 🎄 Early bird pricing ends 22nd of December, the perfect Christmas bonus . P.S. Did you find the 4 bugs in the meme? P.P.S. You might be well into your testing journey. Forward this message to someone you know who is about to start.

New! The Open to Work Database

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0000

Ministry of Testing wants to be by your side at every step of your career journey. We've done this through nurturing an active forum (The Club). Hosting conferences (TestBash). Publishing articles, talks and podcasts. And creating software testing certifications to help advance your career. We also believe that being that place to bring you the opportunity is a much-needed part of a puzzle to complete. One such opportunity many of us need, especially now, is that to connect to work opportunities. Introducing Open To Work: Where MoT Professional Members can mark themselves as ‘Open to Work’ so that employers and recruiters can easily search a database to find candidates for their open roles. Marking yourself as Open to Work makes it visible publicly for anyone to view. Why it matters? The market is tough right now. Everyone needs a helping hand to find their next opportunity. Even in a buoyant market being easily visible and aligning yourself with a professional body will only support you to find new opportunities. What's more… this is available to MoT Professional only. Our commitment to relevant and quality candidates is our top priority. We had done some experiments making it available to everyone and the spam started to creep in. We're a small team with limited capacity, making it available to MoT Professional members seemed like the most sensible decision. The promise : This is the start as we continue to iterate and improve on this offering. We will be actively promoting Open To Work across all our communications. We will also soon be releasing other OpenTo options, stay tuned! 👉 To opt into Open To Work ensure you have an MoT Professional Membership go to MyMoT > Open To Work. 👀 To view who available go to our Open to Work page.

New! Everyone can now get an MoT Profile

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:00:00 -0000

Hello, it's me again! What can I say? We've got lots to share these days! We recently released the opportunity to create your own public MoT profile page. Not only can you share information and links about who you are, it will also showcase any contributions you've made to Ministry of Testing. MoT Profiles are a key and central part for us moving forward with MoT as a platform. They are available to everyone and switched off by default. You will need to go to MyMoT to switch it on, you can then select the link below your name to view your MoT Profile. Below is a screenshot of my current MoT Profile , and here are some other examples from the community: Lewis Prescott Ministry of Mischief Oleksandr Romanov Mehmet Engin Lee "Muzz" Murray Simon Tomes (TeamMoT) Andrew Morton (TeamMoT) Sarah Deery (TeamMoT) Diana Dromey (TeamMoT) Sarah Kitchener (TeamMoT) We'll be selecting some profiles to share with the wider community, how will you make yours stand out? 👉 Go to MyMoT to update your profile .

New! Professional Members can now add collections

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 10:00:00 -0000

For most of this year, Team MoT has been internally using ‘ Collections ’ to organise selective content within our platform into carefully curated resources. As we've grown over the years, the content we've produced with the software testing community has grown to an extent where we need to design ways to help people find and use it in a more meaningful way. Collections are one such way to do this. What are collections? You can view them as a group or a list of content that logically makes sense to bring together. The reasons we may group them may vary. We hope to see the community be creative in what they create. How are they being used? Internally we've used them to group all our TestBash Brighton 2024 talks. We've also grouped our Testing Planet sessions into a collection, check out Testing Planet Episode 6 as an example. Along the way we also started creating Community Guidess in response to people looking for resources on a topic. Here's The Community's Guide to Exploratory Testing . How can collections be useful to me? We are excited to see how members of the community use them. Perhaps you've contributed and want to create a collection of what you've contributed. Perhaps you want to collect content for your team to learn. Or maybe you'll collect resources to support your own software testing career journey. Who can add Collections? This new feature is available to Professional Members, you can add as many as you like and choose to make them public or private. Head over to Collections to get started. You can then view and manage all your collections within MyMoT . Not a Professional Member yet? No problem, head over to our Membership to sign up as an individual or a team .

Ready to make your mark at TestBash Brighton 2025?

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 14:28:00 -0000

Do you have a story, insight, or idea that you can’t wait to share with the testing community? Dreaming of inspiring others from the big stage or leading a hands-on workshop? This is YOUR moment! Submit your talk or workshop ideas by the 22nd of December 2024 and join us in shaping the future of testing at TestBash Brighton 2025! We’re excited to hear from you, whether you’re passionate about something unique or one of these hot topics: Automation Advanced AI Quality Engineering Security Continuous Quality Leadership Quality Coaching DEI, Accessibility & Mental Health Systems Thinking Soft Skills Testing Tools Mobile Testing All things Community Bring your passion, bring your ideas and let’s make this another unforgettable TestBash! Know someone who would make a fantastic TestBash contributor? Don’t be shy, give them a nudge! Ministry of Testing will cover travel and accommodation costs for all contributors. Good luck and we can’t wait to see your ideas come to life!

It’s here! MoT Community Certification

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:20:00 -0000

Earlier this year we announced the idea of MoT Community Certifications as a way to commit and follow through with the idea of delivering on them. We’re pleased to announce that we have started shipping them! So, what exactly are they? The foundational principle of all our community certifications is that members make several community contributions to be awarded one. We have a hand-cranked community algorithm that cannot be manipulated. Also, the number of contributions may vary depending on the certification we award. The MoT Community Certifications have been awarded to people who have been awarded 5 Community Stars. I bet you are asking how you can get a Community Star too! Contribute to the community! You can do this in many ways. Be helpful on The Club. Get quoted on a Testing Trend piece. Write an article. Speak, host or support an event. There are many ways, but you can be sure we are watching and awarding Community Stars every month. Is it just a gimmick? We don’t believe so and we’re putting our heart and energy into making it meaningful to support people’s careers. Ministry of Testing exists because of the community. Community contributions are everywhere and they help us all connect, grow and learn together. They are valuable and deserve recognition. A community certification is awarded only to those who contribute consistently and positively. Why bother? Perhaps the one thing we all have in common is the need to advance our software testing career. Making your community contributions more visible is a valuable way to do this. What’s the verdict? Rahul Parwal is out there celebrating his shiny new MoT Community Certification. Being part of the MoT Community has been a learning experience :) Bug Congrats to our first round of MoT Community Certified members! Ben Dowen Ady Stokes Rahul Parwal Konstantin Sakhchinskiy Melissa Fisher Callum Akehurst-Ryan Piotr Wicherski Stefan Papusoi James Wadley Hanan Ur Rehman Gabbi Trotter What’s next? We hope to issue more MoT Community Certifications!

🚀 MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate is here!

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:00:00 -0000

We’d like to introduce you to MoT-STEC: our Software Testing Essentials Certification , made in collaboration with the software testing professional members of the community. So what? We’re pretty excited about this. It’s been a long time in the making. Many starts. Stops. And starting over. What we’ve landed on what we feel is authentic, relevant and community-led. Most importantly it’s for the long-term benefit of the software testing community. It feels special, and it’s designed to help new testers kick-start their career with confidence. Come and watch the introductory video to get a taste of what to expect. 👇 Why it matters… the lack of a strong foundational and independent course for software testing has been a pain point for software testers for quite some time. We wanted to create something of real value whilst maintaining a strong community ethos. What’s next? MoT-STEC is available now to purchase and start learning. We’ve released the first two modules and aim to have the full certification available by the end of February 2025. We have a 50% early bird offer available until December 22nd 2024 . Zooming out… here’s an overview of what MoT-STEC will cover. The Essentials Certification from Ministry of Testing is a modern introduction to the world of testing software. It’s created with a forward thinking lens and with current experts from within the software testing industry. Our goal is to equip the next generation of software testers to move forward with confidence in their careers. 1. What is software testing? 2. What do software testers do? 3. The secret skill set of software testers 4. Testing fundamentals and techniques 5. The struggles of software testing 6. Risky business: The relationship between testing and risk 7. The complexity of software testing 8. Gather better information: understanding requirements 9. Exploring test design 10. Doing the testing work 11. The outputs of software testing 12. The art of communicating testing 13. Navigating software problems with confidence 14. Fail to plan, plan to fail 15. Testing debt and maintaining a lean machine 16. Technical Testing 17. Get started with test automation 18. Testing specialisms 19. Keeping up to date 20. Glossary 👉 Get MoT-STEC, for you or your team

RiskStorming is here!

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 08:00:00 -0000

🎉 We've just launched RiskStorming , an educational tool, a guide, a set of card decks, in print or digital formats. RiskStorming is an educational tool to explore Risk Analysis and Quality Strategy building with the whole team. RiskStorming has been crafted to be versatile, widely applicable and quickly understandable by the whole people across the organisation, inside and out of the software development team. Why should you care about risk analysis and strategy with the whole team? Successful products and businesses require input from the whole team to identify challenges, problems and risks. RiskStorming helps the whole team cut to the chase Get guidance on where to direct important team conversations Learn how to conduct RiskStorming workshops Understand how to use RiskStorming in solo mode Dive into Quality Aspects that are important to you Navigating RiskStorming with co-located teams Identify risks that bring negative impact Discover who and what the focus should be Determine team action points Start building your own quality and risk story Workshops, collaboration and conversations lead to the answers unique to your team situation. RiskStorming is your tool and guide to figuring out what exactly is quality to your product or project and how each role in your business can contribute to it. What’s included in RiskStorming? RiskStorming includes: 100 cards as a deck split into: Quality Aspects Cards (20) Product Cards (20) Development Cards (20) Testing Cards (20) Operations Cards (20) A Complete Guide to RiskStorming — Strategies for designing workshops and making the most of the RiskStorming card deck (PDF) Digital RiskStorming board 👉 Buy print or digital RiskStorming, for you or your team !

What's happening at The Testing Planet episode 6: The Apprentice

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 14:24:00 -0000

A curious tester seeks advice from a friend. Many community members realise they have more advice to share than they once believed. Origin stories reveal curious connections. This sixth episode of The Testing Planet will focus on the next generation of testers, those who are new to testing and how those who have been around can help them. This episode is not just dedicated to those getting started but to everyone interested in collaboration and career goals. We've split this episode into 3 parts, in a way to mimic the path of someone becoming a software tester: Learn about testing Interview Onboarding The Apprentice schedule: (BST, UK Timezone) 2:00 PM - Welcome with Tristan Lombard 2:15 PM - Cosmic conversation on how to learn about testing with Tristan Lombard, Cassandra H. Leung, Barry Ehigiator and Ady Stokes 3:00 PM - The Testing Planet news with Simon Tomes, Elizabeth Zagroba, Jesse Berkeley and Alessandra Moreira 3:30 PM - Interactive cosmic discussion on how to better approach interview questions with Tristan Lombard, Nataliia Burmei, Stuart Day and Jesse Berkeley 4:15 PM - Fireside chat: onboarding from both perspectives with Maddy Kilsby-McMurray and Tamara Josten 5:00 PM - The end Register today for this free online event happening on Thursday, the 24th of October 2024 .

30 Days of TestBash

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

We've all done it before. We've attended a conference. Networked. Made great (potential) friends. Have been inspired. We promise to share our experiences. Submit to future events. Keep in touch and engage within the community. And then we collapse it post-event tiredness. We have work and life to catch up on. Slowly but surely, the priority of taking action on the conference experience falls down the list. To help and encourage us to take action we've created a 30 Days of TestBash — an opportunity to share and reflect in many different ways on The Club. It's not designed with the expectation to participate every day, it's more to encourage us to connect and contribute based on what we experienced. We hope to see you in there! We will update this post with the full list of activities as we go: Day 1: TestBash 2024 Memories thread Day 2: #RestBash after TestBash Day 3: Reflect on Your TestBash Learnings Day 4: Construct a 99 second talk Day 5: Set that Goal Day 6: Share your favourite TestBash Quote Day 7: Message bash! Day 8: What the Duck? Day 9: Think Outside the Black Box Day 10: How do you productize yourself? Day 11 - Attend the TestBash Special (The Testing Planet) Day 12: Give a 99 Second Talk on This Week in Testing - live! Day 13: Share a self-awareness tip Day 14: Explore your role in Responsible AI Day 15: Share something you like about Brighton Day 16: How would you test a testing conference? Day 17: Start your public speaking journey Day 18: What testing trends did you notice? Day 19: Pair with AI Day 20: Apply critical thinking to your well-being Day 21: Explore Quality Coaching Day 22: What’s the risk of not going to or not having TestBash? Day 23: Drive conversations with data We look forward to hearing from you again! ❤️

Upcoming Meetups at The Ministry of Testing

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0000

At the Ministry of Testing the community takes the lead on hosting local meetups . See if there is one happening near you, browse the meetup list, or consider leading one near where you live ! 🪐 Munich Meetup Date: 18th September, today! Join us at the fourth Meetup of the Ministry of Testing Munich Group in 2024! This time we´ll learn together more about "(Mis)Using Personas with the Seven Dwarfs" and "Behind the test automation at JetBrains: Building an efficient test infrastructure" in the fantastic office space of JetBrains Munich. 🪐 Manchester Meetup Date: 19th September The next Manchester Meetup focuses on how Testers can enhance Security and Quality in their teams. Top 5 Security Vulnerabilities to Test For - Gurunatha Reddy G Preventative Security from within the SDLC - Dan Smart 🪐 Vancouver Meetup Date: 22nd September QA TrailTalks: Bi-Weekly Walking Meetup in Vancouver We’ll start at the Stanley Park Nature House, walk along the lake, and then follow the Bridle Path to Prospect Point Lookout. There, we’ll stop at Prospect Point Café for coffee and a chat break. 🪐 Berlin Meetup Date: 25th September MoT Berlin #41 - Chatbots for the Finance Industry & Bug Management with AI Join this session to explore how AI-driven hackathons can inspire you to innovate and enhance your bug management and other traditional processes. Discover the potential of AI to not only automate but elevate your workflows, fostering a culture of creativity and effectiveness in the face of software challenges. 🪐 Leuven Meetup Date: 26th September Do you have a passion, interest or curiosity in software testing & quality assurance? Great, you're in for a treat! Whether you're a seasoned expert or just taking your first steps in the industry, we're pretty sure we've got something for you (and vice-versa). Join in for a talk with Vernon Richards and Open Space sessions. 🪐 Leeds Meetup Date: 26th September This month's Ministry of Testing Leeds, supported by Accenture, will focus on Quality Engineering. For this month's Ministry of Testing Leeds, we will be supported by the great folks at Accenture. Our theme is Quality Engineering and details of our speakers will be posted soon. As usual, we will have our free raffle for MoT swag, books etc. and there might be some extras from our hosts. Keep an eye on socials for details and save the date. 🪐 Newcastle Meetup Date: October 1st MoT Newcastle - Performance Testing with K6 & Automated...

🤖 New Course: Prompting for Testers

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 12:00:00 -0000

We're excited to share that we've launched a new on-demand software testing course called Prompting for Testers. This course is available to all Professional and Unlimited Members. As Generative AI continues to gain popularity, knowing how to use it effectively can make a big difference in your daily testing tasks and long-term career goals. A key skill in making the most of this technology is prompt engineering —the practice of designing and refining prompts to get the best results from large language models (LLMs). This course is for testers who want to add this essential, practical skill to their testing toolkit. Whether you're new to testing or have years of experience, this course will introduce you to the practical side of prompt engineering, combining video lessons, hands-on exercises, interactive activities, and even a few fun games to reinforce your learning. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to confidently create and refine powerful prompts, making Generative AI a valuable tool in your everyday work. 🤖 Explore Prompting for Testers or upgrade to Professional Membership . Prompting for Testers Course Outline: What are prompts? Prompt engineering use cases in testing Essential prompting techniques Context-driven prompting Prompts for test data Prompting for test ideas Prompting checklist: Secrets of good prompts Prompting hubs for testing Next steps: Develop your prompt engineering plan 🤖 Explore Prompting for Testers or upgrade to Professional Membership .

We can add memes

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

We are happy to announce that the testing community can add memes. We can dismiss memes as jokes that lack professionalism and true insight. The reality is that memes are a language. They create culture. They are a form of expression that connects people and knowledge. Memes are a valid form of content to help us all thrive and learn as software testers. So, on that basis. We can add memes , have a go yourself! (Note: this is in beta and we currently review memes before publishing.)

🚀 Launching the MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

The Software Testing Essentials course and certification is perfect for anyone looking to jump into their software testing career with confidence or those who wish to get a broad understanding of software testing. Designed and built with experienced and practising software testers from within our community, it covers everything you need to build confidence in your software testing skills and knowledge. From the basics of testing, like understanding how to test an input field, to exploring advanced techniques, such as performing risk analysis to uncover potential issues early on. As with everything with Ministry of Testing, one of our biggest goals is to ensure we are supporting our profession in a modern way. This course is created with a forward-thinking lens, with current experts and with our eyes closely on software testing trends. Our goal is to equip the next generation of software testers to move forward with confidence in their careers. Starting in mid-October 2024, modules will be released gradually , and early access purchasers can get a head start and access to all at a discounted rate. It’s a great opportunity to begin your journey and learn at your own pace. You can purchase now at 50% off . For Unlimited Members this certification is included in your membership. Explore Software Testing Essentials Certificate

This Week in Testing is now available as podcast

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 12:00:00 -0000

On Fridays we gather to talk about all things software testing, quality assurance and quality engineering, it's an opportunity to: 🌱 Connect, share, grow. 🗣️ Join This Week in Testing for an informal online gathering. 🚀 Discuss the week's testing news & trends, share experiences, and learn together. We now have this show available as a podcast Listen to TWiT on the go Now there are a few ways you can tune into This Week in Testing: Listen in and join in live online on Fridays via LinkedIn, find upcoming sessions . Listen via Ministry of Testing . Listen on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify Subscribe and listen to it via our YouTube channel. 🙏 And if you appreciate or like this podcast, why not give us a positive rating, a thumbs up, a follow or a share!

What's Ministry of Testing Professional Membership all about?

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 10:59:00 -0000

We've been doing a big refresh at Ministry of Testing and I thought it would be worth sharing what we are up to and where we are heading. Our goal is to become the most useful resource place for software testing and quality engineering professionals. We are niche and that shows in the fact that we talk about testing, quality, testing and then quality again! There is nowhere else that does what we do. Sometimes this comes with the depth of coverage. Other times it is with the frequency, every week we are shipping multiple pieces of useful insights. Our network is a key part of this too, community has always been at the heart of what we do. We are independent and care deeply about our industry and our goal is to support the people and the advancement of our craft with positivity, care, action and professionalism. And perhaps most importantly we are striving to be a modern place for testing. Together we can create an software testing industry that inspires us and is fit for the future. This is how and why we are doing what we are doing: Professional Membership Our Professional Membership is designed to provide software testing professionals a supportive and learning focused space to grow. It wants to help you go places. You can choose between Professional or Unlimited (Professional + all certifications + TestBash) Membership. So what? Our goal with Professional Membership is variety. We offer the most comprehensive range of resources available for software testing professionals. Why it matters : Finding and learning from a whole bunch of people facing similar challenges that you face is crucial for any profession. What's more : We hope to save you time by doing the research for you. We find people. We find stories. We find news. We gather data. We do this to enable you to make better decisions in your software testing job. Testing Trends Testing Trends is a new and core part of our Professional Membership offering. It is where we bring the news to you. It is where we do research and gather data. Stay on top of Testing Trends is an essential need for every software testers professional development. So what? Professional development comes in many forms, staying on top of trends is a key part for any software testing professional. It's also an overwhelming minefield out there. Testing Trends is something every software tester should have at their finger tips. Why it matters : The world moves fast. Knowledge and understanding is power. As software testers...

What can communities of practices do for your software testing?

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Once a month, with The Testing Planet, the software testing community gathers for an exploration of discovery. This month we are exploring Communities of Practices. Learning can happen anytime, anywhere, should you choose to intentionally design opportunities to do so. What are communities of practices? What are the benefits? How can we adopt them into our organizations? And, of course, how can we use them to bring quality and risk improvements to our work? Join us this Thursday to learn from those who have been there and done that! Previously on The Testing Planet with Tristan Lombard The Testing Planet News with Simon Tomes , Aj Wilson & Christine Pinto Bringing Quality & Risk to the Organisation with Beren van Daele The Value of Communities of Practice (AMA) with Beth Marshall and Alex Reynolds A Cosmic Conversation About The Advantages of Communities of Practice with Drew Pontikis and Kulas Angeles 👉 Save my spot!

Testing Trends: The insights and data from the heart of the software testing industry

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:00:00 -0000

At Ministry of Testing we’re on a mission to bring you insights that matter. For years we’ve been at the heart of the community, hosting and facilitating conversations. We’ve done this at a depth that no other software testing organisation has managed to match. Our forum, The Club , is very much alive and thriving. We pull together a weekly newsletter from what is happening in the community and what is on our radar . We publish articles weekly. We host The Testing Planet monthly events with software testing professionals across the globe. The community amazingly leads with member-led MoT Meetups . We are releasing software testing certifications and shorter ondemand courses . And of course, our TestBash conferences bring us all together for further depth. And now, Testing Trends is going to pull all of this together. We’re just getting started and we’re excited for what this will bring to Ministry of Testing and the wider software testing community. It’s not your role to sift through the amazing amount of insights that pass through our doors. We see this as our community obligation going forward. Team Ministry of Testing will do the independent research to inform you and help you make better decisions. So far we’ve published 10 software testing trends: What’s another word for “software bug"? Bug can be a triggering word, what alternatives are out there? Do software testers plan to use AI in software testing within 6 months? The opportunities to use AI in testing are vast, but how soon will you use it? Is test automation a hard skill that pushes out the soft? Test automation is a much sought-after skill, but is it at the cost of important soft skills? How much software testing invests into automation efforts : Companies investing in automation can mean many things, but how does your company measure up? Software testers feel inadequate without test automation skills . You'll have heard testers worry about a lack of automation skills, but how widespread is this concern? A software tester is…? Many have tried to define what a software tester is but what do testers think? The percentage of testing utilises AI tools . We have a lot of tools in our toolbox but how many of our tool use AI? How organisations view AI in testing . AI tools are more available than ever, but how open are companies to using AI in their testing? What percentage of your testing efforts involve automation? Test automation gets a lot of our...

What would you want to share with a new software tester?

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0000

The Testing Planet is our place to gather monthly as a community to share ideas, insights, news and stories. In July we are hosting The Apprentice , it has a focus on supporting those new to testing . How can the software testing community support the next generation of software testers? What pearls of wisdom would you choose to share? What mistakes did you make in your early career? How would you recommend someone new to software testing approaches their career? What skills are in demand today? How can people get their first job in software testing? What is important, yet not talked about enough? How can you help inspire the next generation? There are options to contribute with talks, conversations, AMAs, 404 talks and more! 👉 Submit by the end of June 2024 to be considered for The Apprentice .

A look inside our Continuous Call for Contributions process

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 17:00:00 -0000

A few weeks back we launched our Continuous Call for Contributions and since then every Monday up to 4 of us from Team MoT gather for an hour to review submitted Contributions . They are after all, continuous contributions, so if people contribute continuously, we should also review them with the same mindset. We believe people have so much to give, but when it comes to submissions it is our role at MoT to find the best place for them to fit. There are many moving pieces, we can't expect everyone to understand or know what is going on. However, as a team we should be able to make decisions about where they could fit. We review submissions with that in mind. We do not want them to gather dust and we also check ourselves to improve our own internal processes and tech. As we review them, we ask ourselves: Is this process working? What submissions are we seeing? What submissions are we not seeing? What are the trends that we may notice? Who is this person? Have they contributed before? Where would this idea fit best? What should we do with this submission? What feedback can we give? Can we make a decision on this now, or do we need to put it to one side for now? As we are creating processes for this, we've settled on various statuses on submissions internally: Pending : Unreviewed submission Parked : Reviewed and put into a pile to go back to later Invited : Reviewed and sent an invite or proposal Rejected : Reviewed and rejected, with an explanation of reasoning Accepted : Accepted and agreed to move forward Every week we find a few submissions to progress with, we expect to find efficiency gains as we move forward, especially in the run up to future TestBash conferences. This is a transition year for MoT, as we believe we are moving towards something really special for software testing and QA professionals. We view everything that we are doing right now as an iteration. The tech and the processes will change to be optimised for the best possible experience. I'm not sure we'll ever have "inbox zero" with this process, we can promise we are evolving and turning it into a process that makes more sense, for the contributors, us as Team MoT and also for the exciting things we'd love to deliver on for our software testing industry. It's early days yet, so response time is a bit slower, this post is a way to share that we are working on it and hope to speed up the process over the coming weeks. And of course, feedback is always welcome....

Introducing MoT’s Continuous Call for Contributions

Wed, 22 May 2024 10:00:00 -0000

At the core of our thesis is the idea that innovation happens when people come together to share ideas. Our commitment is to create a space to enable both you and our software testing industry to thrive. As part of this, we need to get smarter with contributions from the community. MoT’s Continuous Call for Contributions (CCC) is a step in this direction. The what and why behind Continuous Call for Contributions A lot is going on at Ministry of Testing. Conference-wise, we run MoTaCon . Monthly gatherings with Software Testing Live and Masterclasses. Publishing of articles and Insights. We’re forever evolving and tweaking what we do, yet the way to submit to contribute has been inefficient, both for you and us. We know we can do better and in a way that recognises the many interactions and moving parts at MoT. We get that it’s hard to keep up with everything. We also believe it is not your job to understand all the moving parts. That is our job. As a result, a big part of CCC is for us to do the work of matching your ideas to how we believe we feel it has the best impact for the community. In the past, talks were often rejected not because they were bad ideas, but more for a multitude of other reasons. It could be duplication of content, the topic not being quite right for this one event, or perhaps we felt it would be better off delivered in a different type of format. It doesn’t feel right to discard perfectly good ideas. With the Continuous Call for Contributions, our goal is to simplify the submission process. There is one simple form where you can multi-select what you are open to being considered for. As a team at MoT, we will then review submissions, give feedback or send invites on a regular cadence. We understand that many people will default to wanting to do talks at MoTaCon, but we also believe that there can be opportunities to contribute in smaller ways to build up your confidence. The advantage of smaller contributions is that they will help us build a relationship with you and spot the sparks you have to offer further down the line. For example, a 404 talk, an article or a conversation could be a great way to contribute and develop your ideas into a more refined talk on the big MoTaCon stage. An existing relationship with TeamMoT also makes it much easier for us to make a decision on MoTaCon talk acceptances. How to submit to Continuous Call for Contributions? Go to our Contribute page and submit. There is no closing date! The...

We Just Launched Unlimited Membership! Get our early access pricing.

Wed, 08 May 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Software testers should never feel lonely, at Ministry of Testing we are here to support you at every step of your journey. There’s a lot going on at Ministry of Testing. The Testing Planet is on a smooth monthly roll. We launched Test Automation Certificates earlier this year. We are back to TestBash as an annual gathering IRL, in Brighton. We continue to iterate and improve our Professional Membership offering with Testing Trends , Slack , and Office Hours …all of this is in addition to maintaining our Professional Membership offering. And we’re excited for some other things that are yet to come. We are testing the limits of how far we can go to serve the software testing, QA and quality engineering industry and your career. 💥 Go Unlimited for access to everything we have on offer! Now we want to make it as easy as possible for you to access everything we have on offer by bundling everything into one amazing package. This includes Professional Membership, Certifications and our TestBash conferences plus anything else we offer in the future. 👉 Go Unlimited 👉 Go Unlimited PS: Early discounted pricing available for a limited time PPS: Unlimited is an annual subscription for individuals or teams.

Join the weekly online Office Hours!

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:05:00 -0000

Need help figuring out how to get the most out of your professional membership ? Want advice on who to follow, what content to read/watch/listen or community event to join? Do you have a question for the Ministry of Testing team? Join the weekly online Office Hours! Here’s how it works: Every Wednesday at 2 PM BST on the MoT Slack we’ll post a link to a Google Meet Join anytime within the hour Chat with at least two members of the MoT team BONUS: Meet other members who might also be on the call. If we don’t have immediate answers to your questions, we’ll do our best to get back to you soon after the call. We’re here to help you make the most of your professional membership. The first Office Hours is on Wednesday 8th May at 2 PM BST. For all Professional Members . If you’re not already in the new Slack, visit My MoT , look for "My Slack" and select "Join MoT Slack". We look forward to speaking with you soon.

Return of the Ministry of Testing Slack

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 14:00:00 -0000

👉 TLDR; After many requests, we've restarted our Slack, but this time we're doing things differently. The Evolution and Thinking Behind Our New Slack Communities go through evolutions, and Ministry of Testing has certainly gone through one with the Slacks we've cared for over the years. We've certainly learned a lot along the way and as the world continues to evolve, so does our community and Slack strategy. After many requests, we're bringing back Slack to our ecosystem of offerings. We recently created a Slack as a way to collaborate closer with our Meetup organisers and hosts of our events. Slack was the obvious choice. As we were setting it up, it felt so good. It felt effective to share things, get things done and celebrate along the way. The natural evolution felt like we should invite people who have a commitment to Ministry of Testing. Our TestBash contributors are a good example. But then we wanted to invite attendees of TestBash. And then anyone who contributes to The Testing Planet. And then as we've been revamping and improving our Professional Membership offering it felt good to invite Professional Members in. You can see how a Slack is never a simple case of inviting a just a few people. Our Commitment Going Forward We're currently going through a very long list of iterative changes. The Slack is a part of this. Yes it's a place to chat and hang out, but it's also a place to support you. It's our commitment to collaborating and getting stuff done. Conversations are great for community. What's even better is action. This is what the Slack is for, we will use it to take action . Action might come in the form of: helping Meetup organisers with their events answering questions promptly supporting speakers with their talks MoT asking for help Opportunities within MoT members raising their hands do something new connecting before and after events sharing updates of what we've been shipping at MoT and so much organising, of all the things There are endless opportunities on how to use the Slack and it feels so much better than using email as a form of communication. Our goal is to move forward swiftly and smoothly. Moving forward applies to your career, Ministry of Testing and our software testing industry. We are a community of action. There are many ways to access The Slack Of course, this is no small task with a tiny team behind the scenes. There is a barrier, but it is designed to make it a great, supportive and actionable...

TestBash Lineup, 50% Pro Discount & Daily Tickets!

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Get ready for a triple dose of excitement because we've got some major announcements coming your way for TestBash Brighton 2024 ! 🎉 😎 Introducing the New Pro Discount: 50% Off Our Pro Membership is evolving and is committed to helping you advance your software testing career!! In addition to our new Slack, upcoming Testing Trends and the unlocking of the most comprehensive software testing knowledge base out there, Pro Members now get an astronomical 50% off their ticket, making TestBash Brighton 2024 even more irresistible! Not yet a Pro member? Sign up now! 🎟️ Daily Tickets Now Available We're very excited to announce the launch of daily tickets! Can't commit to the entire event? No problem! Attendees can now purchase tickets for one day only. Choose the day that suits you best and join us for a testing extravaganza like no other! 🫶The Contribution Lineup is Here! Get ready to be blown away by the fantastic mix of individuals carefully selected to contribute to this year’s TestBash! These community members are guaranteed to ignite your passion for testing like never before. Day One will be focused on all things around AI and Testing and Day Two is set to launch your testing career and knowledge to new heights with interactive activities, workshops and insightful talks from industry leaders. For more details on our approach for this year’s Contributors, head over to this blog written by Rosie Sherry . 🌊 Mark your calendars, set your alarms, get your tickets and prepare for an unforgettable experience at TestBash Brighton 2024 ! See you in September 👋

✨ The Stars Have Aligned with The Testing Planet

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 10:39:00 -0000

A new phenomenon has been discovered: a Syzygy . The gravitational mass of The Testing Planet has attracted some of the best shining stars and what a fantastic sight we have! The lineup for the next episode, The Machine, is here! On Thursday, the 25th of April 2024, from 2 to 5:30 PM (UK Time), we'll be beaming directly to your screens via LinkedIn and YouTube and everyone is welcome. What's Happening? 2:00 PM - Previously on The Testing Planet with Veerle Verhagen and Simon Tomes 2:15 PM - The Testing Planet News with Simon Tomes , Rosie Sherry , Ash Winter and Lisa Crispin 3:00 PM - Talk & Live Q&A: AI Testing Expedition: Practical Insights from my 30-Day Journey with Rahul Parwal 3:45 PM - Ask Me Anything about Using AI Tools to Assist Your Manual Testing with Joyz Ng 4:30 PM - Fireside Chat: A Cosmic Conversation About the Evolution of AI with Bill Matthews and Jenna Charlton 5:30 PM - The End Important Announcement from Mission Control Did you miss the last episode or want to revisit the sessions? You'll be happy to know that all recordings from The Companion are now available on our website with a Pro Membership. See you soon 👋

A Triple Treat from The Testing Planet

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0000

More Breaking News coming from The Testing Planet! The first three episodes of The Testing Planet - Season One have just been announced. 🤖 Ep.01: The Companion 🤖 A familiar friend (or foe?) turns up out of the blue to cause unforeseen problems. Management seeks answers while pressure builds to deliver the goods. The team catch a break. During this episode, we will focus on the topic of Automation, our companion in testing, with all the new trends and take a deeper dive into all the benefits of automation. 🖥️ Ep.02: The Machine 🖥️ The team scrambles to find an AI to support them. Meanwhile, the industry faces a dilemma. Yes, you guessed it right, during the second episode of The Testing Planet we will be diving into the interesting and challenging realms of machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and large language modules (LLM). How is The Machine supporting your testing? 🛠️ Ep.03: The Toolsmith 🛠️ A new tool threatens to test everything, while the team get closer to the release date. A tool-infused nightmare ensues for some. This episode will be the perfect way to finish this hat-trick: what’s in your toolbox? What tools are you missing and which tools can’t you go without? Are you ready to embark on this cosmic adventure to The Testing Planet? Have a story to tell? Get involved with each episode via the open Call for Contributions . For more breaking news and updates from the Ministry of Testing universal community, sign up for our Newsletter 📰 #TheTestingPlanet

30 Days of AI: Charting New Frontiers in Testing

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0000

Explore the world of artificial intelligence (AI) this March with 30 Days of AI in Testing (30 DoT). This month-long challenge invites testers and AI enthusiasts to explore the impact of AI on software testing. We’ll cover a whole range of AI-related topics, from the basics of prompt engineering to automated test generation, while also addressing ethics and bias in AI testing. Whether you're experienced or new to AI, this 30 DoT offers an opportunity to connect with the community and enhance your skills and understanding of AI in testing. Why Get Involved Incrementally Elevate Your Skills: Each day brings a new, manageable task that builds on the last. Helping you gradually deepen your understanding of AI in testing. Improve Your Testing Efficiency and Effectiveness: Discover the many ways AI can be used to improve your everyday testing, improving your efficiency and effectiveness. Connect and Collaborate: Engage with a global community of testers and AI enthusiasts on The Club forum, sharing insights, and gaining inspiration and support. Achieve AI Ambitions: Use this challenge as a stepping stone to reach your AI testing goals. Dip in and tackle the tasks that meet your AI ambitions. Lead and Inspire: By sharing your AI journey and discoveries during the challenge, you’ll play a crucial role in advancing the knowledge and skills of the community. How to Get Involved Starting on the 1st of March , a daily task will be posted on The Club forum by a Ministry of Testing team member. Each task is designed to deepen your knowledge of AI in testing. You’re encouraged to reply to these posts with your insights, thought-provoking questions, and to offer support to others joining the challenge. Join Today Register now by following the link below and start your journey towards mastering AI in testing. You're now all set! Registering will give you an email reminder for each daily task. 🔗 Register Now !

Introducing MoT Community Certification (MoT-CC)

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 11:59:00 -0000

We recently shared our FAST approach to software testing conferences and how we recognised that events require many different contributors to make a great event. We can take those same principles to learning and communities. It takes many people to create a great, varied and accessible learning experience. We also need to accept that in today’s world there is value in catering for different preferences in how software testers need to learn. It’s not a surprise that my personal favourite way to learn is through conversations and community. Almost everything that I’ve picked up has been from conversing, processing and supporting other people. Over the years Ministry of Testing has given a big focus on talks, workshops and articles as a form of learning and credibility. We’re also currently stepping up with our education efforts with the Test Automation Courses and Certifications . These are valid and a necessary part of a comprehensive learning equation. Now it’s time to level it up by giving value and appreciation to those that contribute in the community. And in this specific scenario it is by awarding people who contribute and support others in The Club with an MoT Community Certification. What is MoT Community Certification? There are MoT Members who dedicate their time to supporting others through forum discussions. Positively supporting people in community conversations is a valid way to demonstrate expertise. These contributions also have the potential to impact many thousands of people. We will reward people who contribute consistently and positively with a MoT Community Certification. We will have different flavours of Community Certifications too. We will explore a Community Certification in Test Automation (MoT-CCTA) as this aligns with our new Test Automation certifications and activities within it. (MoT-CTA) We will also explore other themed MoT Community Certifications. A MoT Foundation Certificate in Software Testing (MoT-FCST) will open up the opportunity for a Community Certification in Software Testing (MoT-CCST). How much do we need to contribute to become community qualified? We’re taking a qualitative approach. It’s not about the number of contributions, it’s more about how well you support the community. This could be through starting discussions on what you know, or what you’ve seen. It could also be by responding to people who need help. Being a ray of sunshine and positivity also counts. Kindly tapping those like buttons can...

🚨 BREAKING NEWS - The Explorer Discovered a New Planet, The Testing Planet

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Get ready to join us on a cosmic exploration through the testing galaxy as we proudly present The Testing Planet – a monthly free virtual community gathering produced by Ministry of Testing and co-created with the community, starting at the end of March 2024 . 🪐 What is The Testing Planet? The Testing Planet is not just an event, it's an out-of-this-world initiative to unite the testing community from across the Milky Way. This free monthly virtual gathering will serve as the centre stage for epic learning stories, ensuring that the testing community stays up-to-date with what’s new and stays at the forefront of discovery, innovation and knowledge. Orbit The Testing Planet throughout the month as MoT connects your stories and discoveries from each gathering. ✍️ The Call for Contribution is Open! The Testing Planet is about YOU! We're calling on community superheroes, passionate testers, industry experts, and anyone with a compelling testing tale to contribute to the planetary narrative. Do you have a story to share, an insight to impart, or a challenge to propose? Seize the opportunity now! 🔗 Submit Your Contribution 🚀 Season 1 Launch: 2024 Edition Buckle up for an exhilarating Season 1 in 2024, featuring episodes promoting discussions, resource-sharing, experiences, knowledge, tips and much more to co-create. Whether it's through reports, interviews, news roundups, challenges, Ask Me Anythings, workshops, or talks – each episode of The Testing Planet promises a unique storytelling experience that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Here’s a sneak peek into the first three episodes: Episode One: The Companion - A familiar friend (or foe?) turns up out of the blue to cause unforeseen problems. Management seeks answers while pressure builds to deliver the goods. The team catch a break. Episode Two: The Machine - The team scrambles to find an AI to support them. Meanwhile, the industry faces a dilemma. Episode Three: The Toolsmith - A new tool threatens to test everything, while the team get closer to the release date. A tool-infused nightmare ensues for some. Stay tuned for the official schedule announcement. 💫 Sponsorship Opportunities – Boost Your Superpowers with The Testing Planet! The Testing Planet is open to partnerships! If you're ready to boost your brand's superpowers and join forces with the testing community, sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact us at marketing@ministryoftesting.com to explore how you...

Win a Pro Membership for a year! Thanks to TestRail

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

We've a new Pro Membership Competition of the year thanks to our annual partner TestRail . You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 The TestRail Quality OS is the only centralized QA platform that gives you the power to build, connect, and optimize all of your testing processes. Test more efficiently, get real-time visibility at scale, and build confidence in QA. It’s time to transform your dreams of faster, frictionless releases into reality—get started with a 14-day free trial or watch a demo at testrail.com Competition is opened until the 11pm (uk time) on 28th January, so get entering!!!

The FAST approach for TestBash, our software testing conference

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 16:00:00 -0000

Hello there! I'm Rosie Sherry, the founder and the new-old CEO at Ministry of Testing. With the news of bringing TestBash Brighton back to Brighton, I'd like to share the ideas and reasoning behind the four different roles our community can apply for at TestBash Brighton. When I started Ministry of Testing I had a really strong pull and motivation to do things differently. Back then, I couldn't always explain why it felt so important. These days, I am better able to pinpoint and explain these things a bit better. There are two main aspects that I work on daily. One is to remove hierarchy and barriers that clearly exist in this world in so many forms. Then there is the aspect of re-thinking and re-designing what we actually value and want to see in the world. Both of these apply to being community-led as an organisation. I've personally found a real sense of drive, connection, change and learning opportunities by adopting a community-led way of approaching the world. “Community-led” has been a bit of buzzword throughout COVID, but people should know we've been that way since day one. It still feels wild that I've ended up doing this for software testers. It's a true privilege! Applying community thinking to conferences I've always believed conferences should remove barriers. In my earlier days, I attended conferences that inspired me and others that did the opposite. All experiences influenced me in making decisions about what I dreamt TestBash could be. With TestBash, one barrier we initially removed was not having keynotes. This also meant we made the decision to offer all speakers the same deal—to have all their expenses covered. Keynotes and differing fees creates hierarchy in all kinds of ways. Some of the best talks we've had over the years were by new speakers—and it's not necessarily because they were better speakers; it was mostly always because the community identified with them and backed them up with incredible community vibes. We can also think from the perspective of the new speaker, if anyone needs a big audience cheering them on, it is the newer speaker, not the one who has done it many times. The answer, for us, is to level out the potential experience for everyone. There's also the consideration that new speakers or volunteers are the ones who will more likely struggle to find the budget or approval to attend a conference. We want to level out the experience and opportunities for everyone by treating, rewarding and valuing all the...

TestBash Is Coming Home to Brighton — The Call to Contribute is Open(AI)!

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:00:00 -0000

We’re shaking things up and bringing TestBash back to Brighton on September 12th and 13th, 2024. Not only that, we’re seeing that AI is changing the way we think and approach our testing. We will have one day dedicated to all things AI and Testing . TestBash Day 1: Software Testing + AI TestBash Day 2: Other hot software testing topics TestBash Brighton will have the extra special homecoming vibes, taking us back to where our testing magic flourished. We’re using it as an opportunity to refresh how we approach our conferences. Over the years conferences have intensified and focused efforts on speakers as the main contributors. We’re changing this and recognising that it takes many people to make a conference experience feel worthwhile and one to remember. We no longer solely have a call to speak, we have a Call to Contribute . There are many ways to contribute to TestBash and we massively appreciate them all. For TestBash Brighton you can contribute by applying for one (or more) of these roles: The Facilitator: Create and facilitate a group activity The Ambassador: Create connections before, during and after TestBash The Speaker: Present a 20-30 minute talk The Teacher: Host a 99-minute workshop All contributors need to apply through the same form until the 14th of February 2024 . All contributors get free entry, accommodation and travel expenses covered. 👉 Apply to be a TestBash Contributor As an attendee or contributor, I hope to see you again at TestBash in September next year! - Diana Dromey, EventBoss PS. Blind Bird tickets are now on sale and are limited to 50 tickets only

Introducing Our New MoT Certifications in Test Automation!

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0000

Big Changes, Familiar Foundation We've transformed our comprehensive Learning Journeys into three distinct online certification courses: the MoT Foundation, MoT Intermediate, and MoT Advanced Certificates in Test Automation . And here's an important part: while we've updated the course structure to better suit your learning needs, the curriculum, developed with input from over 150 industry professionals , remains the same. It continues to form the foundation of these courses. Your New Path to Test Automation Expertise: MoT Foundation Certificate in Test Automation : This entry-level certification is perfect for beginners in test automation. The course covers foundational aspects like understanding what test automation means in software testing, evaluating tool options, and creating initial automated checks. MoT Intermediate Certificate in Test Automation : Designed for professionals vying for senior roles, this course dives deeper into the nuances of test automation. It includes creating and maintaining automated checks, reporting results, and managing testing frameworks. MoT Advanced Certificate in Test Automation : Tailored for experienced professionals aiming for leadership roles, this course focuses on strategic elements like creating comprehensive automation strategies, planning, and adapting to changing project needs. By replacing our single Learning Journeys with three distinct certification courses, you can now choose the course that perfectly matches your skill level and career aspirations. Additionally, these changes offer certification at each level so you can showcase your test automation prowess to potential employers. Three Reasons to Get Certified: Industry-Aligned Curriculum: Gain the skills and knowledge that are in high demand in the software testing industry. Each course is designed in collaboration with over 150 Test Automation professionals and concludes with a certification that validates your expertise. Personalised Learning at Your Own Pace: Learn at your own pace, wherever you are, with online certification courses tailored to your skill level and career goals. Career Advancement Opportunities: Enhance your resume with valuable certifications that showcase your expertise to potential employers and boost your career prospects. Start Your Learning Adventure in Test Automation with Us! These new certification courses are built on a solid, industry-informed curriculum that offers a flexible online format...

Win a Pro Membership for a year! Thanks to Qameta Software

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We've a new Pro Membership Competition of the year thanks to our annual partner Qameta Software . You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 Allure Report , an open-source test report generator to create comprehensive and fancy automation test reports in minutes — allurereport.org . Whatever framework you use, analyze the overall results of the execution at a glance. Allure Testops, a Testing Management Platform built for transparency, scalability, and rapid development - qameta.io. Seamlessly integrates with any of your CI/CD pipelines to provide a real-time view of testing across dev and delivery tools. You automate tests – we automate testing! Competition is opened until the 11pm (uk time) on 2nd December, so get entering!!!

TestBash Autumn: A Must-Attend Testing Extravaganza!

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0000

We're counting down the days until TestBash Autumn, where you'll discover a myriad of learning opportunities. Our speakers are providing multiple ways to both consume new information and to engage and question this information - something we know all testers love to do . Take a few minutes today to register or buy your two day ticket for £99, don't miss out. What can you expect? Talks with Q&A sessions - 45 minute talks with 15 minutes for you to ask any questions that were sparked by each talk Discussion Panels - letting you drive the direction of the conversation with your questions Ask Me Anythings - giving you 40mins to explore ideas and grow your knowledge 99-Second Introductions - short snippets to pique your interest, you might just discover your a new topic to learn more about Feature Spotlights - 10 Minute videos focused on highlighting a single feature of a tool or framework, framed around a problem Fireside Chat - an informal chat sharing a wealth of knowledge from a career in testing As always we've gathered a diverse lineup of speakers and topics with both new and familiar voices. Head over to TestBash Autumn to see the full line up for yourself and decide which sessions will benefit you the most. There are a few surprises that you'll just have to discover live! Register or buy your ticket now 🎟️ We look forward to seeing you next week! - Diana Dromey, EventBoss

Win a Pro Membership for a year! Thanks to Enov8

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We've a new Pro Membership Competition of the year thanks to our annual partner Enov8 . You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 Enov8 's platform offers streamlined modelling, meticulous control, automated efficiency, and instant real-time insights into your IT environments. Immerse yourself in our user-friendly "In Browser Demo" to seamlessly explore its capabilities. No need for logins or email details – it's hassle-free! Competition is opened until the 11pm (uk time) on 19th November, so get entering!!!

TestBash Autumn is Less Than a Month Away!

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0000

TestBash Autumn is less than a month away and we can't wait to welcome you online for two days of learning and connecting with the worldwide testing community! The first wave of speakers has been announced and it's going to be another great TestBash! With opportunities to expand your thinking on a wide variety of topics on the first day, for example: Learn more about Leadership with Al Goodall Become an accessibility advocate and learn how to automate accessibility testing with Janique Morris Understand how fault injection enhances system resilience and performance with Yusuf Tayman On day two we'll delve into automation and testing tools, learn from real world experience of: Nigel Brookes-Thomas and Alexander O'Mahoney and how they set up their SDET programme Ask Jigesh Shah all your questions on the Art of Automation and Performance testing Melissa Tondi shares how their company overcame company-wide automation strategy problems. These are just a few of the talks and interactive sessions we have planned. Head over to the TestBash Autumn page to find out about our first ever Fireside Chat with Dave Harrison. Take a few minutes out today to save your spot and be the first to know when we announce the second wave of speakers, 99-second intros and tool spotlights.

From An Editor's Desk: What I Look For In Ministry of Testing Articles

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Who the heck am I and what do I have to do with Ministry of Testing article submissions ? I’m currently “EditorBoss” at Ministry of Testing, a position I’ve happily held for more than three years now. Mark W. and I chatted for the first time at the “height” (or nadir) of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The job has been a great combination of circumstances for me. I truly enjoy working with writers to help them bring their ideas to people who need them. I come to the job from a couple of decades of full-time work as a technical writer and tester in software development. I’m a word nerd first and foremost, but thanks to that work experience I’m also a subject matter expert in software testing. What do I do as EditorBoss? I review several article proposals a month, as do a few other Ministry of Testing folks involved in publication. I often make suggestions that I believe would improve the content of those articles. But I spend most of my time helping article writers polish their work in terms of organizational structure and prose quality. Why am I writing this forum post? We want you to submit article proposals to Ministry of Testing! And we want to give you the best possible chance of seeing your articles published. So I figured: let’s do a Ministry of Testing blog post about what I like to see in article submissions. I hope to give you some pointers on how to enhance and expand your ideas for articles. Also, very important: I’ll let you know what you should avoid doing. I’m a professional writer and editor, but we don’t expect that all testers have a similar background. It’s my job to help you make your article the best it can be. And it can be MUCH more helpful to hear some recommendations on how to optimize your article before you write a word. So: onward. Before you write a single word of your intended article… Know that your experience is “good enough.” When I see an article draft or proposal that feels rooted in the author’s personal experience, it makes me happy. I don’t care if you’re not the “best” writer on the block (what even is that?), or if you just started out in your testing career, or if you’re not a software engineer who can write test automation code. Tell me about YOUR experience and I’ll pay attention. Ask yourself: How can I best serve my readers? The best articles for Ministry of Testing, or any other publication for that matter, are written in the spirit of service to others . If all you have at the moment is a...

TestBash UK 2023: An Immersive Learning Experience for All

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Imagine a learning experience where you can choose how you want to learn about software testing, with a variety of formats to suit your needs. That's what TestBash UK 2023 was all about. This two-day event brought together over 450 testing enthusiasts from all walks of life, all eager to expand their knowledge, boost their skills, and connect with the community. And the best part? At TestBash, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to learning. Whether you prefer hands-on workshops, engaging talks, or interactive activities, we've got you covered. Here's a glimpse of the learning opportunities that TestBash UK 2023 offered: Workshops: Learn from industry experts in immersive, hands-on workshops. Talks: Gain insights from thought leaders and learn about the latest trends and techniques in software testing. Activities: Engage in short, interactive group activities to solidify your learning and collaborate with fellow testers. Ask Me Anything (AMAs): Get questions answered in the informal AMA sessions with our speakers. And that's just the beginning! With a total of 56 different sessions hosted by 15 distinguished speakers, there was something for everyone at TestBash UK 2023. But more than just the learning opportunities, TestBash is also about the community. It's a place where testers of all levels can come together to share their knowledge, support each other, and learn from each other. Here's what some of our attendees had to say about their TestBash UK 2023 experience: “Fantastic learning... in one of the best and most immersive quality assurance & testing conference” Paulo José E. V. Matos "I was super excited and thrilled to engage with the test community. I had lots of takeaways from the talks, workshops and activities" Vidhyalakshmi Anbalagan “My first ever #testbash and I loved it. I went to so many interesting talks, met inspirational and interesting people and have come away with fantastic knowledge" Emma Serra #TestBash 2023 was amazeballs… Honestly love this conference and can't wait for next year." Richard Hinton If you're looking for a learning experience that is tailored to your needs and interests, then TestBash UK is the place for you. With its welcoming community and diverse learning opportunities, TestBash is the ultimate event for testers of all levels. Join the Community Today The talk recordings from TestBash UK 2023 are now available on the Ministry of Testing website for our Pro members , so you...

Win a Pro Membership for a year! Thanks to LambdaTest

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 07:30:00 -0000

We've a new Pro Membership Competition of the year thanks to our annual partner LambdaTest. You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 LambdaTest is a continuous quality testing cloud platform that helps developers and testers ship code faster. LambdaTest platform provides secure, scalable, and insightful test orchestration for customers at different points in their DevOps (CI/CD) lifecycle. HyperExecute helps customers run and orchestrate test grids in the cloud for any platform and programming language at blazing-fast speeds to cut down on quality test time helping developers build software faster. Start a free trial! Competition is opened until the 11pm (uk time) on 29th October, so get entering!!!

TestBash UK 2023 Recordings are Now Available!

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 14:35:00 -0000

TestBash UK 2023 Talks have been added to our website and are now available to all Pro Members and TestBash UK 2023 ticket holders. Get yourself over to the Playlist now to see the phenomenal lineup of talks available. Whether you plan to rewatch an inspiring talk or discover a talk that you missed the first time around. You can also now see all the Activities from TestBash UK. Do them again with your team or pick a new Activity that you missed out on at TestBash! Enjoy planning out your goals from your talks and activities, and maybe even join us for ReTestBash on the 2nd of November, to reflect on TestBash UK with the rest of the community. Whatever you do, we would love to hear about your learnings and comments on The Club!

The TestBash Scholarship Experience: My Learnings from Liverpool!

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0000

In early 2023, I decided I wanted to become more involved in the testing community. Having attended some testing and tech meetups pre-pandemic, and since then not managing to get back into the habit of being involved in the community, I set myself a few goals. Some of my goals were to post on The Club forums more frequently, start going to meetups again, start writing articles about QA topics and my most ambitious goal was to attend TestBash for the first time. Over the summer, I managed to start on some of these goals but I delayed submitting an application for the scholarship. I felt like I hadn’t done enough to deserve it. After being prompted by my manager to try anyway, one month before TestBash, I submitted my application where I explained why I was so keen to attend TestBash UK 2023 and then waited. And I got it! I was so pleased I took the leap and got over my worries about submitting the application. I downloaded the TestBash app and excitedly started to arrange my schedule around what talks, activities and workshops I wanted to attend. Pre-TestBash Meetup The night before TestBash there was a gathering happening at the PlayStation offices, and as I love video games and I am a QA I felt a sense of obligation to be there! I spent the day working at a co-working space in Liverpool, checked into my hotel, and then made my way over. The PlayStation offices were (predictably) awesome! The gathering was in a large social area, there was gaming merch behind the bar, and cool art illustrations all over the walls - it was an amazing venue. There was a unique and engaging talk by Callum Akehurst-Ryan called “How video games made me a better tester”, with plenty of free drinks, and amazing food, in a fantastic location! It was a great way to start off TestBash and I got to talk to some really interesting and kind people. TestBash I arrived early to the venue and got myself a coffee and some pastry in addition to a very nice Ministry of Testing tote bag, filled with goodies. The venue was WAY bigger than I anticipated. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting TestBash to be so… cool? It felt like I was at a festival but for software testing. There were bright spotlights, big screens, digital podiums, a film crew, and hundreds of seats. I remember thinking as the room filled up that it was strange to be surrounded by hundreds of other testers, with there being 3 QAs including me in the company I currently work for, but I felt very welcome knowing I...

The First Wave of the TestBash Autumn 2023 Line Up Is Live

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 08:30:28 -0000

Register for TestBash Autumn 2023 Thank you to everyone in the community who put themselves forward to be part of TestBash Autumn 2023 . We are grateful you wish to share with the amazing testing community. Many thanks to those who took the time to meticulously review and share feedback on every abstract put forward. It's difficult to say “not right now” to a number of people who weren't successful this time around. We genuinely appreciate that feeling of rejection. Please do take us up on our offer to provide you with direct feedback. We want to help you be successful next time around. It's time to announce and welcome the first wave of speakers for TestBash Autumn 2023. Visit the dedicated event page for all the details . Over two days there will be talks from Al Goodall, Irja Straus, James Prescott, Alyssa Burlton, Janique Morris, Yusuf Tayman, Renka Pooja, Vaibhav Vaja, Naik Atmaram, Nigel Brookes-Thomas, Alex O’Mahoney, and Melissa Tondi. After each talk, get involved in a live Q&A with each speaker. The perfect time to ask questions to each expert. Plus we have panel discussions with Ben Dowen, Caleb Crandall, Parveen Khan, Mahathee Dandibhotla, Diego Molina and Lauren Borodajko. Along with Ask Me Anything sessions with Butch Mayhew and Jigesh Shah. Throughout the schedule, we've sprinkled in plenty of 99-second intros about important testing topics. It's a great way to quickly get up to speed on testing topics of interest. You'll also experience a number of tool spotlights to help you dig deeper into the tools that might not be on your radar. The speakers for these sessions will be announced during the second wave of speakers in early October. We have seven wonderful hosts leading your TestBash Autumn 2023 experience: Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Vernon Richards, Jenna Charlton, Tristan Lombard, Gwen Diagram and Laveena Ramchandani. We're very pleased to welcome first-time MoT host, Veerle Verhagen. A brilliant human who has plenty of experience hosting 9 Out of 10 Testers . Oh, and it wouldn't be a TestBash without the famous 99-Second Talks. An opportunity to join the stage and share with the testing world on both days of the conference. This learning-packed TestBash Autumn 2023 is available to every Ministry of Testing Pro Member . 🎉 If you're not yet Pro you can go pro for £24.99 for the month and if Pro isn't an option you can buy a 2-day ticket pass for £99. We look forward to you joining us in November. — Diana Dromey, EventBoss P.S. All...

Five Things To Remember When Attending an In-Person Conference

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 07:30:00 -0000

TestBash UK 2023 is just around the corner. I can't wait to see you all. Let's be honest though, an in-person conference — like TestBash — can feel overwhelming! Beyond planning your schedule there are important things to remind yourself of. I'm going to share five items which over my years of attending conferences have helped me ease into it all, make the most of my time (and others) and set myself up for an enjoyable experience. 1. Acknowledge you can’t do it all In-person conferences create many possibilities to connect and learn with fellow testing professionals. It would be too much — and logistically impossible — to be everywhere at once. Accept that you can’t do it all and that you will make the most of the things you can participate in. Some conferences offer a revisited experience so you can catch up on the stuff you missed much later after the event e.g. ReTestBash UK 2023 . 2. Embrace the random conversations Some of the best moments are the random chats you have with people you haven’t seen for a while or someone you’ve just met. Chance conversations could happen whilst queueing up during a break or as you’re sitting down for a talk/workshop. Be curious about others and ask them questions. I get nervous, particularly when I'm sparking up a conversation with someone I'm meeting for the first time. I have four go-to questions: “What brings you here?”, “What are you working on at the moment?”, “What have you enjoyed so far?” and “What are you looking forward to?” 3. Step back to soak it all in Once in a while, take a step back, look around and enjoy the view and sounds. It’s easy to get caught up in the hubbub of activity. Reflect on how exciting it is to be part of a hive of learning and connecting. Smile at the intensity of it all. These moments don’t last forever and can feel like they are over in an instant. 4. Grab breaks to manage energy levels Make the most of the scheduled breaks and be aware of how food and drinks affect you. It’s important to look after your energy levels in a way that works for you regardless of what others are up to. I have to remind myself that “I’m not gonna compare myself to that person and their energy”. Search for an official quiet room or outdoor space if you need time out to reset your brain and recharge your energy levels. 5. Take selfies and group photos While you might capture conference photos during the event and share them on social platforms, it’s lovely to come back to those photos once in a...

Win a Pro Membership for an ENTIRE year! Thanks to Xray

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 11:30:00 -0000

We've a new Pro Membership Competition of the year thanks to our annual partner Xray. You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 Xray is a market-leading test management solution for Jira users, providing an intuitive and comprehensive test management experience that is customizable for a user’s specific QA needs. As companies across all industries embrace the adoption of DevOps methodologies, Xray provides them with the tools to undergo an agile transformation through its extensible test management platform. Xray’s REST API and out-of-the-box integrations make it easy to build a CI/CD pipeline, and its powerful reports give complete visibility into test coverage and readiness to deploy. Start a free trial ! Xray have been great supporters of the Ministry of Testing community by being an Annual Partner since 2020 and supporting our TestBash too! Competition is opened until the 27th September.

Marie Cruz Joins the TestBash UK 2023 Lineup

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 08:00:00 -0000

It's with regret that Varuna Srivastava is no longer in a position to speak at TestBash UK 2023 . We wish you all the best, Varuna, and we'll see you at another TestBash. The brilliant Marie Cruz joins the TestBash UK 2023 lineup. Marie will run a talk, workshop, activity and Ask Me Anything, covering a similar topic to Varuna's – performance testing. Marie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to TestBash. Check out all the details on the updated schedule. Or better still, download the official TestBash UK 2023 app and plan your schedule right inside the app. Get it on Google Play or Download on the App Store . View the updated schedule We'll see you later this month. Can't wait! — Diana, EventBoss

TestBash UK 2023 is Happening in Less Than a Month 🥳

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 08:00:00 -0000

TestBash UK is less than a month away and we already have over 400 confirmed attendees! The Early Bird sale is now over as it got sold out before the end of August. This also means we have only 95 tickets left. So if you haven't got yours yet, get it now before they all sell out. We also have discounts available for group bookings of 5 or more! We're now focusing on the final details and can safely say that this year, TestBash will be the best ever! Check out his video from our awesome hosts to get a taster on what to expect 😁 All the Talks, Activities, Workshops, Ask Me Anything and extra sessions are included in the ticket price. Here's a list of all the speakers (and where they're coming from) with the topics they'll be covering: 🇳🇿 Essentials on how to build a Test Automation Framework with Ivan Karaman 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Accessibility Charters with Ady Stokes and Scott Kenyon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leadership and Communication with Jitesh Gosai 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Physical Disabilities in the Workplace with Krys Catterall 🇺🇸 Automation with Phil Wells 🇨🇿 Learning Skills with Eva Podbrdská 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Security in Testing with Richard Adams 🇸🇬 Performance Testing with Varuna Srivastava 🇮🇪 Planning and Strategy using Data with Heather Reid 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Art of Persuasion with Thomas Shipley 🇯🇲 Mentorship Skills with Tamoya Beckford and Davina Scott 🇦🇺 End-to-end Tests with Jaswanth Manigundan 🇮🇱 UI Components with Tally Barak 🇩🇪 Quality Strategy with Sarah Hutchins and so much more... With so many learning, community, social and networking opportunities, we can't stress enough how important it is to download the TestBash UK 2023 App and start planning your learning experience by adding all the sessions you don't want to miss. Get Your Ticket See you at TestBash in September!

Speaker Lineup Change for TestBash UK 2023

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 08:00:00 -0000

In an unforeseen turn of events and due to unavoidable circumstances, Janique Morris will no longer be able to present at TestBash UK 2023 . We are very sad about this, but can guarantee you that we'll very soon be able to learn from Janique Morris! So stay tuned for future announcements. But there is also some good news: the TestBash team has swiftly orchestrated an impressive replacement, ensuring that attendees will still be treated to insightful and engaging discussions. Stepping in at very short notice are two awesome experts in the field and very active community members: Ady Stokes and Scott Kenyon. Thank you both so much! 👏 Both Ady and Scott have very kindly accepted the invitation to take the stage and share their knowledge on the crucial topic of Accessibility in Testing. Their combined expertise and years of experience promise to bring a fresh perspective to the conference, sparking meaningful conversations about the importance of inclusivity in everything we do. Ady Stokes, known for his dynamic presentation style, great taste in shirts and deep understanding of accessibility challenges, is set to delve into strategies for seamlessly integrating accessibility testing into the development lifecycle. Scott Kenyon, known for his colour coordination and focus on communication and neurodiversity, Scott will share his knowledge on how to look at things from many different perspectives. TestBash UK 2023 attendees can expect engaging and informative sessions that promise to broaden their horizons and equip them with practical insights to enhance their testing practices. The 20th and 21st of September in Liverpool are set to be an unforgettable gathering of testing professionals from around the world, united by their passion for excellence and quality in software testing.

✍️ Help Us Review Abstracts for TestBash Autumn Until the 14th of August

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Abstract submissions for TestBash Autumn 2023 are now closed and we need your help reviewing those abstracts ! Why should you review them? Have your say on the best lineup for TestBash Autumn 2023 Help those who have submitted abstracts understand if their abstracts are well written, need improving or are in demand See what the community is talking about at the moment, what are the hot topics out there and what new experiences are available to you Learn the art of writing good abstracts for conferences. Ready for your future TestBash talk! Until the 14th of August , all abstracts submitted for TestBash Autumn Talks will be open for community review and we all need your insights and comments. We ask you to be respectful and provide useful comments on the submitted abstracts. If you're not sure how to review abstracts, here's how: Check which event the abstract is for, so you understand the framing. E.g. It says TestBash Leadership, as you read have that framing in mind. Carefully read the entire abstract. Is the abstract anonymous? If the submitter has left some identifiable information in the proposal, please click ‘Abstract Not Anonymous’ so we can amend it and remove that potential bias. Please don’t click ‘Abstract Not Anonymous’ if you happen to know who it is (perhaps you’ve seen the talk before) only click it if it’s identifiable from the text in the abstract. If you know who it is, please just give it an honest review. Grade the abstract as either Green, Amber or Red. Green indicates you'd watch this talk. Amber indicates you are undecided and could go either way. Red indicates you are not interested in this talk. Add a comment. These comments are used by Team MoT and the speaker. If a green score, comment why you want to hear it. If amber, share why you are undecided, perhaps the abstract isn't clear enough. If red, share comments about how the speaker might improve their abstract. These comments are viewable by the speaker, so be polite and constructive. We really appreciate your support and look forward to co-creating conferences with you 🙏🏼 Review Abstracts Happy abstract reviewing! 😉

Win a Pro Membership for an ENTIRE year! Thanks to mabl

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We've our first Pro Membership Competition of the year thanks to our annual partner mabl. You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 mabl would love to know “ What Kind of Quality Contributor Are You? ” , maybe once you've answered the questions below, you can pop over and answer their multiple choice questions! mabl have been great supporters of the Ministry of Testing community by being an Annual Partner for 3 years and supporting our TestBash events for longer. Competition has now closed.

🍁 TestBash Autumn’s Call For Contribution is Ending Soon!

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Reminding you all that the TestBash Autumn 2023 Call For Contribution is ending on the 31st of July 2023. That means, next Monday! So if you want to speak at our next online TestBash, happening on the 22nd and the 23rd of November, there are several ways you can make that happen: Talks : We will have several talks on the main stage followed by a 30-minute live Q&A on the main stage. We’ve increased the Q&A time due to a large interest from the community in having more time to ask the speakers questions. Ask Me Anything & Panel Discussions : These sessions are very popular as they allow us to learn first-hand from industry leaders and experts and dive deeper into conversations led by the audience. 99-Second Intros : A great way to get a taster on several testing topics, all in 99 seconds each! Feature Spotlights : Unlock the power of your favourite tools and frameworks with these concise videos that spotlight a single feature in a real-world context, helping you develop problem-solving skills along the way. 99-Second Talks : As we say, is not a TestBash if we don’t have the 99-Second Talks! The perfect way to end the day: invite the audience to the main stage to share their knowledge, a story or something they’ve learned during the day, the stage is yours, for 99 seconds! Check out all the five different open Call For Contributions and… Submit Your Papers Now! Also, from now until the 14th of August 2023 , we will encourage everyone to Review the Abstract Submissions for TestBash Autumn 2023 and help us choose another super awesome lineup!

Are You Attending TestBash UK 2023? You Need to Read This

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0000

TestBash UK is now two months away and time is flying! The schedule is almost complete and preparations are now on full steam! From August until the 20th of September 2023, we will launch a series of challenges and activities for you to complete before the conference starts and who knows what surprises you might get when you arrive in Liverpool? So, if you are attending TestBash UK 2023 and want to get involved, keep an eye on The Club and our social media channels, such as Twitter and LinkedIn and make sure we know your name when completing any task within the next two months! The first challenge starts now: Share that you're attending TestBash UK 2023 and what are you most excited about on Twitter or on LinkedIn. And don't forget to use the hashtag #TestBash (Not #TestBashUK) Challenge # 2: Check out the Club Post below. Click on Start Discussion. See you in September at TestBash UK 2023! 😁

📲 The TestBash UK App is Not Harmful

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0000

For the past few weeks, Google has been sending warnings about the safety of our TestBash UK 2023 App. This was flagged straight away by the team behind the App (Clarifi Media Ltd) and fixed with Google. So if you're still receiving these messages, make sure you update the app to the latest version here: https://bit.ly/44Gd1DI The new version has been updated with a new Privacy Policy to include some additional screens to explain the permissions that the TestBash App uses. If you don't update the TestBash UK 2023 App, you might still get a warning from Google stating that the App is spyware. This is not the case, so please do not worry! 😉

Ministry of Testing’s Guide to Liverpool

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0000

If you're attending TestBash UK 2023 , you're in for a treat! Liverpool is a vibrant city in the North West of England, known for its rich cultural heritage, bustling nightlife, and friendly locals. During your stay, you'll have the opportunity to explore and discover all that Liverpool has to offer. To help you make the most of your time in Liverpool, we've collaborated with the renowned food and drink blogger “ EatDrinkLiverpool ” to bring you a guide that's tailored for you. With years of experience exploring Liverpool's vibrant culinary scene, EatDrinkLiverpool has handpicked the top ten eateries, watering holes, and must-see sights you won't want to miss. So, get ready to experience the best of Liverpool, both inside and outside of the conference, and let's dive in together! Top Ten Eateries Madre – Albert Dock Madre is a collaboration between the people behind London’s Breddos and Liverpool’s Michelin Guide awarded Belzan (South Liverpool Restaurant). Think tacos and margaritas in the sun at their stunning Albert Dock Site, which includes outdoor dining in a shared courtyard area. Their menu isn’t just restricted to tacos, either. Also, on the pass: Mexican Cola Ribs Patatas – twice-cooked crispy potatoes Calamari – Mexican style with chipotle mayo Queso Fundido – hot melted cheese with caramelised onions and tortilla chips for dipping Burnt Milk – Albert Dock Burnt Milk are neighbours to Madre, they have a small site, but they share the same (quite large) courtyard area as Madre. Burnt Milk has some of the finest natural wines in Liverpool, but, as well as slinging out natty wines, they also do a great coffee, which would be my recommendation if you plan on staying within the vicinity of the Albert Dock area. They also have a bottle shop, so worth a thought if you plan on taking any wines back home with you. Maray – Albert Dock and Bold Street Inspired by vibrant experiences in the melting pot of Le Marais, Paris - Maray serves food inspired by the flavours of the Middle East alongside incredible wine and bold delicious food. This is a small plate, sharing portions restaurant which caters very well to vegans/vegetarians; think falafel, flatbreads, fried aubergine with nutty tahini and the fire of harissa sort of flavours. There are meat options, too. I usually go for the fried chicken with pickles, sweet potato and their famous Disco Cauliflower! Rudy’s – Albert Dock // Castle Street // Bold Street Famous for their original...

Live or Work in the Brighton Area? You Can Win a TestBash UK Ticket 🎟️

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0000

I 💛 #TestBash - Learn How You Can Win a Ticket for TestBash UK 2023 I've come across Tim Hayden 's profile on Instagram and how he created a global watch brand with his ‘I Love Your Story' campaign and immediately thought: we could do something similar for TestBash UK 2023 and have a bit of fun with it as well as gift folks some tickets! Initially, I did ask Richard Bradshaw (BossBoss) to send me on a solo trip around the world to give tickets away and that was a straight ‘ergh…. no!’ 😂 - regardless, the ‘I Love TestBash’ campaign was born… We started the ‘I 💛 #TestBash’ campaign in May and so far we've been unable to give a free ticket to someone… so we're doing it again! How to Win? On the 12th of July, sometime between 2 PM and 4 PM (UK time), our MoneyBoss, Sarah Kitchener will be “somewhere” in the Brighton or Hove area waiting for the first person to come to her shouting ‘I LOVE TESTBASH’. Sarah will share both on Twitter and LinkedIn at around 2 PM on the 12th of July and will announce 3 clues that will lead to her exact location in Brighton/Hove. The first person to come to Sarah saying, or for more dramatic purposes, shouting, ‘I LOVE TESTBASH’, will win a ticket to attend TestBash UK 2023! And maybe a drink too! 😉 If you are local to Brighton or Hove, then make sure you keep an eye on the live announcements on the Ministry of Testing's Twitter and LinkedIn (by following us), get your best running shoes and be ready to start running as soon as you know where Sarah is! If you are not local to Brighton or Hove, but you know someone who is, send them the link to this announcement and ask them to get their running shoes ready! 👟 Sarah will only be at the secret location for a couple of hours, so make sure to be ready to run out of the door around 2 PM! I'm so looking forward to seeing who wins the ticket! 😁

Seven Benefits of Joining an Online Testing Forum with Live Chat

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Joining an online testing forum can be overwhelming. You might notice many active people who are busy posting and replying. And you might wonder, “How can I do that? There’s no room for me!” Well here’s the good news. There is absolutely space for you. Yet before jumping in, it’s worth asking yourself what brings you to an online forum. The following article describes seven benefits of joining an online testing forum with live chat. This article will help you get started or, if you’ve been away for a while, help you start again. 1. Get answers You could ask an AI bot for help and you’ll receive an answer. Yet nothing beats advice from a diverse group of human professionals. Being brave and asking a question on a forum will encourage people with various lived experiences to help you. By asking a question you also help the person who replies to reflect on their experience and articulate what they already know. It’s a win-win for both parties. And whether it’s longer form discussions or quick chats , all future replies could help those who have already replied as well as someone in the future who has a similar question. 2. Build your network, make friends Your network instantly grows as you interact with people on a forum. You start to work out who has knowledge about certain topics. And then you recommend those people to others who might be new to the forum. You’ll begin to build a sense of not feeling alone, a real sense of belonging to an incredible community. You’ll look out for others and they’ll look out for you. Being part of an online forum makes it way easier to meet at an in-person conference, such as TestBash UK . Forums centre around topics of discussion so there’s less chance of a “cult of personality” forming. Instead, we can celebrate members. For example, here’s an amazing community directory amplifying individual community member contributions. You can easily see what each member has been up to and how they might help. It’s all about conversations and actions through professional and friendly discourse. And if things go in a bad direction it's reassuring to know that forum tooling is well-equipped to deal with bad actors. Moderators can take quick and necessary action if someone breaks a forum’s code of conduct and guidelines. For example, here is Ministry of Testing’s Forum Guidelines which we take very seriously. 3. Feel the feels Sharing your appreciation works both ways. “Like” or “react” and reply to a post will give you a...

Become a Top-Tier Tester with a Customised Learning List

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0000

As a software tester, staying up-to-date with the latest industry developments and practices is critical for providing value to your team and advancing your career. One of the best ways to do this is to create a learning list. A learning list is a customised plan and a powerful tool that can help you stay ahead of the curve and safeguard your career should the worst happen. The methodology of creating a customised learning list can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and track your progress. Here are five steps for creating a customised learning list that can help you enhance your skills, knowledge, and career prospects. Identify your learning goal: The first step is to identify the overarching learning goal you want to achieve. Your broad learning goal could be focused on objectives set out by your manager, how to overcome a challenge at work, an identified gap in your skillset, a specific testing domain you’re interested in or a new role aspiration. Identify your current knowledge, skills and experience: Next, it's important to take stock of your current knowledge, skills, and experience as a tester. This step can be positive, you’ll likely identify you know more than you thought, and you can see how far you’ve come since starting your career. This self-assessment can help you work out what you need to learn and prioritise your learning. Be sure to consider important soft skills as well as tools, techniques, and testing methodologies. Begin by listing your current abilities and note the skills and topics you need to improve on and learn to achieve your learning goal. Research resources and leverage your community connections: Conduct research to find relevant resources to learn the skills and topics that will help you achieve your learning goal. This could include attending conferences, watching webinars, reading industry blogs or books, and following along with video demos or other learning resources, all of which are available through Ministry of Testing. Additionally, leverage your community connections by engaging with fellow testing professionals through Ministry of Testing’s Club forum and chat . By building community connections and interacting with others who share your passion for software testing, you can gain valuable tips and knowledge about topics that can help you in your professional development. Create a list and set SMART goals: After identifying the resources needed for your learning list,...

ReTestBash UK is Back this Year!

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 09:57:00 -0000

Join us on the 2nd of November 2023, for ReTestBash UK , the ultimate online conference designed to deepen your knowledge and extend your learning from the highly anticipated TestBash UK 2023 Conference . As the name suggests, ReTestBash revolves around reflection, providing you with the perfect opportunity to dive even deeper into the diverse software testing topics covered at TestBash UK. What to expect at ReTestBash UK 2023 : Deep Dive Challenges In the weeks leading up to ReTestBash UK, we will challenge you to reflect on your TestBash UK experience through a series of engaging and thought-provoking "Deep Dive Challenges." These challenges will help you apply your learnings practically, develop insightful questions, and create compelling experience reports to share at ReTestBash UK. Participating in these challenges will solidify your understanding of the topics covered at TestBash UK, unlock creative solutions that can be directly applied to your testing endeavours, and showcase your achievements to inspire others. Advanced Demos At the live online conference, get ready to be captivated by advanced demos from our esteemed TestBash UK speakers who will showcase extended versions of their activities and workshops. These demos will give you a sneak peek into the latest advancements, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve and continuously improve your testing skills. Extended Q&As Our extended Q&A panels allow you to engage directly with the experts and seek answers to those pressing queries you have left in your mind from TestBash UK. Benefit from their vast experience and tap into their wealth of knowledge as they address your specific challenges and concerns. Don't miss out on this invaluable opportunity to gain insights and clarity from the experts themselves. Reflection Sessions We truly value the voices and ideas of all our attendees. We go beyond by featuring experience reports from those who have embraced the "Deep Dive Challenges." Our reflection sessions provide a platform for all attendees to share their key takeaways from TestBash UK, exchange ideas, and engage in lively discussions with fellow professionals. Your Voice Matters ReTestBash UK is not just another online conference—it's an enriching experience. Don't miss this incredible opportunity to extend your knowledge, reconnect with industry experts, and be part of a vibrant community of testers once again. Join us and elevate your testing expertise to new heights! ReTestBash UK...

Learn Your Own Way at TestBash UK 2023

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We launched a new multi-format TestBash in 2022, and the result was the best learning experience we ever created! We had over 370 community members come together to share their knowledge, create new connections and learn together in the way that best suited them. So, What is TestBash UK? TestBash UK offers a huge variety of topics available to learn in a wealth of different ways, offering the maximum opportunity to expand your knowledge, skills and connections. As an example, let’s take a look at all the ways you can learn from Richard Adams: Exploring Security in Day-to-day Testing - in this talk, Richard will show you how security testing is perfect for the exploratory tester. Let's Go Security Testing! - in this 99-minute workshop, Richard will let you get hands-on by teaching some basic techniques to perform security testing that can be included in your testing toolbox. 30-Minute Activity - it will be run twice, giving you the perfect opportunity to work collaboratively with fellow testers in finding vulnerabilities, all led by Richard. Ask Me Anything (AMA) - the perfect opportunity to meet and learn directly from Richard in an informal coffee-chat-like setting. Hopefully, you’ve noticed that Richard is running a variety of sessions in different formats, all themed around Security Testing. This allows you to learn in a way that works for you. All our 14 speakers are working hard to present their experiences and knowledge in different formats so you can choose the formats you prefer. Like getting hands-on? Why not attend the workshop? Prefer to listen to a story? Head over to the talk! Looking for a fast-paced way to learn lots of topics? Try out our activities. Want to chat directly with a speaker? Attend their AMA. TestBash UK is a multi-format in-person experience; an opportunity to learn and discover in the way you want. With a total of 56 different sessions led by our 15 speakers, we have launched an app to make it easier for you to create your own schedule: Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store

TestBash UK's 99-Minute Workshops Are Now Live!

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 08:30:00 -0000

During the past couple of months, we've been working together with all fifteen TestBash UK 2023 speakers to develop fourteen 99-Minute Workshops and we are now happy to announce that all workshops have been added to the event page and App. Our online 99-Minute Workshops have been hugely successful and valuable for attendees. This is due to them being learning outcome focussed with hands-on activities targeted at making sure attendees achieve the learning goals. All with the support of testing gurus. The in-person workshops follow the same successful recipe. If you’re someone who likes to learn deeply with hands-on practical experience, the 99-Minute Workshops are for you. Here's a sneak peek of what to expect at TestBash UK 2023: Day One Planning to Persuade Others with Thomas Shipley Data-Driven Decisions to Model User Behaviour with Heather Reid Step-by-step Guide to Break Down Your Costly E2E Tests with Jaswanth Manigundan Designing Test Automation Pipeline with Ivan Karaman UI Component Testing with Storybook and Playwright with Tally Barak Hands-on Approach to Accessibility Testing with Janique Morris The Five Behaviours of Team Working with Jitesh Gosai Supporting People with Disabilities with Krys Catterall Day Two Let's Go Security Testing! with Richard Adams Build your own Quality Strategy with Swiss Cheese with Sarah Hutchins Web Scraping with NodeJS with Phil Wells Expedition Into the Uncharted Territories of Learning with Eva Podbrdská Mastering Mentorship: A Journey of Growth with Davina Scott & Tamoya Beckford Perks of Client-side Performance Testing (Analysis, Measure and Optimisation) with Varuna Srivastava Start going through all the workshop and talk details and add those you don't want to miss to your schedule on the App. And if you don't have a ticket yet, the Early Sale is now, available until the 31st of August or until the limit of 150 has been reached. So get yours now before they sell out! If you haven't yet downloaded the app, now is the time 👇 The excitement is building and we can't wait to see you in September! 😉

Rediscover Solutions to Your Challenges in the Return of Our ‘Testing, Ask Me Anything’ Webinars

Tue, 30 May 2023 08:00:00 -0000

We’re excited to announce the return of our popular Testing Ask Me Anything (AMA) webinar series. Join us on June 22nd at 11:30 PM UTC for our first session, " Getting Hired ," featuring Erin Donnelly, an experienced Software Tester Recruiter with a wealth of industry knowledge. The AMA Way The Testing AMA webinars have always been about providing real value and engaging with our amazing community. They’re an opportunity for you to hear about things that are relevant to you and get your questions answered by experienced professionals. We truly believe in this interactive format to empower testers and provide practical insights. During the Getting Hired AMA, you'll have a unique opportunity to ask Erin Donnelly all your burning questions about software testing career development and securing testing roles. Whether you're a seasoned professional looking to advance your career or an aspiring tester, this AMA session promises to be an invaluable experience. Words From the New Host Our new AMA host, Richard Bradshaw (aka FriendlyTester/BossBoss), is enthusiastic about the relaunch. "We're thrilled to bring back the Testing Ask Me Anything series, which gives testers a chance to get their questions answered by experts. Erin Donnelly's vast knowledge will undoubtedly be of great value." Register and Get Your Questions In We're using CrowdCast to host our AMAs because it offers a fantastic questioning feature that is perfect for the AMA format. Here's how it works: After you register on CrowdCast, you'll see a dedicated "Q&A" tab. You can ask your questions anytime, even before the live webinar starts. You can also upvote questions that you're interested in hearing answered. We'll answer your questions during the live webinar, so you can get the information you need as soon as possible. We encourage you to submit your questions in advance, so we can tailor our responses to your specific needs. Any unanswered questions during the live event will be posted to our Club forum, where Erin will answer them in the following few days. We hope you'll join us on June 22nd at 11:30 PM UTC for the relaunch of our Testing AMA live webinar! It's a great opportunity to learn from Erin and other experts in the community. Register Now!

Don’t panic, we weren’t hacked

Wed, 24 May 2023 11:10:00 -0000

At 9 o’clock this morning (24th May 2023), the MoT twitter account sent out a number of tweets that linked to some development test data that had been created by a dev earlier that morning. Obviously this shouldn’t have happened, but a series of things happened that caused it. For a bit of background, we have a job that is generated when content is published that will schedule a tweet. This job only runs if jobs are set run, which in dev they aren’t… Except something was being worked on where these jobs had to be turned on. But that’s ok, since the way we generate our test data is done in such a way that it doesn’t trigger the generation of the job… Except we’ve been changing how that works, so now it does (which I didn’t realise until this happened, so at least I learnt something today). But that is ok, because the job may be scheduled, but has a guard clause that uses a configuration option to decide whether to continue, and that is only turned on in production… Except it turns out that when I first developed this system over a year ago, I’d committed the dev config with it turned on and it has been ever since. So that is how this happened. The root cause was really that last point, so I’ve made a change to turn these jobs off in development, which will prevent this from accidentally happening in future. My thanks and apologies to all those whose Twitter and LinkedIn feeds were spammed, but who let us know the problem as soon as it occurred. And my apologies also to the rest of the MoT team, who had to rush to undo the effects of this mistake. As a final note, I never use rude or jokey things for my test/dev data, specifically because it might accidentally end up in production.

Accelerate Your Career: Join the 30 Days of Career Growth Challenge!

Thu, 18 May 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Get ready to boost your software testing career! Join us for the 30 Days of Career Growth challenge, launching on June 1st. Designed exclusively for testers like you, this 30-day campaign is packed with inspiration, learning, and community connections. What is 30 Days? Over the course of 30 days, you'll participate in a variety of simple, short daily tasks to help you grow. From sharing your goals and favourite career success stories to attending insightful webinars and mastering new techniques, this challenge provides a platform for continuous learning and improvement. Who Can Take Part in This? Everyone! Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, this challenge offers a roadmap for personal and professional growth. How Can I Take Part? Head on over to the 30 Days of Testing Category on The Club forum, click on the bell icon on the right and select "Watching First Post" button. You’re now set to go! You’ll receive notifications of the daily challenges throughout June. Why Take Part? Here are some additional benefits of participating in the 30 Days of Career Growth Challenge: You'll learn new skills and knowledge that will help you in your career. You'll network with other software testers and build relationships that can help you advance your career. You'll get feedback on your resume, which can help you land your dream job. You'll set goals for your career and track your progress, which will help you stay motivated and on track. You’ll feel good about giving back to the testing community. You never know who might read what you share and be inspired. If you're ready to take your career to the next level, then sign up for the 30 Days of Career Growth Challenge today!

How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to TestBash UK 2023

Wed, 17 May 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Are you interested in attending and networking at TestBash UK but not sure how to convince your boss to fund it? Well, you've come to the right place. This 3-minute video is filled with top tips that are useful for getting funding for any event or training. Transcript TestBash UK is going to be our biggest and most unique TestBash to date. Despite its size, we're making sure there will still be the same warm, friendly community feel that there always is. It's going to be engaging and fun with a balance of talks, workshops and activities that cover all the important aspects of testing and working in software development. Plus, there'll be lots of opportunities for you to meet with and learn alongside community members. So how do you convince your boss that TestBash is a worthwhile expenditure? Well, it all starts with mounting a great business case. Writing a business case sounds quite daunting, but we'll break it down into three simple steps: Conference details and costs : First, you'll need to find out the conference details and any associated costs of attending the conference. Reasons for attending : This information is key for the business case and all the benefits from attending the conference should lead back to your company, your team and the work that you do. Share your learnings : Lastly, it's important to detail how you share your learnings back to your colleagues at work. This plays a big part in swaying your boss on making a positive decision about you attending the conference. So with those three simple steps in mind, we've co-created a business case example email template containing all the information your boss would hope to see so that you can download it and edit it to suit your context. We hope you find this video and the email template useful and we hope to see you at TestBash UK 2023!

What Do Junior Testers Do? - So Many, Many Varied Tasks

Mon, 15 May 2023 10:36:00 -0000

Here at MoT, we’re building a complete, modern and open Junior Software Tester Curriculum with the support of the testing community. Our curriculum is data-driven, so we can make sure that all of our content is relevant and useful. To collect robust data, we surveyed over 160 Junior Testers, their managers and recruiters. We also analysed job postings and current training options. After all that research, we ran semi-structured interviews to get feedback on our findings. Here’s What We Found Out Variety is the spice of Junior Testers’ Lives There were over 16 unique role titles for Junior Testers. Juniors came from all sorts of backgrounds. Some are fresh out of university with computer science degrees, while others are switching careers into IT. We identified 15 unique, broad tasks that junior testers may be responsible for as part of their role. This high variability is driven by the needs of companies and a lack of standardized requirements for the role. The training needs of junior testers are also highly varied, reflecting the variety in role responsibilities between companies and the backgrounds of junior testers. There are inconsistencies in the topics covered between the existing training courses examined, and no training is complete to meet all the varied needs of junior testers as identified in our surveys. All our findings suggest that there’s a need for our open-source curriculum. With the communities help, we will ensure our curriculum meets Junior Testers' training needs. You can read more detailed findings in our Needs and Job Report . What’s Next? Now that we have co-created a complete list of broad tasks for the Junior Software Tester Job Profile . It's time to break those tasks down into procedural steps. By doing this, we can develop useful learning outcomes and training materials for the next generation of software testers. We need your help to discover the procedural steps! We're running weekly Task Analysis sessions that the community is welcome to join. Come share your knowledge and experience, and help us make sure that future junior testers have everything they need to succeed. Can you make a session? Upcoming Task Analysis Sessions Advocating Quality: Tuesday 30th May - 11.30 am -12.30 pm (UTC ) Risk Analysis: Tuesday 13th June - 11.30 am -12.30 pm (UTC) Designing Tests: Tuesday 20th June - 11.30 am -12.30 pm (UTC) Executing Tests: Tuesday 27th June - 11.30 am -12.30 pm (UTC) Reporting Testing: Tuesday...

A New TestBash Has Been Harvested: TestBash Autumn is Here 🍁

Thu, 11 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

After the huge success of TestBash Spring, we're excited to announce our next online software testing conference: TestBash Autumn 2023 ! TestBash Autumn will be happening on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2023 and it will be a two-day conference covering a variety of testing topics on day one, and on day two we will be focusing more on the topics of automation and tools. During both days of TestBash Autumn we will have: Talks : We will have several talks on the main stage followed by a 30-minute live Q&A on the main stage. We've increased the Q&A time due to a large interest from the community in having more time to ask the speakers questions. Ask Me Anything & Panel Discussions : These sessions are very popular as they allow us to learn first-hand from industry leaders and experts and dive deeper into conversations led by the audience. 99-Second Intros : A great way to get a taster on several testing topics, all in 99 seconds each! Feature Spotlights : Unlock the power of your favourite tools and frameworks with these concise videos that spotlight a single feature in a real-world context, helping you develop problem-solving skills along the way. 99-Second Talks : As we say, is not a TestBash if we don't have the 99-Second Talks! The perfect way to end the day: invite the audience to the main stage to share their knowledge, a story or something they've learned during the day, the stage is yours, for 99 seconds! The Calls For Contribution for all these sessions is now open until the 31st of July and we can't wait to see all those submissions coming through! If you want to be a speaker at TestBash Autumn , check all the requirements in each of the open Call for Contributions and feel free to submit more than once and to more than one session type. TestBash Autumn is open to all our Pro Members and ticketed to those who can't go Pro right now. If you are a Pro member, all you need to do is register on the event page . If you are not a Pro member, you can purchase your ticket here .

'I LOVE TESTBASH' - Learn How You Can Win a Ticket for TestBash UK 2023!

Fri, 05 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

I've recently come across Tim Hayden 's profile on Instagram and how he created a global watch brand with his ‘I Love Your Story' campaign and immediately thought: we could do something similar for TestBash UK 2023 and have a bit of fun with it as well as gift folks some tickets! Initially, I did ask Richard Bradshaw (BossBoss) to send me on a solo trip around the world to give tickets away and that was a straight ‘ergh…. no!’ 😂 - regardless, the ‘I Love TestBash’ campaign was born… So how will it work? On the 24th of May , from 5:30 pm onwards (Zurich time), Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham will be “somewhere” in Zurich waiting for the first person to come to them shouting ‘I LOVE TESTBASH’. They will go live on Twitter and LinkedIn at some point after 5:30 pm on the 24th of May and will announce 3 clues that will lead to their exact location in Zurich. The first person to come to them saying, or for more dramatic purposes, shouting ‘I LOVE TESTBASH’ will win a ticket to TestBash UK 2023! And maybe a drink with Mark and Richard too! 😉 One week later, on the 31st of May , around lunchtime, I'll be in Athens with Richard Bradshaw and will do exactly the same! How can you get involved? If you are local to Zurich or Athens, then make sure you keep an eye on the live announcements on Twitter and LinkedIn (by following us), get your best running shoes and be ready to start running as soon as you know where we'll be! If you are not local to Zurich or Athens, but you know someone who is, send them this and ask them to get their running shoes ready! Of course, we're not going to be at these places indefinitely, which means that if no one comes to us we will still give away the ticket to someone online who might have discovered where we are. So stay tuned with the live announcements on each of the days as we might give the ticket to someone online too! I'm so looking forward to this! 😁 - Diana Dromey, EventBoss

📱 The App for TestBash UK 2023 is Now Available to Download

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 08:30:00 -0000

We are super excited to announce the launch of the TestBash UK 2023 app, the perfect tool to complement and make your TestBash experience even better! This new app, designed to enhance the conference experience, is now available to download on both Android and iOS devices. The TestBash UK 2023 app offers a comprehensive guide to the conference, with features including the schedule, speaker and host profiles, session details, and venue maps. Users will also be able to create a personalised schedule of all the sessions they wish to attend and receive notifications of all the event's news first-hand. The app also has a new feature this year: direct access to the TestBash Club Chat channel! The perfect way to start connecting with other attendees, speakers and partners before and during the conference. We will also make sure any announcements about the event will be featured on the Club Chat. TestBash UK 2023 is currently the only in-person Ministry of Testing conference of the year and will be happening in Liverpool, on the 20th and 21st of September. It will feature talks, 99-minute workshops, activities, interactive challenges, games, prizes, surprises, networking opportunities and so much more, you need to be there to experience it! 😁 ** If you have the TestBash UK 2022 version downloaded on your phone, all you need to do is update the app. Your login details will remain the same as last year and if you can't remember, just select ‘Forgot Password’.

🌷Spring is Finally Here and So Are TestBash Spring Recordings 🌷

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 09:00:00 -0000

I'm still over the moon to see over 650 registrations for TestBash Spring 2023! On the 23rd of March, our worldwide community met online to discuss a variety of different testing topics in what was an epic TestBash online. The recordings took a little longer to be made available to everyone as not only were we at Selenium Conference in Chicago, but we also had a scare: some of the recordings were not visible and for a week we really thought they were lost forever. Hopin did a great job in getting to the bottom of the issue and managed to find the lost recordings! So all is good again and I'm happy to share that all talks and live sessions from TestBash Spring can now be watched or re-watched on our website. There are now two ways you can watch or re-watch them: In a Playlist style Or as individual TestBash talks As a Pro Member, you get to watch these and all previous TestBash sessions, as well as free access to all the online events, workshops, courses, masterclasses, articles…. the list goes on! If you're not yet a Pro member, you can upgrade your account now for £24.99 a month. Enjoy watching over 8 hours of brand-new talks and live sessions to grow your testing skills!

One Month Until TestBash Spring 2023 🌷

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 14:00:00 -0000

On the 23rd of March 2023, the Ministry of Testing Community will meet again at the first TestBash of the year and we can't wait to see you all! Here's what you can expect from TestBash Spring : TestBash Spring will run for a whole 12 hours period Throughout the day we'll have eight talks These talks will be presented by a total of 11 speakers There will be one Ask Me Anything (AMA) session And one Panel Discussion with three awesome speakers The day will be hosted by four of our hosts We'll have talks by our awesome sponsors Plenty of networking opportunities with your fellow community members from all parts of the world Surprises and prizes to be won And some guaranteed laughs for sure! If you're a Pro Member, all you need to do is register on the event page and if you're not yet Pro, you can either go Pro or purchase a ticket on our ticketing page . As of today, we have a total of 250 folks attending 🎉. Our goal is to have 400 attendees, will you help us achieve that goal by sharing with your colleagues at work and in your networks? Can't wait to see you all in a month!

Win a Conference AND Workshop pass to SeleniumConf

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 14:49:00 -0000

The competition has now closed! We will get in touch with the choosen winner in the coming days. In the meantime check out what's happening at SeleniumConf - you may recognise one of the MoT bosses in the speaker lineup.

New 99 Minute Workshops for March 2023

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 09:15:00 -0000

After a great run of 99 Minute Workshops from our TestBash UK 2022 speakers we're happy to announce a new collection of 99 Minute Workshops starting in March. Have You Been To A 99 Minute Workshop? If you're not familiar with 99 Minute Workshops now is the perfect time to take advantage of them. Each workshop is a practical, hands-on opportunity to deep dive into various topics of testing. Giving you the skills and tools to support your team and improve your testing. We run all our workshops live only, meaning no recording, to encourage all our learners to enjoy the interactive and collaborative nature of every workshop. Not bad when you consider this all available as part of a Pro Membership . Upcoming Workshops So what workshops can you attend? Let's find out… API Testing 101: Sending Our first request Mark Winteringham returns with a series of 99 Minute Workshops focused on API testing to celebrate the launch of his book "Testing Web APIs". Each workshop will build upon each other, teaching you all the skills to be successful with API testing. Register today to kickstart your API testing journey. Hands On Test Automation With Playwright Head of Quality and Reliability, Butch Mayhew, will take you through a tour of the features of the newest automation tool around, Playwright. Butch will be helping you get hands on with Playwright's features to help support your automated regression checking. Register today to try our Playwright. Can You Do API Testing With Cypress? Following the API testing theme for March and April, Ioan Solderea digs into Cypress' features to see how you can do API testing with Cypress. This workshop is perfect for new and experienced Cypress users alike who are looking to expand their API testing into the automation space. Register today to get hands on with API automation in Cypress. Check out the events page for a full listing of all our events for Pro and more . And remember, all our 99 Minute Workshops are live only so you don't want to miss out!

Big Shout-out to Our Awesome TestBash Spring 2023 Hosts

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

TestBash conferences wouldn’t be what they are without our awesome hosts! These community leaders are an essential part of the unique community feel that attendees often talk about. When the world pandemic hit we had to pivot and turn to an online format and so did our hosts. It was no easy task and they nailed it. It’s because of them that our worldwide audience feels ‘that’ community love at our online TestBashes. Since our first online TestBash — TestBash Home back in 2020 — we’ve been super lucky to continue to work with these beautiful human beings. So I’ve asked the MoT team to give me the first words that come to mind when they think of them, and here are the highlights: Bart Knaack : the Dancer , the Entertainer , the Rockstar ! Bart has been hosting our TestBash conferences for quite a few years now, starting in 2017 at TestBash Netherlands. 6 years later and he still has the moves 🕺🏾 Gwen Diagram : the Positive , the Energy , the Legend ! Gwen is originally from Australia, living now in Leeds, UK. Gwen always brings her contagious laugh and her ability to shine a light on others ☀️ Jenna Charlton : the Calm , the Welcoming , the Loveliness ! Jenna is from Cleveland, US and they're the breath of fresh air at our TestBash conferences. Jenna is well known to the community for creating a welcoming space for everyone to figure things out 🤗 Tristan Lombard : the Glamour , the Support , the Driving Force ! Tristan, AKA Stage Mom, AKA Ministry of Mischief, lives in the stunning San Francisco, US and our Community-glue. Tristan is an inspirational human being who loves to share love 🫶 I could keep on writing about them… but I wouldn't do them justice. You have to watch them live at TestBash Spring 2023! Register Now

The Community Has Spoken: TestBash UK's 2023 Lineup is Live! 🎉

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0000

TestBash UK is the largest Quality and Software Testing conference in the UK and the biggest Ministry of Testing event. I can't contain my excitement in sharing with you the list of awesome speakers who will share their knowledge and experience in this 2-day multi-track and multi-format conference. 😁 These 14 speakers were chosen by the community, via our community abstract review campaign, which saw a total of 223 abstracts and an astonishing 1324 reviews! 🥰 All 14 speakers will present a talk, a 99-minute workshop, an activity and host an office hour to answer all your questions. The talk's information has been released and we will now work together with each speaker to develop their 99-minute workshops and activities! In no particular order (ok, maybe alphabetically 😉), the speakers for TestBash UK 2023 are: Davina Scott and Tamoya Beckford , both coming from stunning Jamaica, will form a duo and share how mentorship can help testing careers from a QA mentor and mentee perspective. Eva Podbrdská will join us from Prague, Czech Republic and will help us in boosting our brains via helpful strategies for effective and persistent learning. Heather Reid , no stranger to the MoT community, will come from Ireland to show us how we can use data to drive testing decisions. Ivan Karaman will fly across the globe, from New Zealand to teach the essentials of how to build a test automation framework. Janique Morris also coming from Jamaica, will help us advocate for the much-needed accessibility testing and how it can be implemented in every team. Jaswanth Manigundan is a familiar face from our online TestBashes and is also flying across the globe, from Australia. He will present how hermetic testing can break down our costly e2e tests into efficient low-level tests. Jitesh Gosai will join us from the next-door neighbour Manchester to show us how to work smarter and have both speed and quality in our ways of working. Krys Prendergast , coming from the not-too-far-away Leeds will show via physical disabilities in the workplace, how to find a more sustainable and supportive way to keep amazing people. Phil Wells , from the hills of New Jersey, USA, used to work for the New York Times and will share the role of WebDriver for journalists, by scrapping the web to report the truth. Richard Adams , from the hilly capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, is no stranger to TestBash UK and will join us again this year to share how we can explore...

Here We Go Again! Let’s Co-create Another Open-Source Testing Curriculum!

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 08:30:00 -0000

“How do I get started in Software Testing?” is probably the most common question we hear. And yet, there is currently no clear answer or path to follow. Sure, there are lots of great resources out there. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a relevant learning path with all the things junior software testers need to know and do to complete their role successfully? Well, that’s what we are looking to create this year! Last year, over 150 members of the MoT community helped us build a modern and authentic Automation Engineer in Testing Curriculum ( Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw are now in the process of turning that into learning content.) Next, we hope you’ll help us do the same for a Junior Software Testing (Junior Test Engineer/Junior QA Engineer) role. Why Help? To create an authentic and successful curriculum, we need the community to share their experience and knowledge. No one knows what junior testers need to know and do better than testers themselves, so your input is vital. We will also be capturing invaluable insights from managers and recruiters of junior testers. But why give your time and insights to MoT? Well, we can think of three key reasons: Our goal is good - we aim to improve testing education for everyone, so all our curricula will be open-source. Anyone can access our curricula for free and find or create content that meets the outcomes. Of course, we will be making our own content that folks can purchase, which will be the best there is! 😉 Help the next generation - with access for all in mind, by contributing your knowledge and insights; you’ll help the next generation of software testers learn relevant tasks and skills that help them be successful at their job. No more learning irrelevant content with gaping holes; everything in our curricula will be focused on helping folks get a job and fulfil their role. Get recognition for your contribution - practically everything we do at MoT is in collaboration with community members, and in every case, we give due credit to everyone involved. So if you'd like to be recognised for helping shape a revolutionary, new curriculum for junior testers, find out how below. How to Help? There are many ways to get involved in this project, both big and small, which greatly impact the creation of a valuable curriculum. For example, you will be able to help by filling in surveys, reviewing forum posts on our progress, joining collaborative events to share your experiences,...

Subscribe to our new Podcast channels today

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Over the past few weeks, Andrew (DevBoss) and Richard (BossBoss) have been doing some stellar work in improving the reorganisation and look of our talks, articles, courses and other content. For podcasts, this means we can now adopt new features for storing and sharing our popular podcasts, namely Testers’ Island Discs and TestSphere Roulette . The biggest change that has come is how we organise podcasts by their series. This means that: Testers’ Island Discs and TestSphere Roulette now have dedicated podcast channels to subscribe to. The Ministry of Testing Podcast will be deactivated, and older podcasts will be stored on our site. What do I need to do? Testers’ Island Discs and TestSphere Roulette podcasts will no longer be published on the Ministry of Testing Podcast. This means you will need to search for either Testers’ Island Discs or TestSphere Roulette in your favourite podcast app and subscribe to the new channels. Can’t find the podcast? Let us know at support@ministryoftesting.com , and we’ll get it added. What about the other podcasts? We have curated our other podcasts and added them to our site under the banner of ‘Chats’ . Simply use the search feature to find your favourite Podcast. Why get rid of the Ministry of Testing Podcast? Historically we have used Soundcloud to store our podcasts, and whilst that is a great tool for storing music, it lacks features for podcasts. One of the biggest limitations is that although we create ‘playlists’ on Soundcloud to organise our podcasts everything we create lives under the banner of Ministry of Testing podcast. Regardless of what playlist it’s in. It made our Ministry of Testing Podcast channel a bit of a mess. With our recent move to Wistia, we now have dedicated channels that community members can subscribe to and enjoy. It also makes publishing our podcasts easier, meaning we can get your favourite podcasts to you faster!

🌷 TestBash Spring Has Sprung 🌷

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:15:00 -0000

After a successful Call For Papers and Community Review campaign with a total of 143 submitted and 721 reviews, we can finally announce the TestBash Spring lineup! On the 23rd of March, we will be welcoming fantastic speakers from around the world to come and share their knowledge, experience and expertise on our virtual stage. Their talks will cover testing topics such as quality, continuous integration, design thinking, infrastructure, mental health, API, AI, the list goes on! Make sure you register or buy your ticket for TestBash Spring 2023 to let new ideas take root, grow your knowledge and connect with the rest of your testing community. The lineup for TestBash Spring 2023 is… 🥁 Selena Small and Michael Milewski , both joining from Australia, will be joining forces in a real code, live demo, giving us a fresh look on TDD. Mohammad Siddiqui , from Manchester, UK is a Senior QA Manager and will be showing us all about infrastructure testing. Kiruthika Ganesan , also joining from the UK, will share her experience on how debugging has changed her life and empowered her to navigate the various challenges in her career. Tobias Geyer , a bug magnet by nature, will join us from Germany and show what happens if a curious tester meets a Continuous Integration system and decides to take care of it. Laveena Ramchandani , also from the UK and no stranger to our TestBash conferences, will join us this time in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about skills and strategies for new test managers. Karen Todd , from the other side of the pond, Missouri, USA, will come to the stage and share how ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions have boosted her career. Michael Kutz , also from Germany, will use his 12 years of experience in software development and quality coaching to show us how (not) to measure quality. To discuss the current hot topic of AI in testing, we'll be joined by three experts: Nicola Martin , from London, UK, is the Head of Quality Engineering at a UK-based AI software company. Nicola is a speaker and panellist at global events on diversity, women in tech, quality, AI, software testing and mentorship. Viv Richards (not the cricketer) will join us from Wales, UK. Viv has been reading a lot about AI and is looking forward to chatting about how AI can help support testing and impact testing roles. Tariq King , from sunny Miami, USA, is a recognised thought leader in software engineering, DevOps, testing and AI/ML with over fifteen...

Annual Partners 2023!

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:12:00 -0000

We're delighted to announce our Annual Partners for 2023! We will be working closely with Qameta Software , TestRail , Xray , mabl , LambdaTest and enov8 . We're hoping that by working with these trusted partners throughout 2023, we'll give both you and them plenty of chances to connect in a safe and meaningful way. We're providing unique opportunities for our partners to share insights to their platforms, tools and upcoming events. We'll do this with Partner Peeks , Feature Spotlights , Webinars and more. We're always thankful to have both an engaged community that takes the time to learn about tools that they will undoubtedly use on a daily basis. And we're thankful that we have both new partners and long standing partners that want to support our testing community!

🎟 Blind Bird Ticket Sale for TestBash UK 2023 Has Been Extended!

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0000

Didn't Get a chance to buy a Blind Bird Ticket yet for TestBash UK 2023 ? Not a problem! We have extended the Blind Bird ticket sale for another 3 weeks. This way you'll have more time to get your hands on the cheapest tickets for TestBash UK 2023 . Why Have We Extended The Sale? The Blind Bird sale was set to finish on the 8th of January 2023, when the Call For Papers closes. But I (Diana) didn't factor in, at the time of setting the dates, the time we needed to allow for the community to review the abstracts and for us to invite and confirm the speaker lineup. The Blind Bird sale is available until the lineup is launched to offer those who are self-funding the cheapest way to access this event. No other tickets will be cheaper, nor future discounts will match the Blind Bird offer. So When Is The Blind Bird Sale Ending Now? The Blind Bird ticket sale will now finish on the 31st of January 2023 (or until the limit of 50 tickets has been reached), as we're aiming to announce the lineup by the 1st of February 2023. What Is The Price Difference? Blind Bird tickets are £699 each and can not be discounted. The next sale, the Super Early Bird, will cost £799 each or £749 for Pro Members. We will also have group discounts available for groups of 5 or more. How Can You Buy a Ticket? Head over to our ticketing page .

The Numbers Behind The Community 2022

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 17:43:00 -0000

I was recently asked by our CommunityBoss, Simon, to provide an update that we can share with you all. I thought it would be good to share an update on how MoT supports the Community from a different perspective. A MoneyBoss perspective £$€. I’ve often thought about how my role helps to support the MoT Community. I have no software testing experience, nor have I worked within the sector previously. My background and experience is in finance. So how do I, as MoneyBoss, support you as a member of the MoT Community? First and foremost, I make sure you are paid for your time and contribution to MoT so that we can continue to support software testers around the world. Whether it be speaker fees for TestBash or an online event, article fees or panel discussions. Look out for my reminders so that you don’t miss out on your fee. I help you when you want to set up your testers with a Pro Team Account, completing your supplier set up paperwork, processing your purchase orders and raising your invoices. I help you gift Pro Accounts and make donations to the scholarship fund to help other members of the community. This is my favourite and genuinely brings me joy seeing you all supporting each other. I also reimburse speakers’ travel and accommodation expenses as soon as possible after our events so that you are not out of pocket. Don’t forget to keep those pesky receipts for me. Upon reflection, I support the Community behind the scenes in the best way I know how. Let’s see what that looks like in numbers. In 2022 we have supported the MoT community in the following ways: 2022 Community Payments Instructor Royalties £18,565 Article Fees £1,400 99 Min £1,510 AMA £450 Editing £612 Hosting £4,775 Note Takers £75 Panel Discussions £450 Podcast £3,940 Speaker Fees £14,024 Speaker Travel/Accommodation £15,028 Twitter Spaces £150 £60,979 In addition to this, the community itself donated £9,970 to the scholarship fund . We have matched this meaning £19,940 has been donated all together in 2022. If you need support with Pro membership or attending any events you can email scholarship@ministryoftesting.com . So as we near the end of the year, it’s been great to look back on how I’ve supported the Community as MoneyBoss. I hope you all manage to have some rest and I look forward to supporting you further in 2023. — Sarah K, MoneyBoss

TestBash UK and Spring Sponsorship is now open!

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0000

We're excited to let you know that we've launched TestBash Spring and TestBash UK sponsorship. We've made more changes with the aim of making it easy for you as attendees to engage in a safe and meaningful way with the sponsors - meaning you can ask questions and maybe even interact with their product. From a sponsor perspective, you'll have the opportunity to share how your product actually helps testers, to build actual connections with the Ministry of Testing community. If you are thinking about becoming a sponsor, or think your company would be a good fit for the testing community, share the brochures, share our email: marketing@ministryoftesting.com or feel free to share the brochures publicly to let brands know that you want to see them as sponsors! We're looking forward to working with more great brands.

ReTestBash UK 2022 Live Recordings Now Available

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0000

Once again, Ministry of Testing experiments with a new conference format: it was time for ReTestBash UK 2022! On the 1st of December, we met online to re-watch some of TestBash UK 2022's talks, invite those speakers once again on the main stage for live Q&A sessions, do a live Activity and reflect on our learnings. Talks Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time in the day to re-watch all of TestBash UK 2022's talks, so we had to select a few and thankfully these awesome speakers were available to share their knowledge once again and dive deeper into their topics: We kicked off the day with Robbie Falck 's talk Throw Out the QA Strategy Documents and Build a Ways of Working , where he talked about the journey his team went on in transforming their agile processes, discovering their Ways of Working and figuring out how to stray away from long strategy documents that no one likes reading and focusing on visual strategies that everyone owns. Check all the resources and read all the questions asked in the live Q&A session in this Club thread . Next up, was Marie Cruz, who joined us again with her talk on Performance Testing 101 where she showed us how to get equipped with the knowledge and tools to get started with performance testing. Check all the resources and read all the questions asked in the live Q&A session in this Club thread . Stuart Day and Vernon Richards came together again on the stage to show off their dance skills and Quality Coaching knowledge with their talk What is Quality Coaching, Why Should Testers Care And What Difference Does It Make For Our Teams? Check all the resources and read all the questions asked in the live Q&A session in this Club thread . To finish the first half of the day we discovered The Power of Example Mapping with Kika Ganesan . Kika explained very well what example mapping is, how to do it and also when not to use it! Check all the resources and read all the questions asked in the live Q&A session in this Club thread . After a longer break, we watched Dan Ashby 's talk Evolving Our Testing: Assessing Quality Throughout The SDLC where Dan explained his view on testing and its purpose of assessing quality, in line with his views of quality being beyond the correctness of the software. Check all the resources and read all the questions asked in the live Q&A session in this Club thread . Joining us once again all the way from Jamaica, was Julia Pottinger with her talk Next Level...

TestBash UK 2023: Slight Change of Plans

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 09:00:00 -0000

When we started thinking about TestBash UK 2023 we thought it would be great to bring TestBash UK to Cambridge. This city was chosen because it was the birth location of Ministry of Testing, just over 10 years ago and it would be a great way to do a late celebration of our 10 years anniversary. But, we didn't know how difficult it was to find a suitable venue in Cambridge that would tick all of our main boxes, such as: central with good transport links, fully accessible with plenty of space for everyone to move around comfortably and with the number of rooms we need to put all the different format of sessions. You probably know already what I'm going to say next... yes, that search was hard and not a successful one! TestBash UK 2023 will no longer be happening in Cambridge. But there is some good news: we found an amazing venue to host the best software testing conference in the UK next year! TestBash UK 2023 will be happening at the Rum Warehouse and West Bay in Liverpool ! In order to confirm this venue we also had to move the dates slightly. TestBash UK 2023 will now be happening on the 20th and 21st of September 2023, on Wednesday and Thursday. We will be taking over all the venues in this historical Grade-II listed building, over a hundred years old, located in one of the city's most iconic areas, the Stanley Dock. We are now super excited that TestBash UK 2023 finally has a home, so let the planning start! Oh, don't forget that the Blind Bird tickets sale finishes at the beginning of January 2023 or as soon as the limit of 50 tickets is reached. So get yours now to guarantee the cheapest price! For those who have already bought tickets, thank you! We'll be in touch soon to discuss your options. Buy a Blind Bird Ticket See you at TestBash UK 2023 ? - Diana Dromey, EventBoss at Ministry of Testing

Win an Annual MoT Pro Membership Thanks To mabl

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0000

Did you miss out on winning a Pro subscription? You have another chance to win a full year MoT Pro subscription thanks to mabl ! You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 mabl is the leading intelligent, low-code test automation solution that enables high-velocity software teams to tightly integrate automated end-to-end tests into the entire development lifecycle. mabl ’s unified platform makes creating, executing, and maintaining reliable browser, API, accessibility, and mobile web tests easier, accelerating the delivery of high-quality, business-critical applications The competition has closed. We will contact the winner directly by the 29th November - so keep an eye on your email!

TestBash UK 2022 is back again!

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0000

The dust has settled on TestBash UK 2022 and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you for making it a conference we can all be proud of. It’s great to see the community respond so well to the wide range of talks, workshops and activities that were held over the two days. But it posed a question… what next? Enter ReTestBash… Welcome to ReTestBash ReTestBash is a great opportunity for everyone who attends: If you were unable to attend TestBash UK 2022 in person, now’s your chance to experience what it was like being there and learn from some excellent speakers. If you did attend, it’s a great way to come back to what you learnt and reflect upon it. Plus, reconnect with the people you met at the conference. So how will it work? For one day we’ll replay a selection of TestBash UK 2022 talks and invite the speakers online for live Q&A sessions. This is an excellent chance to revisit our TestBash UK 2022 talks. And have the opportunity to ask those all-important questions we’ve been thinking about. We’ll also run an activity and our famous 99 Second Talks to give you the full TestBash UK experience. ReTestBash is an online-only event on 1st December . It’s free to attend for all TestBash UK 2022 attendees and all Ministry of Testing Pro members. Alternatively, you will be able to purchase a ticket to access the event. Whether you’re new to TestBash UK or looking to reflect on what you learnt, join us for ReTestBash . TestBash CoreSkills Cancelled Sadly to make space for ReTestBash we’ve cancelled TestBash Core Skills. Sadly we didn’t receive enough submissions for TestBash Core Skills. This meant we wouldn’t have been able to deliver the type of high-quality online TestBash that the community deserves. That said, we did get a small collection of great submissions. So Core Skills will return in January 2023 in a different format with some other exciting news. Those of you who kindly purchased a ticket will receive a full refund. Let us know what you were looking forward to about TestBash Core Skills and we’ll aim to incorporate that into the thing we do in January. We’d love to hear from you .

📣 Announcing TestBash Spring 2023: Your Next Online Conference Coming in March!

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Grow your testing and public speaking skills on the 23rd of March 2023 from the comfort of your home or office at TestBash Spring 2023 . Help us shape this conference to ensure that it meets the high standard you’ve come to expect with an online TestBash testing conference. How you might be asking? Good question: 1) Submit Proposal Grow your public speaking profile. We’re currently looking for 30-minute talks on all topics related to software testing. Submit your paper now until the 8th January 2023. The brilliant and helpful community will review your abstracts. Submit Proposal 2) Review Abstracts Review abstracts: help your fellow community members and contribute to next the TestBash lineups! Your reviews encourage speakers to improve their abstracts. Plus each abstract provides you with insight into important topics from across the community. Review Abstracts 3) Register Today TestBash Spring 2023 is available to all our wonderful Pro Members! All you need to do is register. If you're not yet a Pro Member, you can create an account or upgrade yours now for £24.99 a month or £249.99 a year. If going Pro is not possible right now, you can also purchase a ticket here for £75. Register Hope to see you at TestBash Spring 2023 as an attendee or speaker! - Diana Dromey, EventBoss at Ministry of Testing

The Talk Recordings From TestBash UK Are Live!

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 10:00:00 -0000

Did you suffer FOMO when the community finally got back together at TestBash UK 2022? Or were you there experiencing the community feels and deep learning at the new multi-format TestBash? Either way, you can now live the magic vicariously through your screens by watching the amazing TestBash UK talk recordings on the MoT platform. Ever wondered what Dan Ashby thinks Quality really is? We’ve captured his wise words here . Or maybe you wanted to watch Julia Pottinger’s amazing and succinct session on API testing, you can watch that here . Perhaps you’re interested in venturing into quality coaching, well Clare Norman , Vernon Richards and Stuart Day have got you covered! There is so much to learn from the TestBash UK recordings on topics such as heuristics, automation, thread modelling and much more. So get stuck in and watch the talk videos back to consolidate your learnings or spark new ideas. Go Pro to watch all the talks or check your emails if you attended TestBash UK, where information on accessing the talks will be revealed. Watch the talks!

Sometimes the Plan Changes

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 13:08:00 -0000

Sometimes a plan has to change and we’ve made the following updates to this Friday’s TestBashX Bucks. I will now host the day and Richard Adams will give his excellent ‘Let’s Go Threat Modelling’ talk from TestBash UK – a talk that was very well received. Why the change? Plans out of their control meant Laveena Ramchandani can no longer host and sadly illness got the better of Melissa Fisher who was due to give a talk. We wish them both well! We also acknowledge the impact of these changes on the diversity of the original lineup. For everything else, look out for the “TestBashX Buckinghamshire - All You Need to Know” email sent on 7th October. We look forward to seeing you this Friday at TestBashX Bucks! - Simon Tomes, CommunityBoss

Why Attend Test.bash(); 2022?

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 10:00:00 -0000

With so many conferences and meetups staying online, it stands to reason you need to be convinced to attend another online event. So here are five reasons to attend Test.bash(); on Thursday 20th October 2022. Test.bash(); Will Be an Experience For every online conference we run, we work hard to create a great experience. So while all the speaker sessions are recorded and made available after the event, by being there in real-time, you’ll get the full Test.bash(); experience. From the warm welcome of our hosts to the invaluable online chat discussions with other attendees, you’ll feel part of something special. More Access to Speakers After talks at Test.bash();, speakers will run breakout Q&A sessions that are optional for attendees to take part in. These breakout sessions will provide you with the chance to meet the speakers and learn more about their topics. You’ll be able to ask them questions and have deep discussions with other attendees equally interested in that subject. You never know what you might discover with such real-time discussions. Check out all the speakers and topics on the event page to see what possibilities may arise. Get Support Using New Tools Getting to know new tools is challenging. You’ll often come across problems that you can’t find solutions to and have to tackle them on your own. But at Test.bash(); there are lots of ways you can get support with getting the most out of useful testing tools such as Cypress, Playwright, Postman, Applitools, K6, Selenium and many more! For instance, experience reports solving the UI, visual automation, API automation and data management challenges using different tools will be streamed live during the event. You’ll be able to ask questions of the speaker and chat with other attendees to share ideas and learn together. It’s something you can’t quite capture when coming back to all this later. Dedicated Time to Learn Deeply In our busy lives, it’s easy to push our learning activities to the back burner. Attending Test.bash(); live encourages you to prioritise learning and focus on the tasks at hand. No more pausing the video recording to do a million other things or having videos on in the background whilst you tackle something else. Being interactive and engaged in live events leads to better learning and is usually more time efficient than only watching the recordings back where distractions may be higher and motivation lower. Give your active learning...

All Systems Go For TestBashX Bucks 2022!

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 10:00:00 -0000

TestBashX Bucks is just two weeks away and we're getting ready for another day packed with two talks, our famous 99-Second Talks and hands-on activities run by software testing experts in a learning carousel system. A learning carousel is an active, cooperative learning approach that involves groups of people moving around a space, visiting several learning stations and completing authentic collaborative tasks. Put simply, it’s loads of mini-workshops that you will complete with fellow testers. So what's happening at TestBashX Bucks on the 14th of October? Our wonderfully funny Laveena Ramchandani will be our host and will start by inviting Melissa Fisher on stage for the opening talk Tools for the Mindful Tester . In this talk, Melissa will cover some practical tips and tools that have helped guide her when pressure, guilt or fear tried to take over. Straight after the opening talk, all the attendees will be split into groups and start with the activities: API Testing and Automation with Postman - Led by Arlemi Turpault In this session you will author some test scripts, automate tests, and dynamically control workflows using the collection runner and scheduled monitors - and if you’re still hungry for more you’ll experiment with the CLI collection runner Newman! The Heuristic Challenge In this activity, learners will come up with as many different test ideas as possible in a short frame of time. We’ll then learn how we can expand our ideas with heuristics to help us identify new ideas to expand our testing. Model and Test The Button - Created by Mark Winteringham For this activity, you’ll explore a device using a range of different questions and tools. What you learn will be used to create a visual representation of how the application works. So that you can pick the right testing approaches to learn more. Test Team Roulette - Choose your Ideal Candidate! In this activity, learners are asked to work together to put together a testing role that would describe their ideal candidate to hire. By working together and empathising with different perspectives we'll learn how to find the right person for the job. Let's Go Threat Modelling! - Created by Richard Adams This activity is an opportunity to learn how to adopt threat modelling and what a session might look like, using Richard Adams’s card game. The goal is to show you how Threat Modelling works and also that threat modelling isn't just for security engineers or...

Test.bash(); Speaker Line Up Confirmed!

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 16:00:00 -0000

With Test.bash(); happening at the end of October, we thought it about time to finalise the line up! 👀 First let's take a look at our Test.bash(); speaker line up and what topics they'll cover: Kylee Tilley "Transcending The Tools" - This talk will cover how to stay up to date on the latest tools, understanding the problems your tools are trying to solve versus investing in individual tools, build versus buy when considering tools and that old tools are still the best tools sometimes. Louise Gibbs "Testing the Tests - Mutation Testing for UI Automation" - Louise will be discussing various methods for testing UI Automated tests. The aim of these tests are to reduce the risk of false positives, test flakiness and wasted time in test runs. Jaswanth Manigundan "Building and Implementing an API Test Solution Strategy Across a Scaling Organisation - A Journey!" - Jaswanth will speak about his journey in drafting an automation test strategy specifically meant for APIs and would also talk about the tools that we chose to help us thrive. Guru Kiran "Visual Automation Testing" - Understand when and why you should create automated visual testing and which test level do you run a visual test on. Nick Relkov "Test Data Generation in Postman" - Test Data Generation has always been a thorn in the side of Testing. Nick found that even though Postman does not support being used as a Test Data Generator, it is most definitely built in a way that it can support it, with a bit of creativity. On top of these excellent talks, you can expect a Discussion Panel with Ibironke Yekinni, Sujith Sukumaran and Sarah Hutchins . Giving you the opportunity to drive the discussion, asking all your questions about Managing Your Testing Toolbox. We also have an Ask Me Anything: All Things Testing Tools with Sonali Das . Both are great opportunities to find resolutions to your problems, or maybe spark ideas around tools you need to investigate more! What else? I hear you ask. We have multiple tool demos happening with both members of the community and sponsors tackling the 4 challenges, some fun activities - "The Wheel of Tools" and "Tool Karaoke" - maybe you can guess what's involved? If not we'll share more details soon. Plus we've lined up some brilliant sponsors running fun events at their community spaces - including a few games you could possibly win prizes for....my lips are sealed for now. We will of course end with our famous 99 Second Talks...

Announcing TestBash UK 2023!

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:00:00 -0000

After our biggest ever TestBash, we're delighted to announce that TestBash UK will return in 2023, this time we're bringing it back to Liverpool! We are planning another two day event, packed with talks, workshops, activities, games and of course plenty of time to catch up with other testers and refill your community cup. Submit Your Proposal Have you been inspired by TestBash 2022? Maybe you can see yourself on the stage sharing your ideas, knowledge and experience? We whole-heartedly agree and think you should submit your idea for a Talk, or Talk and Activity, or go for the full Talk, Activity and Workshop option! We have guides that can help you with your submission, " What is an Abstract? ", " Writing an Abstract " and " Improving Your Abstract With Feedback ". Blind Bird Tickets We are still putting the finer details together, but our Blind Bird tickets are also making a come back. You can trust us to put on another amazing event that you will want to be part of, so why not take advantage and get a discounted ticket? Some of our TestBash UK 2022 attendees already have! Get them before they're gone. We're really looking forward to welcoming you to TestBash 2023. Keep an eye out for more details in the coming months.

Winning Slogan for “Win a TestBash Ticket T-Shirt Competition” Goes To Print

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Testing folks are creative. No doubt about that! And with 112 entries for the Ultimate Testing Slogan T-Shirt competition , the voting panel landed on something unique and highly familiar. What Happens If I Do This? David Duke won a ticket to attend TestBash UK 2022 in Manchester! And his slogan is now available on a t-shirt in the Ministry of Testing Store . Available in multiple colours and sizes. Pick one up today ! 👕 – Simon Tomes, CommunityBoss at Ministry of Testing

Five Tips on Returning to In-Person Events

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 12:00:00 -0000

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to attend large in-person conferences due to the Covid crisis. And whilst online conferences are here to stay, we’ve longed for the warmth and welcome you get from an in-person conference like TestBash! Something you can’t describe unless you’ve experienced it for real. Though we’re eager to get back to meeting friends, sharing expert tips and checking out what’s for lunch, we might feel overwhelmed about the prospect of getting back together. So with TestBash UK just around the corner, check these tips on how to comfortably return to in-person conferences. Choose How You Want To Engage Despite there being no Covid restrictions in the UK, feeling safe and comfortable in public spaces differs from person to person. So it’s important to reflect on how you are happy to engage in busy areas. Are you strictly greeting folks with elbow bumps, or are you all in and back for hugs? Whatever your level of comfort, be sure to respect that other people’s engagement choices might be different to yours. At TestBash UK, we have a sticker system to denote how people wish to engage. Respect if others wish to wave hello from a distance. Furthermore, if a space feels too crowded for your comfort level, move to a different zone that’s less crowded; fantastic things are happening in six different zones around our venue, The Lowry (download the app to see the indoor map. See tip #3). TestBash Sticker System Do a Spot of Research Take some time before an event to review the schedule and work out what sessions are a must-see! This is especially important if the conference is a multi-track event like this year’s TestBash UK . Having an idea of what you want to see before you attend means there’s one less thing taking up your mental load when you arrive. You’ve already got to navigate the venue, grab cool swag, meet new people and find that all important first cup of caffeine. So take the time to draft yourself a schedule and take one less thing off your plate. If you find that there are multiple sessions happening in one time block that looks useful, our advice is to be brave and choose the session that’s interesting, but you know least about. Being brave will allow you to expand your horizons and get the most value from your attendance. Better still, pair up with someone, a friend or colleague, split up and agree to compare notes at the end of the day. However, at TestBash UK, you’ll never completely miss out as all our talks are...

Why Attend A TestBash?

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Are you still not sure about attending a TestBash? Wondering what value you'll get out of attending? Here are four reasons why attending TestBash is valuable for you. Community Connection Testbash always has a warm and welcoming community. By attending you’ll be part of that and able to make meaningful connections with people that can last a lifetime. People who will be able to support you, celebrate you and learn from you (and you from them). Some of the most important people in my life I've met at conferences have helped me as a tester and as a person. Getting to know others can feel awkward, but remember being at a conference gives you one key advantage. Everyone at the event is passionate about testing and quality! So we have a great way to easily kick off a conversation by asking "What challenges do you face in testing?". You'll be surprised by what you'll learn and where the discussion takes you. We also have a quiet room to give you time to decompress and regain some energy. TestBash is a safe space for our attendees, no matter how you decide to engage. New Knowledge and Skills Many people come to TestBash to learn new testing topics or attain new skills and techniques. With the testing community’s help, we create line ups that offer a wide range of ideas and experiences to learn from. Because of this diverisity, a key benefit of TestBash is that you might join us with a view to learn something new about Automation. But end up leaving with useful knowledge and skills in areas such as Accessibility, Performance or Quality culture in addition to Automation! Change Your Career Path Whilst our conferences lineups are agreed upon months before, there are opportunities you can take advantage of at TestBash that can change your career trajectory. For example, maybe you’ll take part in our 99 Second talks! Many successful members of the testing community started off by giving a 99 Second talk (including our BossBoss!). You'd be surprised how getting the confidence to speak publically for 99 seconds can have on you and your career. Or you may meet someone with a shared interest that you can join with to create something new and exceptional together. We’ll also have a recruitment fair, maybe your ideal role is just waiting to be discovered. You might even discover a new found love of a specific area of testing that will shift your focus. Unique learning format TestBash has always done learning a little differently to other conferences. We...

Why We’re Getting Rid of Q&As at TestBash

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Arguably Q&A sessions at the end of talks are a good thing. When they work well, they allow people to clarify unclear parts of their talk and give the opportunity for the audience to learn more about areas of interest. In magic moments, Q&A might even spark new ideas by having people engage in the topic with new perspectives. But I’ve sat through many Q&A sessions that have made me roll my eyes and had the phrase “let’s take this discussion to the break” uttered in a somewhat frustrated tone. There’s also the issue of certain personality types being more likely to have the confidence to ask questions in front of hundreds of peers. And, the format encourages knee-jerk, poorly thought-out questions and perhaps not the best answers from the speakers either. Furthermore, some people got what they needed from the talk and don’t want to sit through the Q&A. There must be a more friendly method of asking speakers questions that keep the magic and engagement of Q&A sessions for those that want to know more. Introducing the Ask Me Anything (AMA) Bar If you’ve ever attended one of our UnExpos, TestBashXs or, most recently, TestBash World, you’d know that MoT is not new to creating new innovative and engaging conference formats. Well, we think we’ve done it again for TestBash UK , and one new thing we’re pioneering is a new method of asking questions to the speaker; we’re calling it the AMA Bar. We called it this because you can ask the speaker anything on their topic, and the inspiration for the format is taken from the teaching and learning activity of a “ genius bar ” (side note: at TestBash UK, it will also take place in a bar, but that’s a happy coincidence). How the Format Will Work At TestBash UK, three or four AMA bars will run simultaneously. Each bar will be run by a different speaker on their respective topics and will be clearly signposted with that topic. At each bar, there will be a table with a chair for the speaker on one side and approximately 8 chairs on the other side for attendees (first-come, first-served basis). More people can stand behind the chairs if they want to observe the AMA take place. There will be sticky notes and pens on each table. Example AMA Bar Table Set Up Each speaker will run their AMA Bar for three 20-minute rounds. Different attendees will sit opposite the speaker during each round to maximise the number of folks who get to ask their questions to the speaker. Each round will be prefaced with a 5-minute...

TestBash UK and Automation Course Ticket Update

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0000

With TestBash UK just five weeks away, we wanted to update you on our three new ticket offers. We are very close to reaching our attendee goals, and we think we can use these five weeks and offers to surpass them. So grab them while you can! 1. Early Bird Ticket Deadline Extended We were just a few ticket sales away from moving up to standard pricing. However, we’ve decided to stay on Early Bird pricing until the 9th of September. So, ensure to book before then to get the early bird price of £899 for a fantastic new two-day conference experience you don’t want to miss. We will move to standard pricing on the 10th of September, which is £1049. 2. Automation in Testing (AiT) - Buy One Test Get One Free This may be the last public Automation in Testing course* we’ll be hosting in the UK, and we want to go out on a bang. Therefore we are offering Buy One Get One Free on the remaining tickets until the 9th of September, or we sell out. If you are struggling to get the most out of your automation efforts or looking to bring automation into your practices, this course is for you. We encourage you to take advantage of this offer and allow two of your team to benefit from this excellent course. The course is aimed at Testers, Quality Analysts, Quality Engineers and Developers. Why not send a tester and a developer? Book using this link . *If you already have a ticket for the course, you’ll be offered another course ticket or a ticket for TestBash for you or a colleague. Team MoT will be reaching out to you. 3. AiT + TestBash UK Combination If you don’t have a colleague to take advantage of the BOGOF course offer; then we have another offer for you. Buy a ticket for the Automation in Testing course, and we’ll give you a free ticket to TestBash UK. That’s five days of education for £1500! Use this link to take advantage of this offer. We look forward to seeing you in September! - Diana Dromey, EventBoss at Ministry of Testing

TestBash UK - More Than a Multi-Track Conference

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash has always been a single-track conference with attendees watching a series of talks between networking breaks. However, take a look at the event lineup for TestBash UK and you’ll see that we’re offering something different with multiple tracks. So why have we gone multi-track? Let us explain our plans and how we’re building a testing conference that provides the maximum learning opportunities to suit you. Whilst on the surface it might seem that we’re running a typical multi-track conference, our vision is not about offering a wealth of topics to learn but a wealth of ways to learn. As an example, let’s take a look at what Marie Drake will be contributing to TestBash UK: Hosting a talk called Performance Testing 101 Running a workshop called Performance Testing 101 Also, running an activity called Performance Testing 101 Notice the theme? Marie is running a variety of sessions all themed around the topic of Performance Testing so you can learn the subject in the way that works for you. All our speakers are working hard to present their experiences and knowledge in different formats so you can choose the formats you prefer. Like getting hands-on? Why not attend the workshops? Prefer to listen to a story? Head over to the talks. Looking for a fast-paced way to learn lots of topics? Try out our activities. TestBash UK is more than multi-track; it’s multi-format with the opportunity to learn and discover all topics in the way you want. Here’s a quick summary of your learning options at TestBash UK . Talks @ The Stage TestBash has always had the very best in talks on quality and testing, and TestBash UK will be no different. Talks offer a great way to learn if you’re someone who likes to hear others tell stories and watch demonstrations. They are also a great opportunity for those looking to learn many new ideas in a straightforward and quick way. What new testing ideas will you learn at one of the talks? 99-Minute Workshops @ Pier Eight and Hexagon Our online 99-Minute Workshops have been hugely successful and valuable for attendees. This is due to them being learning outcome focussed with hands-on activities targeted at making sure attendees achieve the learning goals. All with the support of testing gurus. The in-person workshops at TestBash will follow the same successful recipe. If you’re someone who likes to learn deeply with hands-on practical experience, the 99 Minute workshops are for you. TestBashX Activities @...

TestBashX Bucks Has a Venue!

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0000

TestBashX Bucks is fast approaching and we are now starting to get a lot of the final details confirmed. After a long search and many failed options, we finally found a venue to host our last in-person TestBash of 2022! TestBashX Bucks will be held at the stunning DoubleTree by Hilton in Milton Keynes. This venue is located at the Stadium MK, home to Milton Keynes Dons Football Club and we'll have great views over the pitch! Milton Keynes Central rail station is an 8-minute drive and you also have complimentary parking at the venue. Haven't got a ticket yet? Book yours now as they're limited to 100! Super Early Bird tickets are still available at the time of this news post. Buy a Ticket - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Shiny New App in the Making for TestBash UK 2022!

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0000

We're very excited to announce that TestBash UK 2022 will soon have its own shiny new app! Why do we need an app? With TestBash UK 2022 it's the first time we're running a mutli-track conference. How very exciting! Yet potentially overwhelming for attendees. Where do I go? Which talk do I attend? What time is that session happening? So we created a scheduling app to help everyone plan their conference and avoid missing out on the sessions that matter. How does the app help? View the schedule based on location, speaker or session type Check the session descriptions and speaker information Create your own conference schedule in advance 🗓🏆 What else can it do? First-hand notifications about any changes or news related to the conference Use of a fun personalised photobooth overlay to snap away throughout the conference A playlist we can link to any public Spotify playlist, such as the Ministry of Testing Tester's Island Discs Access to the Challenge Competition: solutions to the challenges during the conference can be submitted via the app to enter the big prize competition and so much more! Where can I download the app? It's coming soon to iOS and Android. We'll let you know as soon as it's available. TestBash UK 2022 is entering its final stages and we can guarantee that this is not a conference to miss! We have so many new features and surprises in store, all designed to help you learn and meet fellow community members. 🙌🏻 Get your ticket now to guarantee the best price as we're almost sold out of Early Bird tickets! 🎟 Buy a Ticket See you at TestBash UK 2022! - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

New Call To Speak for Test.bash(); 2022!

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0000

We have opened again the Call To Speak for Test.bash(); 2022! Why? We have recently updated the format of Test.bash();, adding four sub-topics. Sadly this means the abstracts already submitted no longer fit the new requirements. Test.bash(); 2022 will be a tool-aware-focused conference focusing on these four sub-topics: UI Automation Visual Automation API Automation Data Management Who and What Are We Looking For? We want to gather a diverse speaker lineup, from a range of backgrounds that truly represent our testing community. If you're white, straight and male then we already have enough of you folks lined up already. More specifically, these are the slots we need speakers for: Talk on Visual Automation Talk on API Automation Talk on Data Management Ask Me Anything session about All Things Testing Tools — looking for a speaker with plenty of knowledge and experience with testing tools. Such as how to find and use new tools and how to understand and evaluate the value of a tool. Panel Discussion: Managing your Testing Toolbox — looking for three speakers to take part in this panel. How to get tools signed off for your team? How to decide on the best tools for your company? When is it time to switch tools? (both for paid-for tools and open-source). Deadline: 31st of August 2022 Do you want to be part of the largest online tool-awareness conference of the year or know of someone who would be a good candidate for any of the above? If so, please let us know by completing the form below, before the 31st of August 2022 . We will not require an abstract until the 16th of September 2022, so there's plenty of time to think about it after you've completed the form. As always, if you need help in creating the abstract, we're here to help! Feel free to email hello@ministryoftesting.com . – Diana, EventBoss

Win a TestBash UK 2022 ticket!

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0000

Want to win a ticket to attend TestBash UK 2022 on the 22nd and 23rd of September? We're looking for the ultimate testing slogan to be featured in a T-Shirt and sold on our Awesome Merch Store . The winner will be chosen by an amazing community panel: Beth Marshall, Ben Dowen, Steph Jenkins and Shey Crompton. Our DesignBoss will then design the T-Shirt, adding it to our store, making it available to the whole community to buy! You will become a " Testing T-Shirt Legend". How to Enter: Submit your ideas in the form below - you can submit more than one! 📅 Deadline to submit : 31st of August 2022 🏆 Winner Announcement : 5th of September 2022 - someone from MoT will get in touch with you, so please keep an eye on your email. 🍀 Good luck to you all! 🍀 - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Are You Ready To Take The Test.Bash(); 2022 Challenges?

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Test.bash(); 2022 is coming on October 20th 2022 and we want to make it the biggest testing tool awareness conference there has ever been, packed with challenges, demonstrations, talks, discussions and much more. Our vision for Test.bash(); includes: Introducing the audience to as many test tools as possible, so as to provide as many options to teams as possible when it comes to solving their testing-related problems. Demonstrations centred around hands-on challenges, to not just introduce the audience to a testing tool, but also show how to utilise it and share experiences. To achieve this we’ve created a set of challenges that can be solved with automation, giving you an opportunity to flex existing automation skills, but also providing some framing to learn something new. What Are We Looking For We are looking for pre-recorded video demonstrations showcasing your solution(s) to our challenges. Think of them as a demo, a walk through, where you share your approach, the tooling, a demo and anything else you believe is worth sharing. We’d also be interested in hearing experience reports where you were unable to complete a challenge, but learnt something along the way. Maximum 20 minutes A working demo of your solution / tool, if you have one A list of the tools/frameworks used in your solution Tips and tricks you’d like to share Any hurdles you overcame, plus any still outstanding With the focus of the conference being on tool awareness we are seeking to see as many tools as possible, so bear that in mind when deciding your tooling. We are looking for 100 challenge demos spread across four different challenge tracks (so 25 per track). If we receive more than 100 submissions, we’ll be accepting demos based on tool uniqueness. We’ll be showing 3 demos for each challenge live on the main stage of the conference, and the remaining demos will be made available on-demand during the conference. All recordings will be added to the Ministry of Testing platform post the conference. What Are The Challenges? We have four different challenges that you can take part in that focus on different sets of automation tools: UI, Visual, API and Data Management. Click on the links for each challenge to learn more: UI Automation Challenge - Can you check that a message has been created? VIsual Automation Challenge - Can you check that the correct images are displayed on the home page? API Automation Challenge - Can you check that...

Meetups - Adapting To Change

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 08:00:00 -0000

It will come as no surprise to all of us that the consequences of the pandemic have had an impact on all of our community meetups. Over the past few months we've learnt from organisers that the result of the pandemic has meant: People are working from home more or have relocated, meaning less desire to travel to areas with Meetups Many of us are still not ready to mix with larger groups The length of the pandemic has meant some community members have moved on to other exciting things. Whilst all of these things are understandable and have presented new opportunities for us as a community, the knock-on effect has meant that many of our meetups that were active before the pandemic have become dormant. The cost of managing Meetups At the time of writing, we currently have 98 Meetup groups set up on Meetup.com at an annual cost of $17,000+. Which is a sizeable amount for us. This would be money well spent, supporting local communities to get together, socialise and learn from one another. However, of those 98 Meetups only, 38 of these Meetups are active. Meaning we are paying $10,500 a year on inactive meetups which could be better spent on other community initiatives. Closing down inactive Meetups With that $10,500 annual bill in mind. We've made a decision internally to close down the inactive meetups. The organisers have all been contacted, and we've offered support to help them get started again. But for many valid reasons, some of them are not in a position to restart, so we are closing them down. We hope many of them will return again in the future, and we will always continue to support new meetups. What does this mean for the future of Meetups? Our goal is to help the Meetups that are active to grow and support their local testing communities. Our next phase will involve working more closely with our organisers to help them with Meetup organising tasks such as finding venues, securing sponsorship, and organising new and exciting Meetup formats and content. So if your local meetup is still up and running, please support them by attending and contributing. And if you're interested in starting a new Meetup or taking over an old one that has been deleted, get in touch with us at hello@ministryoftesting.com and we'll work with you to get your local community up and running. You can learn more about hosting a meetup on our help page .

Automation In Testing Bucks Cancelled

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 12:00:00 -0000

TestBashX Bucks is fast approaching and preparations are in full swing . Which has given us time to reflect on the Automation in Testing (AiT) training Richard and I planned to run from the 10th to 12th October. Running an Automation in Testing in September in Manchester and another in October in Buckinghamshire was an experiment to see if people would be motivated by training that is closer to their place of work. But what we've learnt is that people preference training that is run nearer to larger conference events. What this means is that whilst AiT Manchester continues to sell well ( Early birds are still available - grab them while you can!), AiT Bucks has had less success. This has brought us to the decision to cancel the AiT training in Bucks. Whilst it's a shame to cancel the training, we've learnt a lot from this experiment and it will give us the capacity to focus on making Automation in Testing Manchester and TestBash UK the best ever. So if you would still like to attend Automation in Testing Manchester, sign up today before the tickets go!

Full Lineup for TestBash World is Now Live!

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 13:58:00 -0000

✨ This month is TestBash World's month and we are super excited to be able to announce the last wave of confirmed speakers to be added to the star-studded lineup! ✨ TestBash World is starting to take its final shape with almost all the sessions added and we can now confirm that we are over 1000 attendees. This means that we are now halfway through our goal of 2000 attendees and closer to our dream of 5000! So let's find out who is the third wave of speakers added to the lineup: Ryo Chikazawa , CEO of Autify, our Black Belt sponsor, will be joining us for a short talk about the current challenges in QA testing, the short-term solution (automation testing) and the long-term solution, which is eliminating the test phase with Machine Learning by shifting left and right. Mike Clarke will be revisiting his TestBash New Zealand 2019's talk 'Setting Sail into the Great Unknown: How I Got Started in Testing from a Non-technical Background'. Mike loves the wonderful world of testing and is one of the co-organisers of the MoT Auckland meetup. Jaswanth Manigundan , Pricilla Bilavendran and Ali Haydar will be together in a Panel Discussion session where they will be talking about API Testing. Jaswanth is a lead test automation engineer working as a part of the QE practice at Culture Amp. Pricilla is from Malaysia and is a passionate test engineer with a decade of experience in Quality Assurance. And last but not least, Ali does not know many things, but he does know how to learn them efficiently and rapidly. Deborah Sherwood will be talking about Regression Testing in an Ask Me Anything Session. Deborah is an engineering manager and quality lead and is passionate about making high-quality products that not only work but are accessible and meet customers' expectations. Saskia Coplans also known for her film-related talks will be revisiting her TestBash Manchester 2019's talk 'Threat Modelling: How Software Survives in a Hacker’s Universe. Saskia has over ten years of experience in information security and governance along with standards and policy development. Louise Gibbs , Karen Todd , Ben Dowen are some of our community superstars and will be together in this Panel Discussion session to talk about how this community has helped their...

Win an Annual MoT Pro Membership Thanks To Sauce Labs

Tue, 31 May 2022 09:00:00 -0000

Did you miss out on winning a Pro subscription? You have another chance to win a full year MoT Pro subscription thanks to Sauce Labs ! You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and in-person events. 🎉 Sauce Labs is trusted by developers worldwide to help them deliver better software, faster. Our continuous testing cloud accelerates CI/CD without compromising quality, and delivers a 360-degree view of your customers' application experience, ensuring apps work exactly as they should on every browser, OS, and device. Try it free today! The competition will close on the 13th June. We will contact the winner directly by the 22nd June.

Weekly Events - March to May 2022 Review

Fri, 27 May 2022 11:27:00 -0000

Twitter creates conversations For Ministry of Testing's weekly events initiative, Twitter now creates both tweet and voice conversations. Twitter Spaces has been a huge success. I've been fortunate to co-host with Jo Richards about Regression Testing, dig deep into how blogging helps your career with Nicola Lindgren and encourage a whole load of people to ask Leigh Rathbone anything about leadership. Sadly these recordings only exist for 30 days on Twitter. 🐦 Do keep an eye out for more as well as Friday's #TestYak — something of a last-minute idea that appeared from a thesaurus check for the word "conversation". Who knows what we'll talk about yet many tune in and a good number of people come up on stage to ask a question or bring up an important topic. It's a good way to round off the week with the community. This audio-only format appears to work well and we've noticed people returning to more than one along with incredible "tuned in" numbers. We’ll definitely run more Twitter Spaces so keep an eye on the events page and follow the Ministry of Testing Twitter profile . And if you want to co-host on a topic you're interested in or be available for an Ask Me Anything, send me an email . Taking the challenge Mark Winteringham (OpsBoss) tasked me with wrapping 99 Minute Challenges into the weekly events initiative. After the success of the first round of challenge experiments, Mark and I created six more. You can find them on the Events page . Six excellent community members put themselves forward to facilitate and will have the opportunity to tweak them for next time and then, if they choose to, create a new challenge from scratch. We thought this approach would be an interesting way to help community members get started with facilitation and design their own challenges. We shall see how that all goes over the coming months. Exciting! "99 Minute Challenges are online, live challenges facilitated by a helpful community member. A challenge aims to help you develop testing skills that will benefit your day-to-day life. You have 99 minutes to complete them in small groups, so you get to learn with others. They emulate real-world scenarios where you apply your own know-how to tackle each challenge. This will help you develop your testing skills and self-directed learning habits through practice and reflection." – Sarah Deery (LearningBoss) Noted by some The first-ever Note Takers on Exploratory Testing led to twelve of us reading...

A New Round of 99 Minute Challenges

Thu, 19 May 2022 09:46:00 -0000

Success inspires us to do more. And due to the success of the first round of 99 Minute Challenges, we've launched six more. Sarah Deery (LearningBoss) sets the scene perfectly for what they are and why they are helpful. 99 Minute Challenges are online, live challenges facilitated by a helpful community member. A challenge aims to help you develop testing skills that will benefit your day-to-day life. You have 99 minutes to complete them in small groups, so you get to learn with others. They emulate real-world scenarios where you apply your own know-how to tackle each challenge. This will help you develop your testing skills and self-directed learning habits through practice and reflection. Which one or many might you take? Take the STRIDE Threat Model Challenge with Claire Reckless Take the Manage Data Challenge with Peet Michielsen Take the Mind Map of Questions Challenge with Zenzi Ali Take the Set Up Monitoring for Errors Challenge with Lewis Prescott Take the Personas Challenge with Emna Ayadi Take the Basic UI Automation Check Challenge with Trisha Chetani All are available with a Ministry of Testing Pro subscription . – Simon, CommunityBoss

Do We Belong? What the Belong-O-Meter Tells Us About the Ministry of Testing Community

Tue, 17 May 2022 15:11:00 -0000

The above chart paints a fascinating story. Those are 36 helpful people willing to share their sense of belonging to the Ministry of Testing community. A while back I asked: Which sense of belonging do you most identify with the Ministry of Testing community? Recipients selected one of 5 options. And this led to several 1-2-1 calls where I was curious to dig deeper into each response, to understand an individual’s context, goals, and ambitions. What relationship did these community members have with the community? It’s been an incredible learning journey. During each call, we’d discuss their response and explore what people would like to see less of and more of. Such conversations have led to many reflections and next steps. Key findings and reflections Most community members aim to be part of the community on their own terms There’s a lot of love for this community. Folks genuinely look out for each other It can be difficult for a community member to jump to a “creation mode” — where a member adds to the community with a video, article or something similar Those towards the latter end of their career are keen to give back yet sometimes can’t find a straightforward way to do so Not everyone wants to attend another testing event There are members who lurk and we should embrace them, they are as much part of the community as those who are visually and vocally present There is an opportunity to find out why people join the community in the first place. This can lead to a set of common joining themes For “traditional” testing professionals, the Ministry of Testing community might be seen as too progressive There’s not much awareness about the Ministry of Testing scholarship fund The community can be inward focused and might benefit from officially joining up with other communities such as those for Customer Support, Developer, UI/UX, DBA, and Data (Science and Engineering). There aren’t enough opportunities for activities and events for the communities based in Australia and New Zealand. Ideas and next steps Set up a “X Things You Can Do To Participate in the Ministry of Testing Community” page/article. Provide a full spectrum of activities from co-create to lurk. Review our existing guides and learning materials on how to co-create and contribute to the Ministry of Testing community. Explore more ways to surface this information in various mediums. Create a model for community member types. To help align member...

✨ Seven Speakers and Six Hosts Confirmed for TestBash World 2022 ✨

Mon, 16 May 2022 13:30:00 -0000

TestBash World 2022 is four weeks away and the lineup is getting better and better! 🤩 In the past couple of weeks, we've confirmed seven more speakers and six hosts to be included in this already fantastic lineup. We'll very soon confirm the final completed lineup and schedule, so for now, let me introduce you to these last seven confirmed speakers: ✨ Hosts Gwen Diagram , originally from Australia and now living in the UK, Gwen is a strong believer in making the tech industry as open and punk as possible. Vernon Richards aka Tester from Leic (for Leicester, UK) believes the most effective way to serve this industry, is to help teams and individuals gain new perspectives about themselves and their teammates. Jenna Charlton , from Cleveland, Ohio, loves to go to punk rock shows and live pro wrestling events with their husband, travelling and cats. Bart Knaack , from the beautiful Netherlands and known for his extraordinaire dancing skills at our TestBashes, Bart is also a frequent speaker and test coach. James Espie is from stunning New Zealand, loves to draw his day-to-day observations and is also a speaker, coach, mentor and a bunch of other things. Tristan Lombard , aka Ministry of Mischief, lives in Kansas City, Missouri, is a recovering social worker that fell into test automation and community building, and he loves Richard Bradshaw. ✨ Speakers Mahathee Dandibhotla lives in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mahathee is a loving and fun person, who loves to bake, read motivational books and spend time with the family. Anindita Rath from Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India is always excited and happy to explore and learn new things, which is why she's a tester. Alex Omeyer joins us from London, UK and loves geeking out about how high-performance teams build software and tweeting about it. Rahul Parwal is from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and is a great company to be with who will ensure that every conversation turns out to be as stimulating as a cup of hot coffee. Ajay Balamurugadas lives in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Ajay's friends often associate these words with him: Change Agent, Idea Man and Motivational. Aaron Flynn is from the south of the United Kingdom, in Plymouth. Aaron is a quality advocate and is passionate about communities of practice and collaboration. Kiruthika Ganesan lives in the UK and apart from being an advocate of Women in Tech initiatives, Kika also loves to spend time with her children and...

Introducing Watch Parties For TestBash World

Tue, 10 May 2022 11:00:00 -0000

The community’s largest global 24-hour testing conference starts on June 22nd and we couldn’t be happier to announce it’s free to the world ! And now it’s time to announce another exciting part of the event; Global TestBash World Watch Parties! What Are TestBash World Watch Parties? Watch parties are an opportunity for your team, friends or local community to get together and watch TestBash World as a group. During a watch party, you can join others and watch the excellent talks taking place during TestBash World . As well as take part in activities we’ll be hosting throughout the conference. All for free! TestBash World is all about community, so we’ll also invite watch parties to join us on the TestBash World conference stream. Yes, that’s right. You and your watch party have the option of joining our hosts on the TestBash World stage to introduce yourselves to the global testing community. What an excellent opportunity to showcase your company or local community and friends! Who Can Run a Watch Party? Anyone can run a watch party! You can run your watch party privately with a select group of people. Or you can run them publically with our support and invite members of your local community. And we’ll support you with guides, documents and activity details to help you get the most out of your watch party. And don’t forget, you have the opportunity to live stream your watch party with us as part of TestBash World. How Do I Run a Watch Party? To get all the information you need to run a watch party, head to the TestBash World event page and register your watch party to let us know you plan to run one. We’ll ask you a few questions about where and when you want to run your watch party as well as if you want to join our live stream. Once you’re registered, we’ll help you get ready with watch party guides and details about the activities we’ll run. You’ll have everything ready in advance to have a great time at your watch party. Can I Join One? If you want to attend a watch party, check out our list of public watch parties on the TestBash World events page . You’ll find a list of all the publicly hosted watch parties for you to join (these will be displayed once slots are confirmed). If you don’t have one in your area, find your local meetup and let the organisers know you’d love to attend one. Or you could consider running one yourself… Also, don’t forget, TestBash World is a 24-hour conference. So if you want to attend the...

Lineup Confirmed for TestBash UK!

Mon, 09 May 2022 13:44:00 -0000

I'm not going to lie, I have a special love for TestBash UK as it will be hosted in Manchester, my home, and I can't hide the excitement I have for launching this amazing lineup 😁 😁 😁 Throughout this year, we have asked the community to submit abstracts for TestBash UK in a new format of contribution. Another first for our TestBashes is to have a conference where some of the speakers will not only give a Talk but will also host a 99-Minute Workshop, design an Activity and create a Challenge. All happening throughout two days where learning, getting hands-on, networking, engagement and community connections are at the heart of this TestBash. We have now released the list of all the Talks and 99-Minute Workshops and very soon we'll see the activities being added as well as some of the 99-Minute Workshops being updated with more details. Oh, and just between us, we have a lot of surprises in the making happening on both days 🤫 TestBash UK is set to be the largest in-person conference this year and tickets are already selling fast! Here's a sneak peek of this star-studded lineup: So dig in, read what is going to happen at TestBash UK and... ...get your ticket now!

Full Lineup Announcement for TestBash Careers

Thu, 05 May 2022 08:27:00 -0000

TestBash Careers 2022 is only 3 weeks and we can finally unveil the amazing lineup we have in store for you! With this lineup, discover helpful advice and tips to: Plan and progress your career Discover what hiring managers typically look for Understand how job role screening works Build a job role description Interview with confidence Enhance your CV/Resume Negotiate terms that work for you and your new opportunity And for any other reason or if you're interested in a testing career, you don't want to lose on this TestBash Careers! We have seven Talks , five Book Suggestions , several Tips on how to market yourself better as a software tester, two Advice sessions on CVs and Careers, one Ask Me Anything session and a Panel Discussion on how to create a CV that gets noticed. And of course, we'll finish with our famous 99-Second Talks . The perfect opportunity to talk about what you've learned, a personal experience, a testing topic, or just a trial on how to introduce yourself to an employer: the stage is yours. This time we will be offering you the chance to pre-record your 99-Seconds Talk during the conference too. TestBash Careers is free for all our Pro Members to attend, but if you're not a Pro Member yet, sign up here for £24.99 p/month or buy a ticket for £75 each. Register Now!

Reshaping Software Testing Training

Mon, 02 May 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Let’s Co-create An Open-Source Curriculum! As many of you know, Ministry of Testing’s motto is “co-creating smarter testing.” And true to our motto, the testing community helps build all the amazing things we offer and do. So it made sense for our new venture in revolutionising Software Testing education (yeah, we’re that bold!) that we’d do it in collaboration with the community. Not only that, but we firmly believe the community's involvement will result in more relevant and useful training. Why Does Training Need Shaking Up? A common problem with vocational education and training in many sectors, including testing, is that the content and qualifications aren’t sufficiently relevant to the real-world vocation. Learners complain that they lose sight of the job during their studies. And companies complain that learners are not adequately trained to fulfil their roles. In our opinion, these issues lie at the heart of vocational training programmes; the curricula. Curricula are often too rigid and slow to evolve to changes in industry whilst also being written and influenced by stakeholders who are too far removed from the day-to-day job. All of which results in vocational training programmes that are not fit for purpose. So, What Makes a Successful Vocational Curriculum? The success of a vocational curriculum depends mainly on two things; at the end of the programme: Learners can get a job in a relevant role. Learners can perform their role successfully. Sounds simple and obvious! And yet many vocational training programmes fail to meet these goals. You’ll have likely heard that some folks with vocational training certificates and experiences don’t regularly use what they learned to carry out their job. This can leave learners feeling unprepared for their role and dissatisfied with their learning experience. It can also cause frustration for employers. Ministry of Testing’s Revolutionary Plan So, what are we going to do differently to solve the disparity between training and vocation? We will collaborate with and talk to folks who do the day-to-day job. And that’s more revolutionary than you’d think. Typically, folks involved in creating vocational curricula are internal stakeholders at training institutions consisting of learning designers and subject matter expert teachers. Additionally, there is usually somewhat patchy input from external stakeholders at individual businesses, industry organisations or professional bodies. These folks are often in...

TestBash World 2022 - Find Out Who We’ve Confirmed So Far!

Fri, 29 Apr 2022 11:00:00 -0000

As the excitement builds around TestBash World 2022 , so does the lineup! The first wave of speakers has now been confirmed and we do have some incredible names in line for you. As we’re still working on getting a good variety of topics and sending more invitations out, I can assure you that this TestBash World will have a testing topic for you. A second announcement will be made soon with the second wave of names. So let’s get to know the confirmed speakers so far: Ashley Graf , a former marketer and eCommerce coordinator turned software tester, Ashley has worked in QA for the last few years at a startup, a few consultancies, and a big corp. She enjoys using her analytics skills and marketing background to translate testing concepts for new audiences. Fun fact! The first thing she ever tested was the batteries on a solar-electric race car. Ashley has worked on projects across healthcare, energy, education, financial services, and food & beverage for companies of various sizes. Brittany Stewart is a Senior QA Consultant at QualityWorks. As a Certified Tester (CTFL) with over 3 years of experience in software testing, she has successfully led and participated in testing projects that span across multiple industries. Brittany helps organizations improve and execute test strategies for both web and mobile applications. Cristiano Cunha is a Solution Architect & Test Advocate in Xray Team. He is passionate about testing, automation and delivery process improvement. He started his career as a developer and evolved to be a tester, passing through an Infrastructure position along the way, always learning different ways to enhance the process, either technically or focusing on soft skills. His career path, having been on all sides of the trenches, provided him with a unique view of the process and the challenges it puts forward. Dylan Lacey loves to solve problems, help people, hold opinions, make things, and the oxford comma. Usually, he does this with computers, although sometimes a kitchen and, on one memorable occasion, 120'000 bees. Dylan’s been Engineering the Softwares for over 13 years. Francis Ho is the Quality Engineering Lead at Auror, a startup that helps prevent retail crime, reduce loss and make stores safer. Francis is passionate about creating a work environment that allows people to do their best work, and he loves building software that brings a positive impact to society. Francis lives in New Zealand, home of the Hobbits....

Introducing… TestBash World!

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash World launches on June 22nd 2022, and it’s set to be our biggest and most inclusive conference ever. Here’s what makes this TestBash unique and exciting, starting with it being FREE for everyone to attend ! Additionally, TestBash World is a 24-hour conference so our truly global community can take part and star in the show. Throughout the 24 hours, we will be hosting diverse talks, thought-provoking discussions, hands-on activities and introducing you to passionate community members from all around the world! Including meeting folks from global watch parties (we’ll be sharing more on watch parties soon!) during live streams. Our Vision for TestBash World With TestBash World we’re creating an event that will be the most inclusive, safe and accessible online testing conference we’ve ever seen. A key aim is to showcase the diverse and dynamic communities that exist within our industry. That’s why our goal is to encourage 5000+ people who care about quality to register and attend TestBash World by: Making TestBash World free! Yes, that’s right, it’s free to attend wherever you are in the world. Creating an event that everyone can get involved in. With TestBash world being 24 hours and having a large range of topics and activities, there will be something for everyone. So Why Attend TestBash World? TestBash World is there to give you the opportunity to connect with community members on your own terms. Whether online at home, or together with friends or colleagues at a watch party. This means you can enjoy talks, discussions and activities together and learn new ideas, skills and techniques to level up as a tester. All this, and you don’t have to pay a penny! ⭐️ Register today ⭐️

TestBash Mobile 2022 - Full Lineup is Live

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 15:02:00 -0000

I'm super excited to announce the lineup for TestBash Mobile 2022 , happening on the 21st of April 2022, in just two weeks' time! Thanks to everyone who has submitted abstracts and to our lovely community members for reviewing them! And what an incredible group of experts we have in store for this TestBash: our hosts Bart Knaack, Laveena Ramchandani, Tristan Lombard and Jenna Charlton will be joined by these amazing speakers: Daniel Knott Jaswanth Manigundan Rob Richardson Vaishali Megharaj Desarda Piotr Wicherski Vikrant Maniar Julia Pottinger Suman Bala Maaike Brinkhof Kim Arnett Want to hear what they have to say about Mobile Testing? Register now for TestBash Mobile if you're a Pro Member (if not, you can go Pro for £24.99 a month) or buy a ticket for £75 each. - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Call to Speak for TestBash Mobile 2022!

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0000

📱 Are you an expert in Mobile testing or know someone who is? 🎤 We want to hear from you! We’re on the lookout for four Mobile Testing Experts to join us for an Ask Me Anything and Discussion sessions at TestBash Mobile 2022. We’re looking for one AMA and up to three Discussion speakers. This time, we’re doing it differently: instead of the MoT team picking and inviting the speakers, we want you to tell us who would you like to see at these two sessions. Do you know of anyone in the community who you think would be great to speak or would you like to put your name forward for one of these sessions? 🙋 More details and how to contribute on this Club Post

Weekly Events - February 2022 Review

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 12:30:00 -0000

"I enjoyed the way the session was structured: how it allowed the agenda to naturally emerge from everyone's preferences and how there was enough time for everyone to contribute without feeling hurried ... I found it to be very welcoming." This kinda feedback is a joy to read and I'm grateful for it. When you experiment with something new you never quite know what impact it might have. Will it meet my expectations as someone who designs and facilitates these community sessions? And more importantly, will it help participants have useful and actionable conversations? Will people and information connections be made? January's update describes the process of how we decide what events to run and how we shape the event ideas . And here's what happened in February. Put another pot on There were three Thursday Testing Tea sessions in February (along with one in January) which led to 17 participants in total. Using Lean Coffee has been a good format for diving into a lot of topics in a short amount of time and to help people build connections with each other. The sentiment was consistently positive during mid-session check-ins and I received positive feedback over email from a couple of attendees. It's clear there is much to discuss and the topics varied considerably. I'll be honest, it's hard to gauge the long term benefit for the individual and community. My assumption is that it will have a positive impact as I'm hoping someone might recall something discussed and apply it at some point in the future or maybe even immediately. Or perhaps folks will meet again in some format and, having already met for the first time during a Thursday Testing Tea, it'll make it a little bit easier. I imagine I'll run more Thursday Testing Teas not every week, maybe once a month. And consider a request to move it to Friday too. There's space for many Since January there have been more than 300 listeners and 40 speakers at multiple Twitter Spaces . Speakers are people who have joined the virtual stage to share their experiences and/or ask questions. And three community members have co-hosted. Congrats to Paul Farrell and Eva Podbrdská for co-hosting in February. It's been a great way to amplify individuals and discuss important topics. It seems to be a proven format that works well and is straightforward to spin up. It creates a good discussion and we see a lot of the community coming back to listen multiple times too. We’ll definitely run more Twitter Spaces so...

Win an Annual MoT Pro Membership!

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Did you miss out on winning a Pro subscription? You have another chance to win a full year MoT Pro subscription thanks to Xray ! You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. Xray is a market-leading test management solution for Jira that provides you with an intuitive and comprehensive test management experience that you can customize to your specific QA needs. Does your company embrace DevOps methodologies? Xray provides you with the tools to undergo an agile transformation through its extensive test management platform. Use Xray’s REST API and out-of-the-box integrations and easily build a CI/CD pipeline. Gain complete visibility into your test coverage with powerful reports and always know when you're ready to deploy. Start a free trial ! The competition is now closed. We will contact the winner directly by the 21st March.

A New Event for Those New to the Community

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 18:16:00 -0000

Here's an idea. New community members meet and explore with other new community members. I'm tasked with the goal of weekly events to get the community talking about a range of topics. It's an exciting goal and I have the privilege of designing and organising such events. So far we're had Twitter Spaces chats and Thursday Testing Tea (a lean coffee style session). And now we're excited to announce a new type of session . It's for those of you who are new to the Ministry of Testing community. We know it can feel overwhelming when you join a community for the first time. "What can I do?" "Who might I speak to?" "How do people interact with each other and what is the " way " of this community?" By the end of the interactive session, the aim is for participants to be able to: Describe what Ministry of Testing is and how it helps the software testing craft Discuss the importance of the Ministry of Testing Code of Conduct Name multiple ways to learn, contribute and connect with the community Connect with other community members with shared interests I'd love to get your thoughts on the ideas I have for the 1-hour session. You can see the draft schedule on this Club post . Feel free to reply on The Club and let me know what you think. – Simon, CommunityBoss

Attending TestBashX Brighton? Cheaper Hotel Rooms Available Until Friday, the 25th of February

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 12:00:00 -0000

Now that the lineup for TestBashX Brighton has been announced and you have booked your ticket or are thinking of buying one, I just want to remind you that we have secured a few hotels in the area, from where you can get a cheaper rate These cheaper rates will only be available until Friday, the 25th of February - book your room now so you don't miss out! 🛌 You can check the available rates and book your rooms via this Hotel Rate Sheet - Password: MoT@Brighton2022 Here's a summary: If you're attending Automation in Testing, Brighton Jurys Inn Brighton: from £99 Ibis Brighton City Centre Station: from £65 If you're attending TestBashX Brighton Hilton Brighton Metropole: from £136 Mercure Brighton Seafront: from £129 The Old Ship: from £90 See you in Brighton? 😉 - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

🎙️ TestBashX Brighton Speakers Announced!

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0000

TestBashX Brighton 2022 is fast approaching and we are now happy to announce our two speakers for our first in-person conference this year and post-pandemic lock-downs! 🥁 The speakers making an appearance at TestBashX Brighton are: David Williams , AKA 'The Testing Muse' across the social media channels and Callum Akehurst-Ryan , creator of Ramone, the testing mascot! David and Callum will be joined by our Brighton guru and host, Emma Keaveny , on the 31st of March. In case you asking, 'only 2 talks?', yes! The day will start with David's talk 'The Most Valuable Talk Ever?' and will end with Callum's talk 'How Gaming Made Me a Better Tester'. 🥪 Sandwiched between these talks we'll have a Learning Circus: an active, cooperative learning approach that involves groups of people moving around a space, visiting several learning stations and completing authentic collaborative tasks. Put simply, it’s loads of mini-workshops that you will complete with fellow testers. More details on the activities will be announced soon. 🎟️ Don't want to miss the first in-person testing conference of the year? Get your ticket now as they're selling fast! - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

TestBash Leadership: Line-Up Announcement!

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 10:00:00 -0000

That's right folks, we've released the lineup for the first TestBash of the year, TestBash Leadership ! 🎉 Starting at 9 am (UK Time) on the 10th of March, TestBash Leadership will be a full day packed with stories, experiences, tips, advice and knowledge on what is required to become a good leader. This TestBash will be hosted by four of our awesome hosts: Vernon Richards, Gwen Diagram, Laveena Ramchandani and Jenna Charlton. Each one of them will host a three hours slot where they'll be able to introduce and chat with all these great leadership experts and explore all the angles and details around Leadership in different testing roles. Here's a summary of the already confirmed names: Jitesh Gosai Marie Drake Toby Sinclair Joep Schuurkes Eva Podbrdská Rahul Parwal Ajay Balamurugadas Christian Kram Dave Harrison Niranjani Manoharan Jim Holmes Kiruthika Ganesan Leigh Rathbone Butch Mayhew And more still to be announced... One not to miss, right? ✨ - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Announcing The Big Call for Papers

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Have you heard? We currently have an open call for papers for seven different TestBashes ! And in honour of this massive opportunity for community members to speak at one (or more) of our TestBash events, we’re running a six-week event that we’re calling The Big Call For Papers. What is The Big Call For Papers? We want to help give everyone the best chance possible to speak at our upcoming TestBashes. So for the next three weeks, we’re running content and events to help you overcome challenges such as: Find the thing that you want to passionately share at a TestBash Capturing the finer details of what you want to share Improving abstracts to help increase your chances of getting accepted We’ll be guiding you with tips, tricks and opportunities to support one another throughout The Big Call For Papers with articles, videos, social questions and events that you can attend to help you submit your best proposal. Finally, The Big Call For Papers will end with the biggest community review of abstracts we’ve ever seen for our continuous call for papers . To help us pick the submissions that the community wants to hear about for each TestBash. 🤫 We’ll also be running a competition for the community member who reviews the most abstracts! How can you get involved? We’ll be sharing lots of details on content and events over the coming weeks. But to keep up to date with the latest (and not miss the deadline), you can: Head over to the call-for-papers topic page and register for emails on creating and submitting your abstract Sign up to the #call-for-papers Slack channel to discuss Start reviewing submissions and have your say on who speaks at our TestBashes https://www.ministryoftesting.com/testbash/review Keep checking our events page regularly to see how we’re supporting The Big Call For Papers We look forward to hearing more about what you want to share!

Want to Speak at a TestBash This Year?

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0000

2022 is the TestBash year: with a total of 7 online and 4 in-person TestBash conferences, this year there are plenty of oportunities for our community members to get on stage and talk about all the hot topics in testing. With such a packed year, we've decided to simplify the abstract submission process and have a single closing date for all the upcoming TestBashes: the 13th of March 2022 . With the exception of TestBash Leadership and TestBash Mobile, which have ended or will end sooner. If you want to submit and abstract for any of the upcoming TestBash conferences, you will need to do on or before the 13th of March 2022. Together with the recent changes we've made to the CFP (Call For Papers) and the Abstract Reviews , our aim is to make this abstract submission and review processes quicker and better to all involved, from the MoT team, to the reviewer and the speaker. After the 13th of March, we will allow 3 weeks for the community to review all the abstracts submitted, closing the reviews by the 3rd of April. This does not mean we will announce all the line-ups for all the TestBashes at once. We will work through all the reviews in order, from the closest TestBash to the last one of the year and announce lineups as and when we can. As always, let us know if you have any questions or if you need help with your abstract. - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Another chance to win a year long Pro membership!

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 07:00:00 -0000

We're delighted to bring you our second competition of the year! Thanks to TestRail , you have the chance to win a Pro MoT membership for a full year! You could win access to all of our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. TestRail is a test management platform that helps you streamline your software testing processes, get visibility into QA, and release high-quality software. This competition has now closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by the 7th March and emailed directly.

TestBashX Brighton Has A Venue!

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0000

We are very happy to announce that we have found the perfect venue for TestBashX Brighton 2022: we present you British Airways i360 ! Massive thanks to Emma Keaveny for helping out with this mammoth task of finding the perfect place to host the first ever TestBashX! With this beautiful seaview, we can guarantee seagull sounds as the background track for this year's conference. 🏖️ British Airways i360 is situated on Brighton beach at the site of the historic West Pier and is only a 15-minute downhill walk from Brighton Railway Station or a short ride by taxi. Click here for more information on how to get there. If you're not local to Brighton and need a place to stay, we have secured a few discounted rates with some local hotels. Follow this link to check these rates and book your hotel room. You will need to enter this password to access: MoT@Brighton2022 Travel and accommodation is at the attendee's discretion. - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Help Us Choose the Lineup for TestBash Leadership

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 13:00:00 -0000

The Call for Papers (CFP) for TestBash Leadership is now closed and we need your help in reviewing the abstracts submitted . A lot of them have already been reviewed, but some abstracts came in last minute, which makes their current score null as there are no reviews for these yet. It only takes a few minutes per abstract, so make sure you have your favourite drink to hand, a comfortable seat and get stuck in. We will be choosing the line-up for TestBash Leadership on the 14th of February and we can't do it without your help. - Diana Dromey, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Changes to Abstract Reviews

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 16:00:00 -0000

We’re making the comment section in each abstract review mandatory. Why are we doing this? We’ve listened to our community members who submit abstracts to our TestBashes as we’ve seen a great increase in reviews with no comments, which in most cases, makes us and the contributor question why a score was given. In many cases some abstracts have an even mix of green, yellow and red reviews, making it difficult to know why one would like to listen to that talk, but another wouldn't. Making the comments to an abstract review mandatory, will not only help contributors understand where their abstract is strong or where it might need improving, it will also help us choose the best lineup for each TestBash. We understand that this might reduce the number of reviews, as it can take a little longer to review each abstract, but we know that each review will be more informative and helpful. Another minor change is that you will now be able to see (example below), which TestBash an abstract is being proposed for, giving you a context for your review. Example: As always, if you have any questions, contact us on events@ministryoftesting.com - Diana, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

We’ve Made Some Changes to Our Continuous Call for Papers (CCFP)

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 12:00:00 -0000

We began our Continuous Call for Papers (CCFP) when our TestBashes covered multiple topics and were held all over the world. It wouldn’t matter what the subject was, as long as it was something the community wanted to learn about. However, thanks in part to switching to online due to the pandemic, and feedback from community members, it was decided to have multiple online TestBashes in a year, each focussed on a particular topic. Because of this, the CCFP we had built was no longer fit for purpose, and we have instead made it so that a proposal must be submitted to a single event. Meaning that when submitting an abstract, this will need to be tailored to that event. We also added descriptions to the call for papers to make it clear just what we are looking for. There was a lot to love in the CCFP idea though, and we certainly have ideas that would bring back the concept in ways that don't tie it to event formats. The goal is always the same, to find people who can speak about things the community wants to hear.

Weekly Events - January 2022 Review

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 19:30:00 -0000

“Simon and Heather, you’ll own the goal for weekly events to get the community talking more around a range of topics”. Richard smiled and I smiled back on this cold December morning. 2022 would definitely heat up with such a goal! For a while, in my role as CommunityBoss, I’ve felt a desire to get closer to easily accessible events – such things that are simple to spin up that create lasting connections and opportunities for the community to meet and learn from each other in interesting ways. Over a few idea exploration sessions, we came up with a tonne of small event ideas that might help us achieve the goal. We devised an Event One-Pager and set to work creating several. Heather and I settled on two experiments for January. We added them to an internal document called the WEEM. The Weekly Events Experiments Menu was born! Ministry of Testing Twitter Spaces : Heather and Simon spend approximately 4 weeks creating at least 8 Twitter Spaces on whatever topics they spot are worth a conversation. Open to all. A Twitter Space is an audio-only event hosted on Twitter. Thursday Testing Tea : Heather and Simon co-facilitate up to four Thursday Testing Tea’s, three weeks apart. Open to all. A Lean Coffee session for a small group of people to discuss any topic related to testing. TIP: Keep an eye on the events page as we add weekly events at short notice. For example, we’ve set ourselves a goal to schedule and run a Twitter Space only ever within a 24 hour period. Listen to the radio We’ve learnt that a Twitter Space feels like listening to a radio station. Feedback suggests you can just have it on in the background and still feel connected to the conversation. And we’ve had plenty of people feel confident to come up on stage to share their thoughts too. Which we’re super grateful for. We ran six spaces in January. And have seen listeners come back for more than one. Around 200 people have listened in at some point with 26 of those speaking. While it’s not about the numbers, it’s a good indicator. Heather and I have listened to excellent discussions on topics related to what makes a good tester, automating everything, hiring/onboarding, real-world heuristics and how to influence a team to use a tool. There are opportunities to mix up the format and we’ll soon experiment with Ask Me Anything style chats and explore co-hosting with community members on topics that are important to them. Thank you to Hilary Weaver-Robb for co-hosting...

Win a MoT Pro Membership for a Year

Sun, 30 Jan 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to Ranorex, you have the chance to win just that! You could have access to all our learning content including our Workshops, Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes and everything else! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. Make more time in your day with test automation. Ranorex Studio’s easy-to-use tools eliminate the complicated details around automation so you can run regression tests overnight, test multiple configurations in parallel, execute smoke tests automatically for each system build, generate detailed reports, and so much more. 88% of Ranorex Studio users report a 20-40% increase in productivity: that’s one or two days per week! Watch an instant demo , read independent research about Ranorex, or start testing for free with a 14-day trial. This competition is closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 21st February and emailed directly.

TestBash Leadership: Our First TestBash of the Year Starts on the 10th of March

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 10:00:00 -0000

TestBash Leadership, the first TestBash of 2022 is coming very very soon... As we start working on the finer details of this TestBash, we want to shout out to all Team Leaders, Managers and other type of leaders to check out our Opened Call for Content at the Club and help us shape this TestBash. We're looking for talks, which can vary from 5 to 30 minutes, book suggestions and role play scenarios. We'll pay you £50 per 10 minutes of your time during a talk or session. Throughout the full 12 hours of TestBash Leadership we will co-create the requirements, skills and must-haves of a Leader. This will then become a resource document available to all attendees post-conference. If you don't want to speak or lead a session, you can also get involved in reviewing the abstracts and help us choose the best line-up for this day. Registrations are opened to all of our Pro Members to attend for free. If you're not yet a Pro Member, you can Sign Up for £24.99 per month or Buy a Ticket for £75 each. However you want to join us, we hope to see you all at TestBash Leadership ! - Diana, EventBoss @ Ministry of Testing

TestBash World and Ministry of Testing Meetups Are Getting Warmed Up

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Eagle-eyed viewers of the Events page will have seen that we’ve just added TestBash World to our listings. We have lots to share about TestBash World in the coming months. However, the most exciting aspect of TestBash World is how it will combine the magic of our past TestBash Home events and our Ministry of Testing meetups. We’re committed to creating an event that celebrates our international testing community whilst making it accessible to everyone. Our initial plan involves creating an online event that you can take part in either from the comfort of your home or at a local meetup. The event itself will be filled with activities and live streams from meetups, meaning we’ll all be connected wherever we are. These are early plans, and there is a lot to do. But in the meantime, you can help make TestBash World an event to remember by: Registering for TestBash World as a Pro member or buying a ticket Finding your local meetup and registering for it if you’re a community member Check your inbox for the latest updates we’ve shared if you’re a meetup organiser

New Year, New 99 Minute Challenges

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Many of us feel empowered to make changes and try out new things in January. And at Ministry of Testing, we’re no different. We’re launching new 99 Minute Challenges! These live, interactive online challenges will help you improve and hone your testing skills and support you in achieving your goals. No more over-ambitious targets or New Year’s resolutions that are never started. Oh no, you can pick and choose challenges of interest and tackle them live with the support of an expert facilitator and community members taking part. What Are 99 Minute Challenges? In a nutshell, they are online, live challenges set by an expert facilitator. These challenges aim to help you develop testing skills that will benefit your day-to-day life. Benefits of 99 Minute Challenges We’ve thought hard about how to bring the most value to learners taking part in these challenges. And whilst our challenges will cover a range of topics and skills, there will be common features in all 99 Minute Challenges that we believe will be beneficial to those that take part. Including: Authentic Learning - Our challenges will emulate real-world scenarios as much as possible. This means the skills and attitudes you develop will be transferable and useful to you in your day-to-day life. Active Learning - You’re going to have to do stuff! These challenges are learner-led. There will be an expert facilitator to guide you on your journey, however, you’ll be actively applying your own know-how to tackle the challenges. This will help you develop your testing skills and self-directed learning habits through practice and reflection. Short and Structured - Each challenge is 99 minutes long or less which means they can easily fit into your busy week. They're also highly structured to ensure you can improve and hone your skills in that timeframe. Learn with others - Each challenge will be run live and online with up to 100 other fellow testers from around the world. You’ll be able to network and learn with other professionals to understand different perspectives that’ll help you broaden your own understanding. Part of Pro - Already a Professional member of Ministry of Testing? Hooray for you! You get to undertake these challenges as part of your pro package at no extra cost. If you’re not a pro member yet, we’ve made it easy to upgrade by adding monthly subscriptions, why not sign up now ? Who Can Take Part? Anyone who is a Professional Member of Ministry of Testing....

Saying Goodbye to CommunityBossing

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 15:07:00 -0000

Yesterday I told team MoT that I will be leaving the team. It’s both exciting and sad news. I have missed testing so much and I'm excited to take this step but also nervous. I’m nervous because I’ve been moderating this community since 2016! I’m excited because testing lights a spark in me. It’s the excitement of discovery, it's what will come next, it’s the endless learning possibilities and more. I miss it all. My time away from MoT in the past year resulted in much reflection. I returned to work not sure what to expect and, if I’m honest, not really feeling like community management was for me anymore. Simon Tomes was positively BUZZING about community! He had so many ideas of what to experiment with and how to get more people involved. I was excited for him but I was also sad for myself. Some things about the community still very much excited me but I felt like it wasn’t enough. I didn’t have the same spark for community as I had for testing. Or, to better phrase, the spark for testing overshadowed the spark for community management. I am excited to announce that I’ll be moving to Glofox, a company whose testers are very active in the community and whom I greatly respect. I’m looking forward to learning from them and contributing back to this community in a different way because I won't be gone far! I'll still be a Pro member, I'll still attend MoT events and I’ll still have the greatest of respect for everyone who makes this the amazing community it is. I want to thank each and every one of you for helping me through the good and bad times of CommunityBossing. I'm so excited to see what comes next for MoT and I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines. - Heather, CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Our 2022 Annual Partners!

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:00:00 -0000

We’re excited to announce our five Annual Partners for 2022! Sauce Labs , Mabl , Ranorex , Xray and TestRail ! Why should the community care? You might know MoT likes to continue to evolve and provide something a bit different, so we’ve developed some new offerings giving both the community and our partners the chance to engage and gain a much better understanding of each other. You as a community member will have the chance to ask questions of our partners, to understand their development process and contribute towards it, plus a whole lot more. What are the Annual Partners plans? They are hoping to share knowledge and give insight to tools, releases, events, how they develop their tools in the coming year and understand the best way to connect with you. As always, we want to be open and honest with our community. Our Annual Partners are helping to support our community by giving MoT the means to provide a plethora of learning opportunities. Their funding contributes to paying our writers, podcast hosts, sharing the content, paying our wages and providing opportunities to gather as a community.

2022 Ministry of Testing Events Have Started Going Live! 🎉

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 15:00:00 -0000

Following my 9 months maternity leave, it's with great happiness that I am now back with the fantastic MoT team organising all the TestBashes and training courses for this year. And the great news are that adding to our online TestBashes, we're also planning on bringing some in-person events too! These in-person events will take place in the UK, as unfortunately, there's still too much uncertainty around world travel to be able to book international events. If you don't live in the UK, but can travel from your country, we'd love to have you! You can also check if you have a Meetup close to you and see what events they're doing next to you. In the coming weeks, all of these events will be going live on our Events Page . We used to launch events only when we had all the information gathered and sometimes that took longer than expected, which resulted in events being launched too close to their dates. So this year, we've decided to launch all of them, with what we call 'bare bones' information to start with, just so you can see what's coming up, plan your year, ask for 'personal development' time at work or ask your boss for approval to purchase a ticket or subscription to attend. Check them out, get registering, contribute and don't forget to add them to your calendar so you don't miss a thing. It's going to be a very exciting year! 🎉 From all the 2022 planned events, I have already set live: Online TestBashes : This year, they'll be topic focused. We've asked the Community what were the hot topics they wanted to get stuck in and these were the highest voted ones. Test.bash(); our automation and technically focused TestBash is also back in October, in its online format. Automation in Testing : AiT is back this year in four different locations across the UK. Locations and dates are confirmed, but venues are still pending to be confirmed, so keep an eye out and book your tickets now to secure your place. Each AiT is limited to 24 attendees. HolidayBash : our 'thank you' event to our Pro Members will be back online at the end of year. The perfect opportunity to end the year by coming together and have a lot of fun with the community. What is going live in the coming weeks: TestBash UK : our biggest in-person event of the year will take stage at The Lowry Theatre, in Manchester, on the 22nd and 23rd of September 2022. Two days packed of networking, activities, challenges and plenty of other opportunities to learn and meet your fellow...

The Test.bash() and 30 Days of Tools infographic is live

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:15:00 -0000

We all learned so much during Test.bash(); 2021 and 30 Days of Tools so we thought it would be interesting to gather some stats to explore and reflect on. Check out this excellent infographic. Does anything surprise you? What jumps out as interesting? Continue the conversation . Let's celebrate how awesome this community is when it comes together with something like this. – Simon, CommunityBoss

A Really Useful List for Your Mental Wellbeing

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 16:00:00 -0000

As the days in the Northern Hemisphere get shorter we might choose to refocus on our mental wellbeing. I hope this simple list helps you find support, reflection, and what you need when it matters. Club Thread: What are your coping mechanisms? Slack Channel: Help For The Holidays TestBash Talks Series: 'It's OK' TestBash Talks Mental Health (open and available to everyone to watch) Club Thread: Pet Pics! Awesome person: Gem Hill and their brilliant SelfCare Backpack Club Thread: Global Resources for Mental Health Awareness and Support Look out for you and each other. - Simon - CommunityBoss

Website Maintenance

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 12:00:00 -0000

The MoT website will be down for a short period between 6-7am GMT on Saturday 13th November as we perform an upgrade to the database.

Thank you for helping move the MoT Community forward – make the move work for you

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 18:22:00 -0000

I recently [posted a blog post about your role in the community based on my 99 second talk at Test.bash(); 2021. It reminded me that there are many ways for anyone in the community to get involved. And we're all here to support you in a way that works for you, on your own terms, whilst helping us grow together. Here are just some of the things you can do which help move the Ministry of Testing community forward. * Reply to a Ministry of Testing Tweet. For example, like this one . Or answer questions on the Ministry of Testing LinkedIn page . * Read an article on the Ministry of Testing platform , listen to a podcast and/or watch a talk (and share with others) * Start a thread on this Club, reply to a question, like a post/reply, and flag items that might seem spammy * Amplify, congratulate and share someone else's blog post or article with at least one other person * Put yourself forward to talk at an event, like a TestBash, AMA, Masterclass, or Discussion * Share an idea with one of the Ministry of Testing team to co-create something together * Encourage a tool provider or company to sponsor events * Add a tool to the tool directory or post a job * Continue a conversation on the MoT Slack * Record a Racket with someone * Take a Bloggers Club challenge * Support your local meetup These have community intentions in mind – a way of growing together instead of just for individual gain. And if all this seems overwhelming, there really is no reason to do any of these. Dip in and out as this community will welcome you whenever. As Rosie Sherry reminds us, " Lurkers are people too ." Thank you for being part of this forward-thinking community. 🙏 – Simon, CommunityBoss ps the above list is missing a load of things that happen in the community. I'm curious to know, what's important to you and what is missing from the above list? Let me know on this Club Post .

Filtering tools with demos

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:00:00 -0000

We've added the ability to filter the Tool directory by those tools that have demo videos. The search has also been tweaked so that the form will remember what search term was used.

Thank you for a brilliant October - A 30 Days of Tools/Test.bash(); Final Community Roundup

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 15:57:00 -0000

Thank you for such a brilliant October. Huge congrats to you if you picked up at least of the 30 Days of Tools challenges and/or attended Test.bash();. We genuinely recognise the effort, time, and commitment it takes to get involved in challenges and an event like Test.bash();. Let's take a look back on the final days of October: Excellent of Jaswanth to call out many tool providers who do the right thing to support the community Andy provides a rock-solid checklist of essential tools for anyone new to testing 🧰 For his tool of choice, Mirza shared a good summary of his experience using the Wave Accessibility Tool "When it becomes too expensive, or when the ROI isn’t worth it anymore." is sound advice from Kristof when identifying if a tool is no longer fit for purpose Our bonus challenge to create an advert for your favorite had a couple of creative replies, yet the conclusion from the replies is to leave the adverts to the marketers out there! 😃 649 people registered for Test.bash(); and 442 (68%) of those attended, across 41 countries. There were 22 talks in total, 3,183 chat messages sent, and one incredible otter called Ramone 🦦. So we hope everyone upped their tool awareness and connected with at least one other person in the community. How will you apply your learning and connections? It can be a challenge to apply what you've learned throughout a month. Have you taken a moment to explore how you might apply your learnings? How could they benefit you and your team? What have you tried so far? How can the community continue to help you? Feel free to share in the various places the MoT community hangs out. You might inspire someone with something you happen to take for granted. Is there someone in the community with who you didn't get a chance to connect? Let me know and I'll see if I can make the connection (if you'd prefer not to do it yourself: 📧 simon@ministryoftesting.com). What's next? We recently announced HolidayBash , a half-day relaxing and fun event for the community on 3rd December. Also, Richard and Mark share plans for 2022 , with TestBash UK and TestBash World. Thanks again for a wonderful October. 🙏 - Simon, CommunityBoss ps feel free to share your thoughts and feedback about 30 Days of Tools , we'd love to hear from you! Further info Community Roundup 1 Community Roundup 2 Community Roundup 3 All the challenges available on The Club Test.bash(); videos HolidayBash (coming soon in...

Come Join Us At HolidayBash

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 11:34:00 -0000

The last year has seen considerable change at Ministry of Testing. We’ve grown into the online learning space with TestBash Home, 99 Minute Workshops and our online challenges and activities. And we couldn’t have done this without the support of all our Pro users, so to thank you, we’ve decided to bring back HolidayBash. What is HolidayBash? HolidayBash is an opportunity for us to get together and take a bit of time to look back at how the past year went for us. But also, it’s an opportunity to just have some fun and connect with others. We’ll be running a series of events throughout HolidayBash that you are free to join in or just sit by and watch and enjoy, including: Wheel of Fortune 2021 - 99 Second Talk Edition It’s the end of the year, and there’s no better time to look back at all you’ve achieved, overcome, and buried in the depths of your mind! Whether it’s good, bad, or ugly, we learn from our experiences. So in “Wheel of Fortune”, get ready for rapid-fire uncovering of all that’s happened in your testing world. Spin the wheel and share your thoughts on your selected topic for 99 seconds! TestMaster Our TestMaster will challenge contestants and attendees to complete a series of weird and wonderful tasks. You will need to use all your testing wits and critical thinking skills to beat the TestMaster! Solve the challenges, delight the TestMaster and win some Ministry of Testing swag!!! Big Fat Quiz of All Things Testing It’s a Big Fat Quiz that will challenge panellists and attendees on what they know about Testing, and there are A LOT of questions that need answering! Community-led Sessions It’s your party, and you can crochet if you want to 🎵. The community-led sessions are where you take over the party! Attendees are free to run their own activities and invite people to join. So have a think and share your idea on the night. Your activity can be as simple as a hangout chat, a mindfulness activity or a bug hunt; the possibilities are endless! When is it? HolidayBash will be held on December 3rd from 2:00pm to 6:00pm GMT and is free to attend for all Pro members. So come join us for some great fun with friends old and new. – Mark, OpsBoss Register for HolidayBash

Tool Directory Search and Demos

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 13:00:00 -0000

We've made changes to our tool directory to allow you to find tools and see them in action. Search The tool index page now has a search feature, allowing you to find tools that have a name or summary that includes the search term. Demonstrations Some tools have demonstration videos attached, so you can see what the tool does and how it works. If you are the tool vendor and want to have a demo video associated with your tool, you can use the link on the page to contact our marketing department for further details.

We're looking for Annual Partners for 2022!

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 11:00:00 -0000

You've likely noticed us working with trusted companies throughout 2021. We're planning on doing the same for 2022 🎉 We've taken some time to refocus on what is important and we've adjusted our 2021 package, keeping the useful options, adding in more community focused options and removing the options that didn't work as well as we'd hoped. We want to help create safe ways for you - our awesome testing community - to connect with our annual partners and to give you the opportunity to have a look behind the scenes. With our new package, you (*see previous note about the awesome community) will have the opportunity to learn about the roadmaps, releases and events for each of our partners. You'll also get the chance to ask them questions about their product - whether it's figuring out a problem, finding out how best to use it, learning about the support available, you can ask in an Ask Me Anything session. Plus learning from an existing member of the community how they already use the product and why they love it. All this is on top of our existing more refined package - our 2022 Annual Partner Package is filled with ways for our partners to support our community and for our testing community to connect with our partners. So if you think your company should become one of our partners, share the brochure or let us know and we can reach out. You can contact us via 📧 marketing@ministryoftesting.com.

30 Days of Tools - Community Roundup #4

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 15:19:00 -0000

From the middle of the month and we're already close to the end of the 30 Days of Tools challenge. Wowzers, where did all that time fly by!? 🦋 That doesn't mean we've missed anything because, well. just check out how much sharing goodness has happened in the last 12 days . A whole tonne of sharing = a whole tonne of learning = a whole tonne of connections. This is community co-creation in full swing. With too many to mention, here are just some of the brilliant highlights: How do you convince your team to invest in tools? James Espie suggests thinking in terms of outputs and outcomes : "Choosing a tool is an Output - but what we are trying to achieve is the Outcome." It looks like creating time and space is a super common blocker for learning about tools, as discussed on this thread . Yet I wonder, if we asked "why" a few more times what might we discover? 🤔 Hands down it's clear how much "examples" are an important part of useful documentation. Find out what tools provide good documentation . I was kinda surprised to not see a whole tonne of ideas for the "ultimate tool". Those who did share came up with brilliant ideas. Go creative, what tool would make all the difference to your day to day ? Great to read all the appreciation for the folks who have taught us about a certain tool. Important we continue to lift each other up and say thanks. Mark Winteringham decided to create a handy Twitter List as part of finding testing tool developers on social media. Nice! I very much enjoyed Andrea Jensen's visual representation of their testing tool timeline . 😎 "A tool-aware approach cannot exist unless the person has the freedom to actually try out other options." Sound advice from Louise Gibbs . And Richard and Mark have been busy sharing their own reflections and experiences alongside replies shared on The Club. Revisit their daily live streams via this handy YouTube playlist . 📺 Thank you for your energy and for all your sharing. It's amazing! 👉 What are your highlights as the month comes to an end? Continue the conversation on The Club . 👈 - Simon, CommunityBoss ps - how did you click the button? 😅 And here's that popular reminder to register for Test.bash(); 😃 Calling all MoT Pro members! Have you registered for Test.bash(); yet? Did you know that you needed to? It's all included in your membership, you just have to click "Register" on this page . And if you're not a Pro member? Maybe it's time to upgrade or buy...

Test.bash(); is next week! 🎉

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 15:00:00 -0000

With Test.bash(); happening next week we're getting more excited. It seems quite a few of you are also looking forward to it - we've seen an increase in folks registering and buying tickets - edging closer to the goal of 1000 attendees. We always aim to make our events as affordable and as easy to attend as possible. With that in mind, I wanted to remind you of our Scholarship Fund , you can find out how to apply and how other testers have used the scholarship fund in the past. If you're hoping to get budget from work to attend, we've got a great article " How To Obtain Budgets For Attending Conferences " by Dan Ashby, it might just help you get it signed off. We do really want our community to get together, to share their ideas, to learn something new, to spark ideas and to feel that wonderful support of being part of a global community. We want you to have an excellent #TestBash - if you're not familiar with the unique experience of attending a TestBash, now is your chance. Looking forward to seeing you online on Thursday 28th October! Make sure you Register or Buy Your Ticket or apply for our Scholarship Fund !

New 99 Minute Workshops released for November

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 12:00:00 -0000

Novembers 99 Minute workshops are live, with Automation in Testing and Essentials workshop continuing and new community workshops from Peet Michielsen, Lewis Prescott and Dan Billing. Check out the full line up below, and register to attend today: Week 1: Designing automated checks - 2nd November @ 12pm- with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham Code reviews for testers - 3rd November @ 12pm - with Peet Michielsen An introduction to planning your testing - 4th November @ 6pm - with Abby Bangser Week 2: Managing state in automation - 9th November @ 12pm - with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham An introduction to exploratory testing - 10th November @ 6pm - with Vernon Richards Week 3: Managing actions in automation - 16th November @ 12pm - with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham Introduction to Contract Testing with Pact - 17th November @ 6pm - with Lewis Prescott Find a testing role - 18th November @ 6pm - with Stu Day Week 4: Selecting codified oracles in automation - 23rd November @ 12pm - with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham Exploring Security: Developing Inclusive Threat Models in your Teams - 24th November @ 6pm - with Dan Billing An introduction to technical testing - 25th November @ 6pm - with Vernon Richards (All times are UK time) All our workshop facilitators have something different to share, making this, the perfect place to learn from them. So get registering now for all the workshops you’d like to attend and boost your testing skills! All 99-Minute Workshops are available to Pro Members. If you’re not yet a Pro Member, not a problem, go Pro and get access to all these workshops and more.

30 Days of Tools - Community Roundup #3

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 14:00:00 -0000

Update number 3 of 30 Days of Tools and we're so close to the halfway mark🏅 As always, thank you for sharing your thoughts on The Club and beyond for each challenge of 30 Days of Tools. There has been some interesting responses and interpretations of some of the challenges which has led to some interesting conversations: We released our new Testing Tools directory that everyone can contribute towards. We challenged people to add to the tool list and the list has exploded with over 80+ unique tools. Community members have been sharing innovative ways of creating collections of random data in Day 11's challenge . A personal favourite of mine was Dominic Kua's four lines of code that takes advantage of dictionary files stored in the operating system . Very clever! A big thanks to Christine Zierold who volunteered some time run an AMA on the Ministry of Testing Slack on tools. She answered questions from the community, and also shared her answers to some of the 30 Days of Tools challenges. 📺 Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham continue their live streams with challenges 9, 10, 11 and 12 all discussed. Catch the recordings via this handy playlist . Keep up the great work with all the challenges, we're just getting warmed up with the fun tasks to do 🙌 – Mark, OpsBoss And here's a reminder to register for Test.bash(); . Calling all MoT Pro members! Have you registered for Test.bash(); yet? Did you know that you needed to? It's all included in your membership, you just have to click "Register" on this page . And if you're not a Pro member? Maybe it's time to upgrade or buy a ticket . 🎟

30 Days of Tools - Community Roundup #2

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 16:20:00 -0000

Just over a week into 30 Days of Tools and it's been a total learn-fest! 📈 Thank you for keeping all the sharing and the chat going on the Club posts. It's great to see the community dive into any day regardless of the actual day. You might feel pressure to actively do and share everything like those on The Club, yet you absolutely don't have to. Make it work for you and your approach. Here is a tiny selection of replies worth checking out from Day 5 to Day 8. There is so much more to dig into! 👑 James had this to say about Confluence and Jira : "They’re often painful to use, for sure, and they move the cheese a lot. But, I’ve worked now at companies that use alternatives to these, and I really missed the functionality and speed that both Jira and Confluence provided." "Personally I’ve found that maintaining your own version of tech radar (inspired by Thought Works) to be super helpful." A great idea from Jaswanth . An excellent hack from Anne-Laure . "I used code injector to put a color over elements without IDs." Gill found a video about mocking a REST API with Mockaroo and shared, "All the videos are really helpful in getting to know and use the tool." Congrats to Louise Gibbs for sharing a blog post a day. 🎉 There's a whole tonne of useful reflections and information in there. Have a read of each day . And Lee Marshall agrees to take a leap into the world of Selenium . Nice one, Lee! 🏴‍☠️ Mirza answered all the questions about testing tools earlier this week. Talking of which, would you be open to making yourself available on a MoT Slack channel for 1 hour to answer any question about Testing Tools? 🤔 If so, reply to this message on Slack . 📺 There's also been YouTube live streams of Days 5, 6, 7, and 8 with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham, plus Vernon Richards. Catch the recordings via this handy playlist . Enjoy exploring future 30 Days of Tools challenges. As the community grows their tool awareness they build connections along the way. 🙌 – Simon, CommunityBoss And here's a reminder to register for Test.bash(); . Calling all MoT Pro members! Have you registered for Test.bash(); yet? Did you know that you needed to? It's all included in your membership, you just have to click "Register" on this page . And if you're not a Pro member? Maybe it's time to upgrade or buy a ticket . 🎟

Three Reasons to Register for Test.bash();

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 16:22:00 -0000

Test.bash(); is only a matter of weeks away, so it's time to take action and register or buy your ticket ! So why register? Each speaker has a story to tell, to provide their unique experiences and insights. Most of us want to know what tools other testers use and why. Discover something completely new and/or reimagine your current approach to the tools you use on a daily basis. Connect with many folks in the community, all of whom might be facing similar tool-related challenges and opportunities. Spark connections and conversations to continue after the event! We're excited to bring you a new format. We offered speakers the opportunity to speak on one of 4 different topics. The sessions will focus on Approaches to comparing tools Favourite tools and why Tooling for automated testing Staying tool aware Check out the schedule to see what each speaker has planned! Test.bash(); tickets are included in Pro memberships - all you have to do is register, or you can buy a ticket! If you need some guidance on getting a budget for either option, this article could help you get approval: How to Attain Budgets for Attending Conferences . Take a few minutes to save your spot for Test.bash(); today and we look forward to seeing you online at 10am (UK time) on 28th October. 🎉

30 Days of Tools - Community Roundup #1

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 08:43:00 -0000

Wow! What an incredible treasure trove of useful sharing and learning since 30 Days of Tools began on 1st October. This community knows how to help each other out and breathes tool awareness. 🧰 👋 Welcome to all who have posted on The Club for the first time. And it's great to see those of you again, who haven't posted for a while. Nearly 100 replies is incredible ! 😃 Here are just some replies which I thought were super useful. I'll be honest, there is so much good stuff it's hard to know what to share in this roundup! Mirza shares his definition of a testing tool : "Any tool which can help with any kind of testing" "I guess I’d go with the motto, whatever floats the testing boat is a tool for testing", from Andrea Teresa's approach to evaluating a tool : "Does it sound like it has the features to help me? Does anyone I know say it’s good? Is it used by a lot of people? Does it get good online reviews? Relative costs vs features of available solutions. Bring this info back to my team for feedback." "Poor documentation/support=>NO GO!", well said, Anne-Laure A red flag for Cipiran is "Low or no community engagement." These dogs got a little carried away exploring all the tools ! And find out what tool Gill had this to say about , "Never heard of it before yet it looks perfect for my needs, feels like a win!" If you haven't had the chance check out Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham's daily live streams, typically at 12:30pm BST every weekday. They explore each challenge live! And feel free to revisit the recordings of Day 1 and Day 2, 3, and 4 . 📺 Enjoy exploring the rest of the month. It's so cool to continue to see the community grow their tool awareness and build connections along the way. 🙌 – Simon, CommunityBoss

Welcome to Day 1 of 30 Days of Tools

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 08:00:00 -0000

30 Days of Tools aims to help enhance your tool awareness which helps you become a better testing professional. And in doing so you'll help the testing community. It's Day 1 of the challenges and here's what to do: Select the "Subscribe to Topic" button on the 30 Days of Tools page Check out the Day 1 challenge Share with the community or your team, or sit back, observe and learn. You might feel pressure to actively do and share everything, yet you absolutely don't have to. Make it work for you and your approach. Enjoy! – Simon, CommunityBoss 😃 ps Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham plan to livestream their challenge efforts every weekday at 12:30pm BST. Join them today on YouTube .

Dive into the New Ministry of Testing Tools Directory

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 12:00:00 -0000

What if you had one place to quickly discover a tool that could help you on your testing adventures? What if you could add missing tools to help your fellow community members? Introducing the Ministry of Testing Tools Directory . 🧰 It's pretty basic right now and this is a perfect opportunity to add the tools you use which aren't part of the directory. It's a great way to contribute to the testing community. We have plans to make it even more useful in the future. In the meantime, look for the new "Tools" link on the Ministry of Testing homepage , go explore, add to and discover a new tool today ! 🔎 - Simon, CommunityBoss 😃

Help Us Learn about Your 99 Minute Workshop Attendance

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0000

It's exciting to see all the co-created 99 Minute Workshops ! All are crafted with the community and led by the community. Yet sometimes it's not possible to attend a workshop when it's happening live. We'd love to know why! Complete this anonymous one-question survey and help us learn from you. Thank you, Simon - CommunityBoss 🙂

Announcing the Schedule for Test.bash();

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 17:00:00 -0000

The community has an incredible opportunity to get to know each other and learn so much about tools during Test.bash(); this year. And it's coming round fast, a day conference from 10am to 10pm (UK time), on Thursday 28th October. And we're super excited to announce the schedule. Packed full of sessions on: Approaches to comparing tools Favourite tools and why Tooling for automated testing Staying tool aware You might spot duplicate talk titles, yet all the talks are different. Each speaker will share their unique experience and perspective. We all benefit from learning about other tester tool use and now is your chance to gain such insight. 💡 Check out the schedule and register your spot with a Pro membership or purchase a ticket.

Full Black Belt Line Up!

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Absolutely delighted to announce that our Black Belt Sponsor slots have now been filled. You'll get to know all of our sponsors throughout the 30 Days of Tools through the articles and challenges, but our Black Belt sponsors have the added benefit of giving a talk during Test.bash();. Their talks will help you figure out more about their tool and give you the opportunity to continue the conversation in their Community Space. We'll be sharing their talk descriptions closer to the time. For now, please welcome Mesmer, Keysight, Xray and TestRigor as our new Black Belt Sponsors!

Announcing the Awesome Hosts For Test.bash();

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 13:00:00 -0000

It's just over a month until Test.bash(); and the exciting schedule is soon to be announced! In the meantime, reserve your spot with your Pro membership or buy a ticket . 🎟 So let me introduce you to the incredible hosts: Callum , Gwen , Laveena , and Vernon . Callum Akehurst-Ryan – Software tester | Kick ass dungeon master | LGBTQ | NERRRD | Known for their shirts and Ramone the Testing Otter 🦦. Callum loves to share all the things exploratory testing, accessibility, and much more. Check out their AMA , Discussion Panel and Test.bash(); 2019 talk on Testing Progressive Web Apps . Gwen Diagram – Principal Engineering Manager | One of the organisers of the Leeds Testing Atelier | Lover of dinosaurs, living and dead. Gwen has shared so much with the community. Including this talk on creating testers for the future , how to win with automation and API design & testing . Laveena Ramchandani – Blogger | Speaker | STEM Ambassador. An incredible community contributor with such articles on coaching and usability testing , plus this TestBash Manchester talk on Data Science Testing . Vernon Richards - who helps organisations improve their quality culture and testing efforts. Vernon has hosted a vast number of TestBashes and Webinars throughout the history of MoT. He currently leads the MoT Essentials workshops . Feel free to give them a shoutout and share words of encouragement wherever you may find them. They'll be incredible hosts to guide you and your team throughout the day. See you at Test.bash(); 😃 Simon – CommunityBoss ps keep your eyes peeled for that schedule announcement coming soon 👀

More New 99-Minute Workshops Coming In October

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 15:21:00 -0000

For this October, we're very excited to add more 99-Minute Workshops, co-created by our community! We've started in September with a new set of workshops covering different testing topics and in October it will be no different. No matter if you're starting your testing journey or have been around for a long time, we're sure to have a workshop for you. Check out below all we have in store and make this October your 'OktoberTest Fest'! Automation In Testing: Modelling A System/Context - Tuesday, 5th of October, 12 pm with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Create Test Strategies Based On Business Needs - Wednesday, 6th of October, 6 pm with Jesper Ottosen Essentials: Learning How To Test A Product - Thursday, 7th of October, 6 pm with Vernon Richards Automation In Testing: Identifying Opportunities For Automation - Tuesday, 12th of October, 12 pm with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Grow Your Technical Confidence - Wednesday, 13th of October, 6 pm with Lisi Hocke Essentials: Learning How To Test Requirements - Thursday, 14th of October, 6 pm with Vernon Richards Automation in Testing: Starting An Automated Testing Strategy - Tuesday, 19th of October, 12 pm with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Charles Proxy - Wednesday, 20th of October, 12 pm with Suman Bala Essentials: An Introduction To Note Taking - Thursday, 21st of October, 6 pm with Vernon Richards Automation in Testing: Identifying Opportunities For Automation Checking - Tuesday, 26th of October, 12 pm with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw UI Test Automation Maintenance Using SpecFlow - Wednesday, 27th October, 6 pm with Louise Gibbs Essentials: An Introduction To Reporting Your Testing - Thursday, 28th October, 6 pm with Dan Ashby (All times are UK time) All our workshop facilitators have something different to share, making this, the perfect place to learn from them. So get registering now for all the workshops you'd like to attend and boost your testing skills! All 99-Minute Workshops are available to Pro Members. If you're not yet a Pro Member, not a problem, you can upgrade your account at any time. 😉 - Diana, EventBoss

The 30 Days of Tools challenges are ready and waiting

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 09:30:00 -0000

The 30 Days of Tools challenges are ready and waiting. Have you subscribed to receive a daily email for each one? Every day in October we'll post a new challenge on The Club to help you discover new tools and revisit existing tools with the community. Head on over to the 30 Days of Tools topic page and select the "Subscribe to Topic" button. Be sure to receive the first challenge in your inbox on October 1st. It's been fun to put together the challenges and we can't wait to share them with you throughout October. – Simon, CommunityBoss

Subscribe to 30 Days of Tools

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Every 30 Days of Tools challenge has one fundamental goal: Encourage the community to become aware of, and share, as many tools as possible. Becoming more tool-aware benefits you, your team, and the community. And we'd like to make that as accessible as possible. So every day in October we'll post a new challenge to help you on your journey to discover new tools and to revisit existing tools in creative ways. Not only is this a brilliant learning opportunity, but we're also hopeful that it starts good conversations throughout the community – in all the places such as Twitter , MoT Slack , LinkedIn , and The Club . We'll be equally excited to know you're discussing tools within and amongst your teams. It's now possible to subscribe to the daily challenges. Head on over to the 30 Days of Tools topic page and select the "Subscribe to Topic" button. Subscribe today and be sure to receive the first challenge on October 1st . And if you have any questions about 30 Days of Tools, don't hesitate to send an email to: hello@ministryoftesting.com . We'd love to hear from you! – Simon, CommunityBoss

Share Your 30 Days of Tools Experience This October

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0000

I remember when I put together a talk for TestBash Belfast 2017. It was a privilege and also super scary. Yet it taught me about the benefits of sharing with the testing community. I learned more about the topic I was going to talk about, cemented my knowledge, and built excellent connections with those at the event. I received ecstatic feedback from one of the other speakers later that evening. It was a real buzz. And if I inspired one person in that audience to reflect and try something different then that was a wonderful goal to achieve. Sharing your story with the testing community is super rewarding . There are plenty of opportunities to do so in October during 30 Days of Tools . And while you might feel like you have nothing new to share, I place a heavy bet that your context and story are new to the community. Today (Monday 13th September 2021) is the last day for you to submit to talk . Yet the pressure is off as we've chosen five topics for you to choose from. So put yourself forward and work on the detail later. Choose from the following: How Do You Stay Tool Aware? What Are Your Favourite Three Tools and Why? Share Your Current Tooling for Automated Testing What Tool Hacks Have You and Your Team Implemented? What’s Your Approach to Comparing Tools with Each Other? Your talk can be 10, 20, 30, or 40 minutes in length. We are offering a fee of £50 per 10 minutes. So, for a 30-minute talk, we’ll offer a fee of £150. And if presenting a talk isn't your thing, then consider: Writing an article Joining a three-person discussion Answering anything about testing tools during an Ask Me Anything The community would love to hear from you! – Simon, CommunityBoss

Introducing our resident Essential host… Vernon Richards

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 10:00:00 -0000

We were very excited to announce that our Essentials training has come to 99 Minute Workshops . We also have the pleasure of sharing that Vernon Richards, our TestBash and Webinar host extraordinaire, will be our resident host for our Essentials training – this is training that focuses on many essential testing concepts to help succeed as a testing professional. Vernon will be instrumental in planning and hosting many of our Essentials themed 99 Minute workshops in the coming months and supporting guest hosts for upcoming workshops, and we couldn’t be more excited. Some of you may have had the pleasure of meeting Vernon either through the testing community or his hosting skills at Ministry of Testing events and agree with us he’s the perfect host for our Essentials 99 Minute Workshops. Vernon is a passionate and knowledgeable tester as well as an empathetic and understanding coach. He has a wealth of experience, skills and knowledge that will be invaluable for any attendees of our workshops. You can view all our upcoming 99 Minute Essentials workshops on our events page and you can connect with Vernon via his Twitter handle @TesterFromLeic

30 Days of Tools Supporters

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 08:30:00 -0000

We're delighted to announce that we've started to get supporters for 30 Days of Tools ! You might recognise those that have already signed up - Provar, Sauce Labs, Inflectra, TestRail and Mabl. All of them have sponsored previous events and some are Annual Partners too! I'm working hard to get more sponsors and tool vendors involved. The aim is to give you a safe way to learn about these awesome tool vendors, to figure out the quirks, how it will work with your set up, to give you the chance to ask all the questions you need to help make decisions about future implementation. I'll share when I get more sponsors involved - I'd love to know who you'd like to hear more from. What tool are you curious about? You can email me at marketing@ministryoftesting.com. - Áine

What Would You Ask Tool Vendors?

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 10:00:00 -0000

We are giving you the opportunity to ask our tool vendor sponsors questions. As part of 30 Days of Tools, we are interviewing our sponsors to find out more about them - How they developed their tool? The changes they are making? The best way to use their tool? We think this would be a great opportunity for the community to get involved and ask those questions that you've never had the opportunity to. Just fill in the form below and we'll aim to add your questions to our interviews! You'll get to read the answers throughout the 30 Days of Tools in October! 🙌

September's 99 Minute Workshop Extravaganza

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 13:00:00 -0000

What are some of the principles of Automation In Testing? How might you explore beyond the UI via HTTP proxying? When is the right time to reflect on your own biases? These are just some of the topics you can explore in September's 99 Minute Workshop extravaganza ! Every workshop has been co-created with the amazing community, as all workshop facilitators have something incredible to share. And this is the place to learn from them. Level up your testing capabilities and connect with other community learners. Automation In Testing: What Is Automation In Testing , 12pm, 7th September with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Express Yourself More Effectively In Writing , 6pm, 8th September with Bob Salmon Essentials: What Is Testing? , 6pm, 9th September with Mark Winteringham and Vernon Richards Automation In Testing: Testability , 12pm, 14th September with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Beyond The UI - Introduction to HTTP Proxying , 6pm, 15th September with Eva Podbrdská Essentials: An Introduction To Quality , 6pm, 16th September with Dan Ashby Automation In Testing: Automatability , 12pm, 21st September with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Get Started With Serenity BDD , 6pm, 22nd September with Ioan Solderea Essentials: An Introduction To Risks , 6pm, 23rd September with Vernon Richards Automation In Testing: Rapidly Learning About Systems , 12pm, 28th September with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Meet Your Own Biases , 12pm, 29th September with João Proença and Michael Kutz Essentials: Coming Up With Ideas For Testing , 6pm, 30th September with Dan Ashby (all times are UK time) TOP TIP: Register for as many as you like! All 99 Minute Workshops are available with a Pro Subscription . - Simon, CommunityBoss 😃

Changes to Job Applications

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:00:00 -0000

We are no longer submitting job applications directly through our site. Instead, the job posting will contain a link to where you will be able to apply. There are a number of reasons for this change, including: We only sent your CV/Resume to the person who posted the job. This was not always the place where it should go. If the company wanted any info not on a CV, we wouldn't know about it. Note that existing job adverts will continue to submit job applications through our site. Any new job adverts created from today will use the new approach and link to where you will be able to apply.

New 99 Minute Workshops Coming In September

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 07:00:00 -0000

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be running not one, not two, but three 99 Minute Workshops a week from September onwards. Based on the success of our previous workshops, we’re excited to offer a range of different themed 99 Minute Workshops that cover the fundamentals of testing, test automation, and so much more. Read on to learn more about these exciting new workshop themes. Automation in Testing Richard and Mark are both excited to be offering their famous Automation in Testing training in the 99 Minute Workshop format, saying: "It allows us to share our existing training with a broader audience and explore and teach new tools, skills, and techniques." The Automation in Testing workshops will be covering a wide range of topics such as automation strategy, introductions to new tools, building frameworks, and much more. Automation in Testing 99 Minute Workshops will be run every Tuesday. In addition, you can learn more about Automation in Testing here . Essentials Our Essentials series of training is all offering opportunities to develop essential knowledge and skills in software testing. Essentials training is the perfect fit for 99 Minute Workshops, offering attendees the chance to learn everything they need to know about being a successful tester. These workshops will introduce topics such as testing software, testing requirements, automation, and so much more. Essentials 99 Minute Workshops will be run every Thursday. You can learn more about Essentials here Workshops from the community We’re also excited to announce a new series of workshops from testing community members: Suman Bala, Peet Michielsen, Joao Proenca & Michael Kutz, Eva Podbrdská and Jesper Ottosen, with more to be announced soon. These instructors have been working closely with us to deliver engaging training on a range of topics such as: Working with HTTP proxy tools Getting involved in code reviews Managing biases in testing We’ll be running Workshops from testing community members every Wednesday. Learn more about how you can become a 99 Minute Workshop instructor here . How do I sign up? Our workshops will be going live in the coming weeks, so check back regularly for upcoming workshops or sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates on 99 Minute Workshops. All our 99 Minute Workshops are free to attend for Pro members. So consider going Pro if you haven’t already, to access all these new training opportunities and more.

New Charity Swag Added!

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 11:48:00 -0000

More swag has been added to the store for you ! More of our Annual Partners have signed off their designs for the T-Shirts, Mugs and Stickers! Maybe there's something you've got an eye on? These are all one of a kind, our epic designer has blended the MoT monsters with our Annual Partners' logos to create something unique and fun! Check out the store for a closer look at this swag (and maybe other swag...just have a browse). Any profits made from selling this fun and rather unique swag will be split between the MoT Scholarship fund and charities chosen by our Annual Partners. We're delighted to announce that TestProject and Sauce Labs want to support Code First Girls !

MoT Team to Switch off in August

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 09:00:00 -0000

Let's just say it's been a busy year and a half so the MoT team plans to take some time off in August. A recharge will do us good for us to continue to serve our incredible community. Richard explains all in this handy 9-minute audio Racket . 🎧 Some of us will be online every so often and we'll do our best to reply to your message should anything urgent come up. Thanks for your patience, for allowing the team time to rest, recover and refocus. In the meantime, have an incredible August and we'll see you all real soon! 🏖

New Meetup Groups

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 09:00:00 -0000

The joy of finally getting caught up on outstanding community admin is getting new meetup groups created and added to our list of global meetup groups. We now have over 90 meetup groups happening around the world 🤯 . I have to confess that it still blows my mind a bit to know that there are folks out there, representing Ministry of Testing, giving their time to organise meetups for testers to share knowledge, to help support and to connect. There might be a meetup happening in your area one day soon, go check our list and find out. Lots of meetup groups have been having online meetups, the recordings are open to all our members. Thank you to everyone for getting involved 🙌 - Áine, MarketingBoss

Revisit the TestBash Home Treasure Trove of Knowledge

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Buzzing from the absolute learn-fest you wriggle at your desk (home, office, or elsewhere) and wonder, "where do I start?" The adrenaline rush of discovering many new things to apply at your workplace is quite something. Yet such a rush hits a brick wall as you come back down to the reality of business-as-usual: Testing activities to do, bug reports to file, and products to deliver. TestBash Home was over a month ago. How time flies. Fortunately, every single video from TestBash Home is ready and waiting for you to watch at your own pace – if you attended with a ticket or have a Pro subscription . It's a great way to avoid overwhelming yourself as you apply learnings to your day-to-day and is particularly useful when influencing others when change is required. Small steps all the way! This community is awesome and all seventeen videos yet again demonstrate how much we can all learn from each other. – Simon, CommunityBoss

Letting go of FOMO at TestBash Home

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 11:00:00 -0000

Can you believe it's been over a month since TestBash Home ! Veerle Verhagen and I explore her fear of missing out and why she chose to let go. We also discuss the benefits of building connections within the community. Plus, Veerle reveals an absolute classic TestBash Home confession. 😮 🎧 Have a listen here . (9 mins) – Simon, CommunityBoss

How MoT curate exciting news each week

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 09:00:00 -0000

Did you know we deliver a weekly newsletter to thousands of inboxes every Monday morning (UK time)? Ever wonder how we do it? Here's a short insight into how. Each week Áine creates a new draft newsletter based on a template from the previous week. The newsletter is broken up into the following sections: Intro message A sponsored advert What's new with Ministry of Testing Another sponsored advert Upcoming MoT Events Continue the Conversion (on The Club ) Business Community 99-Minute Workshops Áine and I spread the effort to find super useful information (with links) for each section. Our goal is for the recipient to easily dive into the many parts of our community to get a sense of what's happened in the previous week and to build excitement about future things. We help review and edit each other's copy. It's quite the task yet it's actually a brilliant way to stay connected to our community – because throughout the week we're collecting useful information along the way. It's a good feeling to be able to amplify the many awesome things happening in the community. The hardest part is coming up with an email subject! What do we call out from the multitude of information we're about to share? What will make a recipient open the email? How do we avoid being too clickbaity? As well as appearing in inboxes we also publish the newsletter as an article on the MoT platform. Read the latest and check out all the previous newsletters . There's a tonne of useful information to support your learning journey and to help you build connections with other community members. Signing up is easy. Head on over to the subscribe page and fill out these fields and tick the "Newsletters" box. Submit the form and check your inbox to confirm your subscription. Over the coming months I'll take lead on the newsletter and I'd love to hear what works for you? What information would you find useful? How do you currently read the newsletter? What else might help you stay connected to our community? As always, we enjoy iterating and very much welcome your feedback. Feel free to send me an email . It would be excellent to hear from you! – Simon, CommunityBoss

Become a 99 Minute Workshops Instructor

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 12:37:00 -0000

99 Minute Workshops help move our testing craft forward. And you can be part of that movement! We'd like to hear from you if you have an idea for a workshop. Whether you have experience in delivering workshops or this is your first time, this is an opportunity to share your experiences and ideas with others. It's a great way to connect with the community and be rewarded for your efforts. Check out how to get started . Good luck! – Simon, CommunityBoss

Raising funds for charity with swag!

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 15:10:00 -0000

One of the things we wanted to achieve with our Annual Partners this year was to find another way to give back. So, we've come up with the idea of creating charitable SWAG! I mean we all love swag, right? Any profits made from selling this fun and rather unique swag will be split between the MoT Scholarship fund and charities chosen by our Annual Partners. We're delighted to announce that TestProject and Sauce Labs want to support Code First Girls ! We will be announcing more awesome swag once it's live. Check out the T-Shirts, Mugs and Stickers you can buy !

Smashing TestBash Home Sponsorship Records!

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 14:00:00 -0000

We're smashing all of the records for TestBash Home . We've now hit one of the highest ever number of sponsors for a TestBash!! Let's celebrate the wonderful companies who are helping us to make this happen 🎉 Green Belt Sponsors Kobiton want to help you build, test, and deliver high-quality mobile and IoT experiences that you can hear all about in their community space during TestBash. Provar are back for their third event with us this year! One of their team is even taking on the full 24-hour challenge! Drop by their community space during #TestBash to learn more about them and give Chris some support. Inflectra will be adding fun to TestBash by bringing games, quizzes & prizes. Meet their team in the community space and keep an eye out for your opportunity to win prizes One of our Annual Partners mabl are also sponsoring TestBash Home! mabl will be mixing it up in their TestBash community space with lightning talks, discussions and chances to win prizes for your whole team. Make sure you drop by to say hello! Qase who love supporting our community so much are back for their second event with us this year. Their team will be hanging out in the TestBash community space talking about their test management tool and how it could help your team - get to grips with TestOps and add some much needed transparency to your processes. Our final Green Belt sponsor is IQVIA. IQVIA are expanding their team and you could have the chance to work with testing legends such as Emma Keavney. Learn more about their open roles and meet their team in the community space at TestBash! Yellow Belt Sponsors We're delighted to have eBay Tech supporting their 2nd TestBash Home and 3rd TestBash event They'll be running an exploratory testing competition throughout TestBash so keep an eye on them! Another Annual Partner and long time supporter of our community, TestRail are also supporting! If you need an easier way to manage all your manual & automated testing, check out TestRail at TestBash! Our next Yellow Belt sponsor PractiTest are also huge supporters of our community over the years. If you want a tool that offers you centralised test management, check them out at TestBash. More exciting job opportunities with our next Yellow Belt sponsor LloydsBank. If you're on the lookout for an engineering role on a quality team - you could be working with one of our meetup organisers Craig Wylie, click on their logo on the events page and keep an eye on our...

Advertise Your Open Job Roles at TestBash Home

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0000

The technology scene seems to be on a hiring spree at the moment, and that's no different for testing and quality roles. We've seen a spike in roles posted on our own https://ministryoftesting.com/jobs . So, we've got creative and thought, how could people advertise their roles at TestBash Home? Wanting to keep it as simple and as lean as possible, we've gone with a simple image that is displayed on repeat during the breaks. Here is an example: Your advert will be shown for a minimum of 30 seconds during each break. It will be shown more depending on how many slots we sell. In total, we have twelve breaks throughout the whole 24-hour event. But Richard, it's the break, no one will be watching! Not true, folks come and go all the time and a lot hang around to continue chatting while they wait for the talks to continue. But to combat this worry, we'll also make the job adverts playable on demand throughout the conference, so folk can explore the opportunities at their leisure Sound good to you? Excellent, all you have to do is complete this form , you'll need the following: Job Title Location Job type, e.g. full-time, part-time Short Description (max 400 char) URL where people can apply Your company logo A Credit Card to pay the £100 fee The deadline to submit your job advert is Friday, 11th June. Thanks for supporting the Ministry of Testing Richard, BossBoss

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to mabl!

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to mabl , you have the chance to win just that! You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes, Themed Weeks well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. Mabl is the leading intelligent test automation platform built for Agile teams. We're the only SaaS solution that tightly integrates automated end-to-end testing into the entire development lifecycle. With mabl creating, executing, and maintaining reliable tests has never been easier, allowing software teams to increase test coverage, speed up development and improve application quality. 💡 Learn more about mabl , or start testing for free with a 14-day trial. All you have to do is answer the questions to be in with a chance to win a year long Pro Membership. The competition has closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 28th June and emailed directly. As part of winning, you will write an Experience Report in 6 months - we can help you frame it and edit it.

Team Learning History Summary

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 15:00:00 -0000

We've created a team learning history summary that allows team admins to see how much activity has been performed by themselves and their team members. This has been added to the team activity page, which team admins can access via My MoT . This page is still a work in progress, the next addition we are working on will be to filter the information over certain lengths of time. - Andrew Morton, DevBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Heather Shares What She'll Miss The Most From TestBash Home

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 12:06:00 -0000

CommunityBoss, Heather , sat down with BossBoss, Richard , to explore what Heather will miss the most from not getting to attend TestBash Home due to maternity leave. They chat about how to get the most out of the connections you can make online and serious fear of missing out. Check out the latest Racket 🎧

Tattoos Ink an Unlimited Access Contract

Fri, 28 May 2021 20:00:00 -0000

You may have heard the rumours, and they are indeed very true! Anyone who has a Ministry of Testing tattoo has unlimited access to all TestBash events, including the sophomore TestBash Home in June. Talk about serious commitment to this amazing community, right?! So let's celebrate those incredible people. Hilary Weaver-Robb Hilary loves MoT so much, she organises a local meetup, Motor City Software Testers , and led the plan to bring TestBash to Detroit in 2020. Huib Schoots Huib has helped us to deliver TestBash Netherlands an outstanding 4 times! Ash Coleman Ash rocks our logo over in the US and helped us to deliver two fabulous TestBashes in San Francisco not to mention speaking at four TestBashes ! David Williams David is a mentor for Software Testing Essentials , sharing the love of community with those new to the field. David also spoke at our first-ever mental health track at TestBash . Emma Keaveny Emma was the first to start the trend, it started out as a dare with FounderBoss, Rosie. Emma organises a local MoT meetup and mentors those new to testing via Software Testing Essentials to share the community love. Emma also hosted the first-ever conference we had dedicated to those new to the testing field, TestBash Essentials . Maik Nogens Maik is a regular TestBash attendee and flys the MoT flag over in Hamburg, Germany for us! Guna Petrova Guna flies the flag for us in Munich and has volunteered at many TestBashes sharing the enthusiasm and welcome you've all come to love at these events. Guna spoke at some of our very first TestBashes and makes sure to take to the stage when it's time for 99-Second talks too! Antonella Scaravilli The last tattoo person to join the crew was Antonella who not only organised a meetup locally but is also a member of our Slack moderation team , ensuring it remains a wonderful place to interact with the community. Melissa Eaden Of course, who could forget former EditorBoss and fellow MoT US advocate Melissa. Melissa has spoken and volunteered at TestBashes as well as contributing a wealth of knowledge to our article series . [image coming soon] How cool are they! And how about you, would you take the plunge and join this incredible group of inked aficionados*? It would spell unlimited access to all TestBashes for the rest of eternity. 😃 – Simon Tomes, CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing *Please do let us know. Terms & Conditions apply.

Changes to Learning History

Fri, 28 May 2021 14:00:00 -0000

Learning history now shows more information, including summary counts of your activity. We've split the history into types, so instead of one large table with all your lesson activity, we now show you which videos you've watched, articles you've read and podcasts you've listened to. In addition, the learning history now shows events you have registered for and courses that you have enrolled on. You can access the learning history via the My MoT page . Learning history is a pro only feature. – Andrew Morton, DevBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Why 1000 Attendee Goal for TestBash Home 2021?

Fri, 28 May 2021 09:00:00 -0000

You can listen to the Racket , or read the transcript below. Racket is a mirco-podcasting, audio blogging tool. Transcript Hello, everybody is Richard Bradshaw here BossBoss at Ministry of testing. So hopefully most of you have heard that as much home is coming back on the 17th of June, what you've probably also seen though, is the Ministry of testing team talking about the number of signups. And I wanted to explain why we're doing it. And also, we mentioned the goal of 1000 attendees and why 1000? So firstly, why we're being so open and public, we're shifting the way that we work to basically build in public. So if you're not familiar with the concept, just try to be a bit more open, be more open about our plans, our goals, our finances, after all, we're our community, you know of testers and our people interested in testing. And we, you know, also there is also a business behind Ministry of Testing, but, we're not a business that's, you know, trying to, you know, feed the pockets of, you know, give everyone huge salaries and stuff like that. We're known for being very, very generous, very open, we pay for people's time, we have a scholarship, you know, we're a very open business. And I think, now we're looking to shift more into that wider space of actually just show them a bit more of an insight into that. So that's why we're doing it. And then you've seen the goal of 1000 attendees. Now, the figure that this comes from is last year, we had, I believe, just shy of 800, I'm not entirely sure it was maybe eight, maybe slightly more, the figure in the system is not the one that actually attended. So it's probably was closer to 900. But we sold, we sold just under 800, actual tickets. And then obviously, there were volunteers and staff and people who got tickets via the scholarship and stuff. So really, the goal of 1000 came from wanting to match last year, really. And we've also, you know, we're in a position now where there's, we've got, we've got our pro members now. So obviously homes included if you're a pro member, so we expect a large majority of them to register. And then obviously people who buy tickets as well. Yeah, there's no real logic to it apart from I want Home to be as good as last year. I know there's a lot of change. Home, you know, we were so quick to respond last year. And it's really what people needed. I know Mark and Simon did a racket earlier about you know how a bit of zoom fatigue and a bit of video burnout. But we...

Opening My Eyes to a World That I Didn't Know Existed: How TestBash Home Helped Deb Sherwood Take Her Next Career Step

Thu, 27 May 2021 12:00:00 -0000

"It opened my eyes to a world of QA that I didn't know existed! It gave me the confidence and ability to drive my passion and desire to be a QA Lead." While Deb Sherwood couldn't see it, I could feel the strain on my mouth as I beamed with a warm fuzzy feeling. My mind was blown away by the power of an inaugural online conference. I had the joy of a nine minute chat with Deb and learnt about her experience of TestBash Home . Enjoy! Listen here . 🎧 – Simon Tomes, CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

What It's like to Be a Host of TestBash Home

Wed, 26 May 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Jenna Charlton and I sat down to chat about her experience of hosting TestBash Home in 2020. We covered a lot in a short space of time! And Jenna kindly shares why it was such a unique experience for her. Listen here . 🎧 – Simon Tomes, CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Top Tips for Seeing Through the Entire 24 Hours of TestBash Home

Tue, 25 May 2021 08:00:00 -0000

It might only be 9 minutes long yet it's full of wonderful advice from the equally wonderful, Bruce . Find out top tips for seeing through the entire 24 hours of TestBash Home . Have a listen ! 📣 – Simon Tomes, CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing ps you don't have to do the entire 24 hours if you don't want to. 😃

Amplifying our Club Contributors with a New Design

Mon, 24 May 2021 07:00:00 -0000

If you’ve been regularly checking The Club the past week, you’ll have noticed some interesting changes took place. You might have thought you’d unlocked an exciting new area And the good news is that you have, in fact, everyone has! Richard and I have been working hard since our last update to bring about more changes and I got a bit excited and released them before I got a chance to write about why we’d made these changes. I liked them so much, I left them there and decided to write about the why later 😁 We’ve changed three key things: The Latest Page Added Topic Templates - create a new one to check it out MoTified the Categories Page The Latest Page The Latest Page is the first page that everyone lands on when they hit the Club so that you can see everything happening right now and jump into a conversation that interests you as it’s happening. Our old Latest Page had a lot on it, it told you how many views a post had, how long ago it was last active and it had advertisements for fun things we had happening in MoT land up the top. There was a lot there and it was overwhelming if you weren’t used to the forum. When I spoke to regular users of The Club, they said that the important things for them on the Latest Page were: Who posted the thread Who is replying to the thread How many replies there are to each thread How many likes a post has been given So we did exactly that. It’s much cleaner and only displays the information that matters to you. I feel much better now we get to really hero all you amazing people who contribute there. Check out the Latest Page . Topic Templates Sometimes it’s hard to know how to frame a new topic on The Club which is a real barrier for people creating new ones. Now, when you click “New Topic” and choose your category, the compose window will automatically fill with a template to help you frame your post. How about adding a question to see it in action ? MoTifying The Categories Page In our last update , we talked about massive changes to the Categories layout. We were happy with the changes we made there but we thought: how could we MoTify this even more? We wanted to get more of the monsters involved and really make The Club feel even more a part of the website. So we’ve changed to a layout that shows off our lovely monsters more and has clearer descriptions for each category to help you decide where to post. Go see the monsters . What’s Next? We’re still making small changes...

A Springboard for Greater Community Contribution

Fri, 21 May 2021 10:00:00 -0000

It’s been a couple of weeks since I joined Ministry of Testing as a CommunityBoss. I enjoy a good 1-2-1 chat and am very keen to speak with more of the community to get to know you. So I thought, what better way to do that than experiment with Racket – a voice only recording tool that lets you record up to 9 minutes of chat. How cool! Today I got to chat with Beth Marshall , and it was lovely. Have a listen to find out how she got to attend TestBash Home 2020 and the difference it made to her community life. It's amazing! Thanks Beth, I'm totally inspired by your story. – Simon Tomes CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

TestBash Home Sponsorship Starts With a Bang

Thu, 20 May 2021 08:00:00 -0000

This year we started with the goal of matching our TestBash Home 2020 sponsorship funding, which seems pretty reasonable. Thankfully we’ve matched our goal for sponsorship this year with 4 Green Belt Sponsors and 2 Yellow Belt Sponsors! As a small business, sponsorship means we can pay speakers and hosts for their time! It also means we can pay for the platforms we use to broadcast TestBash Home and it keeps the MoT staff fully caffeinated throughout the whole event. We always aim to have Sponsors that align with all things MoT and to work with us in a way that is fully transparent to our community. Who Are The TestBash Home Sponsors? As mentioned, we have 4 Green Belt Sponsors Inflectra, Provar, mabl, Qase.io, and 2 Yellow Belt Sponsors eBay and TestRail. We’re going to be sharing more about these excellent sponsors in the coming weeks! If you want to see your company become a TestBash Home Sponsor, email marketing@ministryoftesting.com to find out the options available!

TestBash Home: How Your Feedback Helped!

Wed, 19 May 2021 08:00:00 -0000

If you’ve submitted an abstract to the Ministry of Testing before and been unsuccessful, you’ll know that we give everyone the opportunity to request feedback as to why their abstract was unsuccessful. Giving feedback can be difficult at the best of times. We’re always looking for the positive points in each abstract and to highlight where the improvements can be made, to improve your chances of making it onto the stage next time! With the value of feedback so high, we had to find a better way to share. For TestBash Brighton 2019, we had 54 feedback requests from 203 unsuccessful submissions. Each feedback write up used to take me 2-5 hours depending on the number of community reviews each abstract had received. If the community had added comments, I added those in too. So 54 requests at 2-3 hours per request, I was looking at 108-162 hours of work just to send the feedback out, plus any follow-up emails. This just wasn't sustainable so something had to improve. In hindsight it's easy to see that typing up comments and adding our own into a feedback email – multiple times – wasn't the best use of our time. So how about we just let the abstract owner instantly see anonymous feedback? With some magic from our development team, this faster feedback is now a reality! So, as soon as a reviewer clicks “Submit” on the review page , the abstract owner can log in, click “Account” and “Proposals” and see the comments that were submitted. Now we can focus on adding our own anonymous comments to abstracts along with tips on how to improve. Thank you for adding comments when you review an abstract. It makes all the difference to the author. And thank you to everyone who took the time to talk to us about the feedback review process and how it could be improved. - Heather Reid CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

How You Picked The TestBash Home Lineup!

Mon, 17 May 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Thank YOU for helping us to pick the TestBash Home lineup 💙 You’ll often see us on social media asking for your help reviewing abstracts but we’ve never articulated exactly how much that’s helped us with choosing our TestBash lineups. It’s time to share the numbers with you and thank each and every one of you for your contributions to this whole process. In the past, we’ve averaged around 3-4 reviews per talk submitted. This year, our total number of reviews hit the highest ever with 1324 reviews submitted, that’s an average of 6.8 reviews per abstract! For TestBash Home, we had a total of 193 abstracts to review and choose 12 talks from. This is no easy task. It’s something that in the past has taken our team up to 4 weeks to do, sometimes longer if we needed individuals to review anonymous batches of abstracts. Once reviewed, we would forecast what kind of talks the community would like to see. 🔮 For TestBash Home 2021, our team has reduced in size and we had Exploratory Testing Week added into the mix. We needed new ways to get your help! Did you spot the notifications on the home page ? Every time we hit a milestone with reviews, a message popped up on the timeline to let you know. This combined with the feedback you all left reduced the amount of time the team had to spend reviewing abstracts down to 1 week. Now we have more time to plan all the other things that will happen at TestBash Home 2021 to make sure it’s another fantastic event for you. When we say every single review helps, we really mean it. If you only had time to review one abstract, that’s one more review from someone in the community to help us understand the types of talks you’d like to see. - Heather Reid CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

Become A 99 Minute Workshop Instructor

Mon, 10 May 2021 11:00:00 -0000

Become A 99 Minute Workshop Instructor Our 99 Minute workshops have been an enormous success since their launch last year, and we’re excited to announce that we are looking for new 99 Minute workshop instructors. We’re looking for passionate individuals who want to share their skills and knowledge with the testing community, and to help support this, we’re launching our ‘Become a 99 Minute workshop instructor’ training cohort. The cohort, which is free to attend, is a four-week training event in which we will teach you everything you need to know to identify and plan a successful workshop. Once the cohort is complete, you’ll have the opportunity to submit your workshop to be run as part of our 99 Minute workshop events. Why run a 99 Minute workshop? Running a 99 Minute workshop is a hugely rewarding activity in many ways. Not only is it satisfying watching others learn, but it’s also an excellent opportunity for you to reflect on your ideas and how to communicate them effectively. For those new to teaching, the support from the cohort and the short, focused format means it’s a great way to get started. And for those with more experience, we’ll be sharing everything we know about teaching theory and running workshops online, giving you tools to grow as a teacher online. We’ll also financially reward you for your time, paying you for each successful 99 Minute workshop you run. How will the 99 Minute workshop cohort work? During ‘Become a 99 Minute Workshop Instructor’, we’ll meet for four sessions to identify and create 99 Minute workshops. The cohort format will have you working together to support each other as we learn about: The 99 Minute workshop format and how to select a workshop topic How to use learning outcomes to structure a workshop Planning out a workshop to enable learners to complete learning outcomes Submitting and marketing workshops So if you want the opportunity to teach others about topics in testing you’re passionate about, join us on May 26th to Become a 99 Minute Workshop Instructor .

Simon Tomes Joins Ministry of Testing

Tue, 04 May 2021 14:20:00 -0000

A sudden change of direction I could feel the wind blast my face as I glanced at the trees rapidly shaking from side-to-side. My daughter could see the guilt on my face as she realised I had accidentally ignored the last thing she'd just told me. My mind had wondered and agreed with itself that it was time for a change. That cold walk in the park on my 2020 Christmas break forced me to revisit what I love doing. And I love testing and I will always be a tester, yet could I be hands-on forever? The answer was "probably not". I had to find a way to tap deeper into the joy I get from community-based activities, stuff that I naturally enjoy doing. I love amplifying people and the things they do. I enjoy encouraging people to experiment with what they think might not be possible. I can't get enough of designing, curating and collaborating on all sorts of content that helps move our testing craft forward. So could I actually find a community manager type of role? Could I still stay in the tech world? Would this role help me explore my career ambitions? Could I possibly be brave enough to start my career again? Time waits for serendipity It's funny how things sometimes fall into place over a long period of time. I never ever for the life of me thought I'd become a CommunityBoss at Ministry of Testing. What an absolute honour and privilege. It's mind-blowing to be honest! Yet this is why I love Ministry of Testing. It is the place that sees potential in people, gives them the opportunity to shine and supports them on a journey to see what's possible. I thank Richard, BossBoss, for that! Heather, CommunityBoss, is just incredible and I wish her the best on her adventures into parenthood. I have some seriously mega shoes to fill and I'm incredibly nervous and excited about the prospect. My role, much like Heather has demonstrated so well over the years, is to ensure everyone in the Ministry of Testing community feels welcome, safe and heard. And I intend to do my best to uphold that statement. A sense of fulfilment I have a passion for exploratory testing and have been a tester since 2003, led teams of testers, QA people and developers. I've also been a scrum master, agile coach and delivery manager. I can't get enough of collaborating with folks to build brilliant things. I get to do that with TestBuddy , a product for exploratory testers that I'm Co-founder of. Ministry of Testing embodies collaboration and it has given me a platform to contribute in many...

Level Up Your Collaboration Skills With This 1-Day Training Course from Lisi Hocke and Simon Berner

Mon, 03 May 2021 08:00:00 -0000

The exciting new training opportunities just keep on coming! We’re bringing you a brand new 1-Day training course on 9th July with the dynamic duo of Lisi Hocke and Simon Berner . “ Practice Pairing Under Constraints to Level Up Your Collaboration Skills ” will give you the skills and experience you need to collaborate more effectively with your team. Are you tired of pushing tasks back and forth between various departments? Have you always wanted to dive deeper into a certain area of expertise, yet are not sure where and how to start? Have you discovered the benefits of pairing for yourself and are eager to hone these skills and become a better pairing partner? Then this training is perfect for you! You will learn why pairing is essential for the growth of your team and how you can communicate this message to them. During the training, you’ll learn about the different styles of pairing, identifying the pros and cons of each so you can choose an approach that works best for you and your team. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll then be able to plan pairing sessions in advance for your team taking all of the constraints in your context into account. Tickets start at £300 so make the most of the Super Early Bird pricing and grab your ticket now .

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to TestProject

Mon, 03 May 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to TestProject , you have the chance to win just that! You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes, Themed Weeks well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. TestProject and its community built the world's largest free test automation addons library ! With over 1,500 ready-to-use automation actions, you are in for a whole new world of automation testing. No need to develop from scratch common testing scenarios and modules, now you can simply search for your required action straight from their fully-fledged library, supporting any web, Android or iOS app. It's kind of like Git, but for test automation ✨ Ready to explore it even further? TestProject hosted an exclusive live workshop to help you leverage these automation actions and even learn how to build your own custom Addons! Watch it here . All you have to do is answer the questions to be in with a chance to win a year long Pro Membership. The competition has ended. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 28th May and emailed directly. As part of winning, you will write an Experience Report in 6 months - we can help you frame it and edit it.

New Course Alert: Introduction to Accessibility Testing

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Each month, we’re releasing a new course in collaboration with members of the community to give you more opportunities to upskill. This month, we’ve got a fantastic new course from accessibility testing enthusiast Deborah Reid . Learn with Deborah about what accessibility is, why it's important to test for and how to get your team started with an accessibility testing mindset in her course Introduction to Accessibility Testing . By the end of the course, you’ll understand the challenges users face with accessibility and how you and your team can help them overcome them. You will also understand the rules and guidance in place for accessibility testing so you can be an advocate in your own setting for accessibility testing. Take the course now !

New 2-Day Training Course “Exploring Non-Functional Testing” with Jenna Charlton

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 13:15:00 -0000

Next month, Jenna Charlton will be giving a 2-Day Training course “ Exploring Non-Functional Testing ”. You will learn how you can increase quality by focusing on and exploring various non-functional characteristics. Discover more about what it means to test and measure user experience and why that’s important. You’ll be able to describe the purpose and benefits of a maintainable code base and learn how to visually identify code that is poorly structured. Jenna will help you gain a deeper understanding of non-functional testing with the topics covered . Tickets start at £400 for the course for two full days of training! Make the most of the Super Early Bird price and grab your ticket now . We might not be able to meet up in person but that doesn’t stop us from bringing you excellent training opportunities from the comfort of your own home/office!

Exploratory Testing Week: AMA, Masterclass and Discussions Lineup

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 06:00:00 -0000

Throughout Exploratory Testing Week , we’ll have 3 live webinars for you to attend and learn from. First up it’s Alex Schladebeck answering all of your questions about how to manage risk in our Ask Me Anything session. Then we’ll be joined by Naveen Bhati to debunk some exploratory testing myths, learn about the Exploratory Testing Playbook and the importance of exploratory testing in the world of CI/CD, DevOps and shift-left. Finally, we’ll be joined by Niranjani Manoharan, Monica Arzani and Laveena Ramchandani to have a discussion about how you can report on your exploratory testing. They’ll look at what information is most important when you’re reporting on exploratory testing and how you can adapt your reporting based on your audience. Reserve your spot now !

Exploratory Testing Week: 99-Minute Workshops

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 10:44:00 -0000

We’ve four 99-Minute Workshops planned throughout the week. Dan Ashby focusing on testing before a line of code is ever written. Elizabeth Zagroba to help you write charters. Claire Reckless will expand your exploratory testing. Huib Schoots explaining the language around exploratory testing and how best to communicate the status of your testing. Perfect opportunity to improve and refresh your knowledge regardless of your testing experience. We could all do with an injection of fresh ideas! Join us and Elizabeth for Exploratory Testing Week 😁

Exploratory Testing Week: Lineup Updates!

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 13:10:00 -0000

First update - Mark will be joined by Melissa Eaden and Maaike Brinkhof to revisit their TestBash talks. They’ll explore what has changed, what has stayed the same and what additional advice they’d give you now they’ve more experience. You’ll get to ask them questions throughout their talks, so you’ll get real-time answers! Reserve your spot now ! Watch this space for more updates 👀

Let Us Help You Become a Pro Member

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 07:00:00 -0000

You want to become a Pro Member and we want to hit our Pro targets. Let's work together to #ConvinceYourBoss. We know it can be hard to find the confidence to ask for training support, but it really is a big benefit to you and your company in the long run. Not only will you be up to date with the latest developments about testing, but you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to make sure your product is being thoroughly tested. You’ll also be able to work with your development team to ensure the quality of the product is as high as it possibly can be. Our numerous event and training formats mean you can pick the learning approach that works best for you, selecting the topics that matter the most and fitting them into your schedule. Book a Meeting With Us Do you need guidance? Maybe you’re struggling to figure out the best way to get your point across? Good news, you can book a meeting with one of our Bosses for you and your manager (or just your manager) to help them understand what’s involved, the benefits and the discounts available! We’ve slotted in some available dates and times, all you have to do is run it past your manager and book in a time that works best. Build a Business Case It can be hard to put together a business case, so we’ve put our heads together and created a specific Pro Membership page and a Pro Team Membership page , listing the information you need to help make the decision to sign up for a Pro Membership - we have monthly and yearly payment options. Read Our Brochure Pro Team Membership is something that could benefit your team. A team that learns together and develops a joint understanding will increase quality levels and improve company retention levels. You want your team to progress on their testing journey and know that they are supported by their company. Take some positive steps today to help you along your career path: Book a meeting, download the brochure , get your Pro Membership.

Recordings From UI Automation Week 2021 Now Available!

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 13:07:00 -0000

After hours of video editing, we can now announce that all the recordings from UI Automation Week 2021 are available at the Dojo! That’s right, you can now watch back all the Webinars, 99-Minute Workshops and Experience Reports from the first themed week of 2021 on UI automation. All recordings are available for Pro Members and ticket holders to watch with the exception of the Experience Reports - Java Edition session, which is available for everyone with a Ministry of Testing account. If you didn’t have a chance to check all the challenges for this week, not a problem! You can still solve them and improve your skills on UI automation. If you solve any of them, share your solutions in The Club and keep the conversation going. Thank you once again to our amazing sponsors for supporting this themed week: Tonic , Provar , Kobiton and Qase ! Check all of our upcoming events and stay up to date with all the MoT news by signing up to our Newsletter ! Diana Dromey EventBoss at Ministry of Testing

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to Applitools

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to Applitools , you have the chance to win just that! You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes, Themed Weeks well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. Applitools have an upcoming event that is open to everyone! Future of Testing: Mobile | North America is a must-see free virtual event featuring top engineers from global brands leading sessions on cutting-edge practices and tools in mobile testing, automation, release strategies, and multi-platform integrations. In addition to automation gurus Angie Jones, and Jason Huggins, the event will feature engineering experts from SONY PlayStation, Tapster Robotics, Nordstrom, and Bleacher Report, just to name a few. Engage with the experts for a live Q-and-A at the end of each talk. Get your free ticket today . The competition will closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 9th April and emailed directly. Loading…

Redesigning The Club With You In Mind

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 08:52:00 -0000

Redesigning The Club With You In Mind I'm so excited! I’ve started making some big changes to The Club . I’m working with Richard Bradshaw to make it easier for you to post, find what you need and share with the community. Come and take a look. Why? Regular users of our discussion forum, The Club , will have noticed some subtle changes over the past few months. You’ve been giving me your feedback on how you use The Club, how you’d like to use it and what would make it easier for you to navigate the forum. The biggest piece of feedback you gave me was that it was often confusing to choose a category when posting a question. Maybe you wanted to know about tools for automating API testing, should it go in Test Automation, Tools or API testing? Many of you said that this was a blocker to posting. If you couldn’t decide, then you just wouldn’t post. Understandable and very useful feedback for me! What Have You Done?! This week, I’ve made some changes based on that feedback that are not so subtle 😁 I have completely changed how the Categories landing page looks. Before I started, we had 29 categories + 24 subcategories that were available for everyone to post in. In hindsight, I can see how that was overwhelming but your feedback really helped me to zero in and decide what should be there instead. I’m a “picture paints a thousand words” kind of person so let me show you the before and after shots. Before After What Does This Mean? All of this means that it’s going to be much easier for you to post to The Club. If you’ve got a question about tools for automating API testing now, for example, it would go in the “Questions” category and you can add tags to your post with “automation”, “api-testing” etc to help make it easier to find. Got a question now? Head over and post it on The Club ! What Next? You’re going to see even more changes happening on The Club soon! I’m having regular pairing sessions with Richard to give the forum much more of the Ministry of Testing style you know and love. As I’m so excited about it all, I’ve shared a teaser tweet about some of what we’re working on. Watch this space! Heather CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

30 Days of Testing Like You’ve Never Seen it Before

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0000

30 Days of Testing Like You’ve Never Seen it Before We’re bringing 30 Days of Testing back with a whole new look. We’ve redesigned how you take the challenges to make it easier for you to complete them. Kicking it all off is 30 Days of Agile Testing starting on 15th March 2021. Why Change? Recent changes to courses and the introduction of Pathways of learning has triggered new ideas for how we present the 30 Days of Testing Challenges. We want to make it easier for you to engage with and take control of your learning. We want to give you a way to show off what you’ve done in one easy to access place. So, Mark and I set to work thinking about all the different ways you can learn from 30 Days of Testing. We explored the learning outcomes from each day on each set of challenges. We looked at how you would know that you’d successfully completed a challenge and started to make changes. The New Look Each day you’ll have a new challenge to complete, this will be its own lesson with its own activity attached. Each lesson will have a video explaining the challenge for the day. Once you’ve successfully completed the activity, you’ll have completed that challenge for the day. For example, if you’re asked to read a blog post for the challenge that day, you’ll have to submit a link to the blog post to complete the activity. When you’ve completed all of the activities for each challenge, you’ll see the full 30 Days of Testing marked as completed on your profile. This is an excellent way to demonstrate to you/your boss/your potential employer all that you’ve learned by doing the challenge. Join The New 30 Days of Testing We’re launching our 30 Days of Agile Testing on 15th March - and unsurprisingly, it’ll run for 30 Days! Are you taking part? Download badges to add to your social media, blog, website, etc to let everyone know you’ll be participating 😁 - Heather CommunityBoss @ Ministry of Testing

TestBash Home is Back!

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0000

TestBash Home is Back! Yes, you read that right, we’re bringing our 24-hour TestBash Home back again on 17th-18th June 2021. Registration is now open ! We’re also looking for speakers, abstract reviewers, volunteers and sponsors. Why? Ever since TestBash Home 2020, you’ve been asking us when it would be coming back. TestBash Home 2020 was an experiment, a light in the midst of lockdown around the world and what a light it was! When we started with the idea to run a 24-hour conference, we wanted to bring our entire global community closer together. We wanted to connect you all and give you something to talk about for a long time to come. Based on your feedback, we knocked it out of the park! 😁 This year, we’re planning to do even more of what you love. In true Ministry of Testing style, we’ll have some of what you expect and some surprises added in. There’ll be talks, interactive sessions, break out spaces, surprises and, of course, fabulous hosts. Whether lockdown is still happening in your country or not, there’s no denying the good feels that an event like this will give you. The Plan TestBash Home will start on 17th June 2021 as a 24-hour rolling software testing conference. This means you can tune in when it best suits you. Don’t worry about missing sessions, we’ll be recording everything and making it available to all of the attendees on our website. Not sure when this is happening in your region? Head over to the event page , it’ll show you the exact date and time based on your location. How can you get involved? We need you! We need members of the community to: Submit talks Help us to review the talks submitted Volunteer to help on the day Submit a talk We’re looking for 30-minute talks on a range of topics and we pay all of our speakers for their time on stage too. Check out all of the reasons you should speak at TestBash . If you’ve already got a talk in mind, head over to our continuous call for papers page to submit it. Got an idea for a talk but need help bulking it out? Ask for help in the speaking channel on our Slack group or over on The Club . The deadline for talk submissions is 27th March 2021. Review the talks We’re proud to say that all of our TestBash lineups are decided by our wonderful community. Your reviews help us to make sure we’re putting on an event that you want to see. Help us make sure the TestBash Home lineup is one you can’t miss by reviewing some abstracts . You don’t have to review...

Exploratory Testing Week Is Coming

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 12:00:00 -0000

Join us for Exploratory Testing week from the 26th - 30th April. You can expect a week packed with opportunities to learn and hone those thinking skills, with 99-Minute Workshops, Experience Reports based on the challenges, Panel Discussion, Masterclass and an Ask Me Anything. There’ll also be the space and time available to catch up with people, to chat or to just decompress. Are you struggling to come up with new ideas? Not sure how you can reignite your love of testing? Wanting to find new ways of connecting with people and share knowledge? Exploratory Testing week will help address all of these and more. We know you’re joining us from different time zones, so each day we’ll start at a different time, meaning you can find sessions that work for you. Why should you get involved and take on the challenges? You have the chance to stretch your knowledge - flex those critical thinking muscles Gain confidence in your ability to identify areas to test and how to test them Deal with that impostor syndrome, learn from experienced speakers Gain a fresh perspective on your day to day testing - making your life easier, maybe even more exciting! If you decide to submit and give an Experience Report, we’ll pay you for your time. We know the work that goes into prepping and we massively appreciate it. You can find out more about everything that’s involved with these on our main event page. We'll be updated the Exploratory Testing Week events page with more details over the coming weeks - keep your eyes peeled for news! 👀 Do you want to sponsor Exploratory Testing Week or know of a company who might? We have sponsorship packages available for companies who are looking to get brand visibility and exposure of their product. Email us on events@ministryoftesting.com to find out more!

Introducing Pathways of Learning on The Dojo

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Pro Membership just got bigger and better with the addition of a new feature to the Dojo. Pathways of learning. What are "Pathways of learning"? Pathways of learning are collections of courses, curated by the Ministry of Testing and the Testing community, that you can take to learn a new skill or gain new knowledge. For example, our first Pathway, the UI Automation pathway, offers a collection of courses that will help you progress from complete beginner to UI Automation to creating your first Cypress tests, step by step. By offering a clear learning journey, Pathways give you everything you need to achieve your specific learning goals. Why have them? There are over 1000+ courses, talks, webinars, articles, and podcasts currently on our platform. We have a rich source of information and many opportunities to learn. But when we begin to start learning something new, it can’t difficult to know where to start. Our new Pathways, which are initially supporting courses, will soon offer curated collections of talks, articles and activities to help you learn and take away the noise of finding the right content to learn. By engaging in a carefully curated Pathway of learning, you can focus on learning new skills and knowledge. You won’t need to worry about whether you've picked the right material or not. How do I get started? You can find all our current and upcoming Pathways by visiting the Pathways page on the Dojo . Each Pathway has a summary page detailing what it is about, what courses you should take, and what each course covers to help you decide which Pathway is right for you. Once you've decided which Pathway you want to take, click the 'Begin the pathway' to start your learning journey. Or click on the 'Register Interest' button to get notified when the Pathway is live. All Pathways are open to our Pro members, yet another reason to go Pro if you haven’t already . Let us know what you think We're very excited to be offering Pathways as a new feature for our Pro members, and we'd like to know what you think. Currently, this feature is in beta, so if you have any feedback, find any issues or have suggestions of Pathways you would like to see in the future. Then get in touch with us at hello@ministryoftesting.com or use our Bot in the right-hand corner.

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to TestRail!

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to TestRail , you have the chance to win just that! You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes, Themed Weeks well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. TestRail helps QA, engineering and development teams to release higher-quality products in less time. Our platform gives teams an easy and efficient way to manage all of their testing, track testing progress in real time, and test more in less time. More than 10,000 cutting-edge organizations like NASA, Atlassian, Apple, Microsoft, and AutoDesk trust TestRail to power their QA and test management processes. Try for free today → With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. The competition is closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 8th March and emailed directly. Loading…

Introducing Cohorts

Sun, 24 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Introducing Cohorts At Ministry of Testing, we’re always experimenting with ways to deliver training so that you get the best learning experience. That’s why we’re pleased to announce that we are now offering a new cohort driven approach to training. What is a cohort In the context of online learning, a cohort is a group of people who learn together online for a fixed amount of time. During that time, you may do things like: Attend multiple instructor led classes lessons together Complete activities outside of classes together Share questions, feedback and support each others learning This is all done using tools like video conferencing tools for classes and private online forum spaces to share ideas and discuss activities. Cohorts are great because: You’re not just learning from the instructor but from one another as you share experiences and ideas You are learning over a period of time, which gives you the opportunity to reflect on what you’ve learnt and experimented with new ideas You can manage when is the best time for you to learn and when you need to focus on other personal and professional commitments Why cohorts There are a few benefits to running online training compared to the more traditional approach of consecutive days of training. Beat the ‘Zoom fatigue’ With remote working becoming the norm, a common concern we’re all experiencing is the fatigue attending so many video calls. It’s tiring being on video calls for extended amounts of time. We’ve experienced the same ourselves. So with our new approach, we have created shorter sessions with a wider gap between them to not just learn more, but to help keep everyone refreshed and ready to learn when the next session begins. Gives you time to think and practise The great thing about training sessions is that there’s so much to learn. But one of the challenges with training is the balance between learning opportunities and time management, getting it right can be tricky. Yes, we could make the course longer to allow for time, but then we hit the original issue of ‘Zoom fatigue’ and nobody wants to drop learning opportunities because of time. By breaking the training up into smaller sessions with time to carry out assigned activities in between sessions. You, the learner, have the opportunity to work on the assigned activities, experiment more with skills and concepts, reflect on what has been taught and finally ask us questions. All of this will help make what...

Save the Date: UI Automation Week - From the 22nd to the 26th of February 2021

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0000

That’s right! The first Themed Week of 2021 is coming soon and this time it will be all about UI Automation! 📆 So Save the Date on your calendar: from Monday the 22nd to Friday the 26th of February. 🤖 Get involved in a week packed with UI Automation challenges for you to get your hands-on individually or as a team. We’ve got 99-Minute Workshops, Webinars, Experience Reports events and so much more! We will end the week on Friday the 26th with a specially designed challenge and event for teams to come together! 👉 Are you a team lead or manager? Get your team involved and give them a challenge, encourage their learning and boost their education! 👉 Are you an individual and want to take part? Get your friends together and start building up your team to improve your portfolio. 📢 Do you want to sponsor UI Automation Week or know of a company who might? We have sponsorship packages available for companies who are looking to get brand visibility and exposure of their product. Download the Brochure now ! More information coming very soon...

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to Sauce Labs!

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to Sauce Labs , you have the chance to win just that! It's our firstPro membership competition of the year, so make sure you enter! You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, online TestBashes, well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. The competition is now closed . The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 1st February and emailed directly. Sauce Labs is the platform developers trust to help them deliver better software, faster. Our continuous testing cloud accelerates CI/CD without compromising quality, and delivers a 360-degree view of your customers’ application experience, ensuring apps work exactly as they should on every browser, OS, and device. Sign up for a free trial today . Loading…

HolidayBash: The Schedule is Live!

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 -0000

The HolidayBash Schedule and Tracks Are Live! Our first-ever HolidayBash is fast approaching and it’s time to start planning your custom experience around all of the options we have available. We’ve got 7 tracks announced so far covering as many interests from the community as we can over the full 8 hours. We want to make sure that you’re all partying in style! Just look at this packed schedule , there’ll definitely be something for you. If you haven’t grabbed your ticket yet, what are you waiting for? Tickets are £50 per person but if you’ve got a team of 20 or more, you’ll get a bulk discount, email us at holidaybash@ministryoftesting.com - to find out more. Still need some convincing? Then check out the excellent tracks we have planned! Mindfulness Track We have an entire track dedicated to mindfulness activities during the party. The activities will be a mix of facilitated, by Sarah K and Gem, and drop-in where you can drop in at any time and pick up the activity that’s happening with other attendees. Colour in together, journal, share your self-care and holiday mindfulness tips. All super important prep for the season ahead. The Lounge There will be lounge spaces running for the entire party where you can chat with people over your favourite festive beverage. Think of it like the bar or reception area for your in-person holiday party. When you arrive, hang up your coat and have a mingle with everyone who has already joined the party, the Lounge is the perfect place to go for this. Mabl Track Leah and Bertold have a full 8 hours of fun planned for their track. You’ll need to get your game face on to compete against them and the community in games like Fibbage, Drawful and more. Of course, there will be prizes and the all-important bragging rights for the winners. Gaming Track The testing community is filled with gaming enthusiasts! So we decided you needed your own dedicated track 😃 Andrew will be first up hosting “An Odyssey” live stream, you don’t need to let Andrew know in advance that you’re joining. Jump into the session and he’ll share the stream link with you to join in. Next up is Mark with “Among Us”. If you want to grab a spot on this live stream, you’ll need to drop your name on The Club in advance so Mark knows who will be joining in. Creativity Track Creativity takes many forms! Áine will kick things off with a crochet class. You can participate on or off-screen so don’t worry if you’re camera shy. If you’d like...

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to Xray!

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? T hanks to Xray , you have the chance to win just that! It's our last Pro membership competition of the year, so make sure you enter! You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. The competition is now closed . The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 25th November and emailed directly. The Xray Exploratory App (XEA) streamlines the process of exploratory testing by giving you the tools to capture evidence and easily share your insights. XEA eases the process of documentation so you can cover more untested code, discover new testing scenarios, and find hard to catch bugs. Features: Create a test session or “test charter” to track your time Record videos, make screenshots, take notes and do annotations Test web, desktop or even mobile-based applications Use as standalone desktop app or integrate with Xray and Jira Export testing sessions to PDF or directly to your Test Runs in Xray Download for free Loading…

TestBash New Zealand Online 2020 - Ending The TestBash Season With a Spectacular Line-Up!

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 00:00:00 -0000

We’re closing the 2020 TestBash Season with our much loved TestBash New Zealand Online ! After a very difficult year, we’re closing off 2020 with a super line-up that is going to end the 2020 TestBash Season on a high!! Join us on the 20th of November for a full day packed with surprises and this fantastic line-up: I've Made Huge Mistakes in Test Automation, so You Don't Have To with Butch Mayhew What do Leaders Need to Know to Succeed with Agile Testing with Janet Gregory Baking quality into your data pipeline with Ali Khalid Hello, Cypress! with Kateryna Nesmyelova Be Influential. Be Glue! with Helen Liu test.allTheThings('GraphQL') with Manoj Kumar Register Now! TestBash New Zealand Online 2020 is also part of Pro, so get yourself a Pro membership and register to save your spot. End the year on a positive, give yourself something awesome to look forward to. See you online! Membership subscription starts at £24.99 per month (around $48 NZD) or as a one-off month pass for £39.99 (around $75 NZD). You can also save on your membership if you sign up with the yearly subscription for £249.99 per year (around $480 NZD) and get access to even more conferences and learning material. If going Pro is not for you or your company right now, you an also purchase a ticket here . However, the most cost effective way to attend TestBash New Zealand is still to Go Pro. Sponsorship Do you want to sponsor TestBash New Zealand Online 2020? We’ve created a unique set of sponsorship options to help you get more awareness and help our attendees learn and engage in unique opportunities. By sponsoring TestBash New Zealand you will achieve reach and recognition with our entire community, demonstrating your support for the testing community. Helping us, help them. Contact us on newzealand@ministryoftesting.com for more information.

HolidayBash: A New Event Joins the Family

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 00:00:00 -0000

If you're like me, you've sat in lockdown longing for safe social interaction. You've missed your friends from further afield. You've missed those connections and friendships that you make in the hallway tracks at conferences. You attended TestBash Home and had this elated feeling and then there was this void while you waited for the next TestBash to match those feelings. In a meeting with Richard and Diana recently we wondered what could fill the void once TestBash New Zealand finishes. I suggested a big party, almost flippantly. We've never had a holiday party as a team, it’s just not something we ever considered when we could meet in person at TestBashes. I started to talk about something else and Richard shouted: “STOP! That’s brilliant! We have to do that”. We discussed the idea some more and the plan was in motion, so in keeping with a motto I like to use to "Go big or go home", we're going big at home! We're having our first-ever holiday party, HolidayBash , and you're all invited! What's the plan? On 4th December, we'll kick things off at 5 pm UK time and run through to 1 am to give our friends in other timezones a chance to join in. We've designed HolidayBash to be as interactive or passive as you want it to be. If forming a team to take on a challenge sounds like your thing, there will be a place for that. Prefer moving from room to room mingling? Not a problem, you can do that. Of course, if you'd prefer to meditate with others or watch the challenges happen, you can do that too. We're bringing the options and you can customise your experience around them. We're going to run a multi-track party so you can choose the holiday track that interests you the most. There'll be: Cocktail (and mocktail) making Baking competitions Hangout spaces Quizzes and challenges Mindfulness activities And much more. In true Ministry of Testing style, it’s going to be a huge gathering of friends chatting and catching up together. So, will you join us for our first-ever holiday party? Tickets are £50 per person but if you’ve got a team of 20 or more, you’ll get a bulk discount, email us to find out more. Grab your ticket now. Credit Do you have credit with Ministry of Testing and would like to use it to purchase tickets to HolidayBash? Get in touch with us on holidaybash@ministryoftesting.com with your previous booking details. Sponsorship There will be a limited number of sponsor spaces available so if you’re interested in supporting...

Attend All TestBash Online Conferences with Pro Membership

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Attend All TestBash Online Conferences with Pro Membership There has never been a better time to go Pro. Really though! There hasn’t been. While our membership page makes it nice and clear about all the benefits you get from going Pro, how the cost compares to physical TestBashes may not be so clear. TestBash is known for being really affordable, and Pro Membership is no different. Pro membership costs less than a Super Early Bird ticket to TestBash and with our recent announcement that Pro now includes all TestBash Online conferences, you can attend at least four in the coming months. Why Attend TestBash Online? Our TestBash hosts will whisk you away on a magical TestBash journey. Escape with them to a world of community, learning, sharing and fun. They’ve hosted all of our in-person events so they know how to bring the TestBash magic through your screen to give you an enchanted virtual experience. When the hosts aren’t on the stage, there will be plenty of spaces for you to network and share with others. Community is the heart of everything we do so we’re making sure we give the community the experiences you’ve come to know, love and expect from us. We’re going to have speed pair testing with our CommuntiyBoss, themed breakout sessions - think of our Open Space but online, dedicated spaces to learn more about our sponsors and chat to them and, of course, TestBash games with your chance to grab some excellent prizes. Cost of Pro Membership Subscribing to Pro Membership is £249.99* per year or if you or your company would prefer you can go Pro without a subscription for £399.99* per year. Pro offers a lot more than TestBash Online conferences, but if we just focused on TestBash how does the membership cost break down? With four TestBash Online conferences announced already and no doubt there’ll be more in the coming year (there’ll be at least two!), it makes the costs of a single TestBash Online less than £40-£65 depending on your membership choice. Don’t forget, you’ll also unlock a year of 99-Minute workshops , our on-demand courses plus all of our TestBash and Masterclass recordings too. A career accelerating package of content and live learning. What’s even better is that we offer discounts for team accounts, meaning your company can sign you and your team up for even less. Use our team calculator to work out how much your company would need to invest in your team to unlock TestBash Online and all the Pro benefits. We have...

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to Sauce Labs!

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to Sauce Labs , you have the chance to win just that! Yes, that’s right. You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. The award-winning Sauce Labs Continuous Testing Cloud delivers a 360-degree view of a customer’s application experience, ensuring that web and mobile applications look, function, and perform exactly as they should on every browser, OS, and device, every single time. Learn more about Sauce at the upcoming Ministry of Testing Automation Week at the end of October. Also, sign up for a free trial of our Continuous Testing Cloud before October 2 and you’ll get access to the Selenium Guidebook - Complete Edition, a 92-page guide chock-full of helpful advice, video walkthroughs, code examples, cheat sheets and more! Competition is now closed . The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 2nd October and emailed directly. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners later in the year as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site Loading…

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to BrowserStack!

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to BrowserStack , you have the chance to win just that! Yes, that’s right. You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. BrowserStack is the world's largest software testing platform powering over two million tests every day across 15 global data centers. We help Microsoft, Twitter, Barclays, Expedia and over 25,000 customers deliver quality software at speed by moving testing to our Cloud. Our platform provides instant access to 2,000+ real mobile devices and browsers on a highly reliable cloud infrastructure that effortlessly scales as testing needs grow. With BrowserStack, Dev and QA teams can move fast while delivering an amazing experience for every customer. Browserstack is giving a special pack to MoT community to test their websites for free on 2000+ free devices for a month. Competition has now closed . The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 25th September and emailed directly. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners later in the year as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site Loading…

Maximise Your Potential With MoT’s Community Coaching

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Get One-To-One Support From Experienced Software Testers and Coaches Here at MoT, we are continually looking for new ways to support the software testing community by collaborating with our members. We believe we’ve come up with a great new initiative and offering; please welcome Community Coaching! With Community Coaching, you have the opportunity to work with accomplished software testers with plenty of coaching experience who can help you realise your personal and professional potential. How Working With a Coach Can Help Whether you are looking for a clearer direction in your career, suffering from imposter syndrome or trying to overcome a technical challenge on a project, working with a coach could empower you to change your mindset and find solution-based approaches to overcome your challenges. What’s more, working with a coach can be done at any point during your professional path. It can be useful anytime from getting your foot in the door at the beginning of your career to guiding you towards establishing your own authentic leadership style in a leadership role. The potential benefits are endless but we’ve come up with a few ways a coach can help you based upon your current career level: Getting Started in Your Career When starting out your career or making a career transition in a new field, working with a coach can help you to: Assess your skill set and identify the critical skills you need to acquire for your dream job. Set SMART goals and build a roadmap to your destination. Accelerate your job search by building a powerful CV and targeting the right roles. Prepare for interviews and learn to highlight the value in your prior experience. Unravel your emotions to better understand how they may be holding you back in starting your career. Mid-Level Role: If you’re feeling stuck or struggling with the new responsibilities and expectations of working in a mid-level role, a coach can support you to: Find a clear direction for your career trajectory that will make you happy. Identify personal and professional issues that may be affecting you at work. Learn different approaches and methodologies to overcome technical and team challenges. Improve relationships and communicate more easily with your team. Become more self-aware and open to learning for your own professional development. Leadership Role: It can be lonely at the top and having the one-to-one support of a coach can help you: Recognise your personal...

TestBash Netherlands Online is Now Part of Pro

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0000

The news for Pro members and TestBash keeps getting better and better. We are delighted to tell you that TestBash Netherlands Online is now also part of Pro. Yet another fantastic benefit to being a Pro Member, your TestBash Netherlands Online 2020 ticket is just a click away. Simply log into MoT, go to the TestBash Netherlands page and click Register. If you’re not already a Pro Member, now is the time to upgrade. Make sure you don’t miss out on this great lineup: Embracing Leadership: My Journey to Stop Fearing and Start Leading with Pedro Gonzalez Resilience Testing! Why Should You? with Geoffrey van der Tas Tester's Guide to Managing Biases with Lina Zubyte Unmasking Security: Seeing Through the Eyes of an Attacker with Saskia Coplans The Power of Mocking APIs with Shivani Gaba Learning through Exploration with Alexandra Schladebeck & Zeb Ford-Reitz Voice Is a New Frontier! - Testing next Generation Interfaces with Lucian Adrian Stroie Gold Is in Your Trash Can - How to Maximize Feedback’s Value from Testing with Alexandre Bauduin Test Automation as a Service Team with Jarsto van Santen and Jurian Jildera A Lean Approach to Sharing the Testing with Ali Hill FAQs Not a Pro Member? Sign Up now from £24.99 a month or save up to 2 months with the yearly subscription for £249.99 and register for TestBash Netherlands Online 2020. Check all the great benefits in going Pro here . Are the training and workshops also included in the Pro Memberships? No, you will need to purchase tickets to attend these. Just follow the links below to get your tickets for: Automation in Testing - 3-Day Online Training with Mark Wintringham and Richard Bradshaw (12th to the 14th of October 2020) Workshops - 5 Full-Day Online Workshops on the 15h of October 2020 What About My TestBash Netherlands Tickets? Whether you have purchased tickets or used some of your credit we will give you either 6 months or 6 months extension on your Pro Membership, so you still get to attend TestBash Netherlands and take advantage of all of our new Pro offerings, such as the brand-new 99-Minute Workshops , other online TestBash events and so much more! This will be done automatically unless we’re not aware of your MoT account if so, we’ll contact you. You will still need to register for TestBash Netherlands. To do so, log into the MoT website with your MoT account, head over to the event page and click ‘Register’.

Testbash Manchester 2020: The Online Reboot With New Star-Studded Cast

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0000

We have a new outstanding TestBash Manchester line up for you. In typical MoT fashion, we’re also bringing you some extras! You will have the opportunity to see one talk a day in the week leading up to the main TestBash event. That’s a full week of talks and activities from the 28th September until the 2nd October. All designed to give you an incredible educational and fun TestBash week! " What a fantastic cast! " ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ " Can't wait to see them in action! " ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ What Talks Can I See During the Week? We’re kicking off the week with an accessibility awareness day. On Monday, Ady Stokes will give a talk on mobile accessibility testing with interactive activities to help you get hands-on with accessibility testing. On Tuesday, Louise Gibbs leads our automation themed day with her talk ‘Don’t Run Before You Can Walk’, an insight into the skills you need before you start on your automation journey. Perfect for those new to the industry, as well as a refresher for those further along their journey. On Wednesday, we’ll explore testing roles with Jitesh Gosai in his talk ‘What is a Principal Tester?’ Discover why you need Principal Testers in your organisation, you may even end up considering becoming one. On Thursday it’s time for the pre-TestBash meetup, free for everyone to attend. Hannah Beech shares her journey to becoming a DevOps tester by playing board games. Stay tuned to hear about some other mysterious meetup features! Friday is our main event! The conference day itself will have 6 talks, a panel discussion and, of course, some extra surprises. Our TestBash Manchester host Leigh Rathbone is making a return to bring you the most authentic Mancunian TestBash experience possible. For more details on the full line up and schedule, head over to the event page .

Introducing 99-Minute Workshops

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Ministry of Testing is launching 99-Minute Workshops - a new type of online workshop that allows you to quickly boost your software testing know-how and skillset. What Are the Benefits? You might be asking yourself, what’s so great about these workshops that are 99-minutes? Well, there the benefits are bountiful, including: Instructor-led - each of our workshops are run by testers who know their onions! You’ll be expertly led through various testing topics, tools and approaches packed with demonstrations, experiences, examples and activities to complete. Short - they’ll be 99 minutes… ish! Certainly, under two hours (well, we have to keep it on brand don’t we? 😉) This allows you to gain new knowledge and skills quickly, there will be no bumf or rambling in these workshops. Targeted - Short doesn’t mean shallow, oh no, these workshops will be highly targeted giving you an in-depth look at specific testing topics aimed at certain skill levels. You can expect workshops on both technical and theory-based topics as well as workshops aimed at beginners and more advanced learners. Outcomes-based - All our instructors have been coached on how to develop learning outcomes and how to help learners achieve them. They’re really useful for you too as you’ll be able to quickly tell if a workshop is for you just by looking at the outcomes and whether they’re things you want to learn. Learn live with others - each workshop will be run live and online with up to 100 other fellow testers from around the world. You’ll be able to network and learn with other professionals to understand different perspectives that’ll help you broaden your own understanding of testing topics. Convenient - These workshops will run several times a week with each workshop running four times a year in three different timezones. This means you’re bound to find an instance of a workshop you’re interested in that runs at a time that suits you. Part of Pro - Already a Professional member of Ministry of Testing? Hooray for you! You get to attend these workshops as part of your pro package at no extra cost. If you’re not a pro member yet, we’ve made it even easier to upgrade by adding new monthly subscriptions, why not sign up now ? What’s Coming Up? We're running several 99 Minute Workshops a week, check out our events page to see more upcoming 99-Minute Workshops. Who Can Attend? Anyone who is a Professional Member of Ministry of Testing . We’ve been working hard...

TestBash New Zealand Online 2020 - All You Need Is An Internet Connection

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Did you know that software companies often release new versions of their products to New Zealand users first? Companies like Facebook and Twitter often test out new features on the NZ audience due to having a similar demographic to larger user bases such as the UK and US. But not Ministry of Testing, we love New Zealand far too much to do that, we’ll have four releases under our belt before we bring our latest release to New Zealand! That release is TestBash New Zealand Online 2020. We are bringing TestBash to New Zealand again this year, but this time via the powers of the internets. This online conference won’t be back to back talks, instead, we hope to show off the vibrant New Zealand testing community, and the country's beauty to the rest of the world! Call for Papers With TestBash New Zealand now coming to you online and on a new date, we felt it was only fair to restart our Continuous Call For Papers (CCFP) for this event. This restart means that all previously submitted abstracts are now void and everyone has to submit again. We’ve done this to give everyone the same amount of time to submit and for each proposal to be reviewed. The great advantage of talking at TestBash New Zealand is that you don’t need to travel. So you can now speak at TestBash New Zealand Online 2020 from any part of the World! We are looking for 30-minute talks with an additional 10 minutes for Q&A at the end and we are offering $1,000 (NZD) to all successful submissions. Check the CCFP link for more information and submit your abstract before the 12th of July 2020. Tickets The tickets for TestBash New Zealand Online 2020 are now available at $199 (NZD) each. That’s a single ticket price for a full day packed with Talks, Activities, Community Space, our world-famous 99-Second Talks and many more surprises. Secure yours now by heading over to our Ticket Page and book yours now! (If you’re purchasing your tickets outside the UK, international bank transaction fees might apply). Sponsorship Do you want to sponsor TestBash New Zealand Online 2020? For over a decade, Ministry of Testing has built up a global software testing community of tens of thousands of testers strong. TestBash New Zealand is where our community comes to meet, learn and engage in real conversations. By sponsoring TestBash New Zealand Online 2020 you will achieve reach and recognition with our entire community, demonstrating your support for the testing community. Helping us,...

Test.bash(); Compilation Error. Test.bash(‘Online’); Build Successful

Fri, 29 May 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Refactoring is crucial to the health of a code base, but it's also true for the health of a conference. We’ve just completed a major refactor to our code base and Test.bash(); no longer compiles, but Test.bash(‘Online’); presents us with a wall of green. This new release sees the Test.bash(); package renamed Test.bash(‘Online’); after we successfully completed our cloud migration project. Test.bash(‘Online’); is our software testing conference focused on available tools, automation and technical testing and will be streaming direct to you on the 29th of October 2020 from 9 am to 6 pm (UK Time). Contributors Needed With Test.bash(); now being online and the date changing, we felt it was only fair to restart our Continuous Call For Papers (CCFP) for this event. This restart means that all previously submitted abstracts are now void, everyone has to submit again. We’ve done this to give everyone the same amount of time to submit and for each proposal to be reviewed. The great advantage of talking at an online event is that you don’t need travel. So you can now speak at Test.bash(); from anywhere in the world. We are looking for 30-minute talks with an additional 10 minutes for Q&A at the end and we are offering £500 to all successful submissions. Check the CCFP link for more information and submit your abstract before the 21st of June 2020. Tickets The tickets for Test.bash(); Online 2020 are now available at £99 each. That’s a single ticket price for a full day packed with Talks, Activities, Community Space, our world-famous 99-Second Talks and many more surprises. Secure yours now by heading over to our Ticket Page and book yours now! Sponsorship Do you want to sponsor Test.bash(); Online 2020? For over a decade, Ministry of Testing has built up a global software testing community of tens of thousands of testers strong. Test.bash(); is where our community comes to meet, learn and engage in real conversations. By sponsoring Test.bash(); Online 2020 you will achieve reach and recognition with our entire community, demonstrating your support for the testing community. Helping us, help them. Contact us on testbash@ministryoftesting.com for more information. Credit Do you have credit with Ministry of Testing and would like to use it to purchase tickets to Test.bash();? Get in touch with us on testbash@ministryoftesting.com with your previous booking details.

TestBash Manchester Live To Your Street

Fri, 29 May 2020 00:00:00 -0000

We’re very excited to announce that TestBash Manchester will be back this year in a new online format, streaming live to your street. We’ve cancelled all our physical events for 2020, but that doesn’t mean TestBash stops! Join us from 9-8pm (UK time) on the 2nd of October as we bring you the most Mancunian TestBash experience. If you want to read more about our decisions surrounding this year, our BossBoss Richard Bradshaw explains them all in a recent post . ‘Mad fer it’? Guarantee your place now at TestBash Manchester Online 2020 for £99 per person. Call for Papers The Call for Papers for TestBash Manchester Online 2020 is now closed. Which means you can now help us choose a smashing line-up by reviewing the submitted abstracts until the 28th of June 2020 . If you missed the chance to submit your talk for TestBash Manchester Online 2020, don't worry! We have more upcoming online events this year. Head over to our Continuous Call For Papers (CCFP) to submit your abstract now. The great advantage of talking at an online event is that you don’t need travel. So you can now speak at any TestBash from anywhere in the World! Tickets Tickets for TestBash Manchester Online 2020 are now available at £99 each. That’s a single ticket price for a full day packed with Talks, Testing Activities, Community Space, our world-famous 99-Second Talks and many more surprises. Has all of this got you buzzin to buy a ticket? Head over to our Ticket Page and book yours now! Training Start the week by boosting your automation skills, from Monday the 28th of September, with the 3-Day Automation in Testing training with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham. Tickets are very limited and in high demand, so get yours now and guarantee the best price! Sponsorship Do you want to sponsor TestBash Manchester Online 2020? For over a decade, Ministry of Testing has built up a global software testing community of tens of thousands of testers strong. TestBash, our global software testing conference, is where our community comes to meet, learn and engage in real conversations. By sponsoring TestBash Manchester Online 2020 you will achieve reach and recognition with our entire community, demonstrating your support for the testing community. Helping us, help them. Contact us on manchester@ministryoftesting.com for more information. Credit Do you have credit with Ministry of Testing and would like to use it to purchase tickets to...

Bringing You TestBash Netherlands Online

Fri, 15 May 2020 00:00:00 -0000

We’re delighted to announce that this year, TestBash Netherlands will come to you online on the 15th and 16th of October 2020 from 9 am until 8 pm, Netherlands timezone (CET or UTC+1). We made this decision to ensure the safety of our community, speakers and staff. We also want to make our events as useful and interactive as possible. So moving online was the best option! If you want to read more about our decisions, our BossBoss Richard Bradshaw explains all in a recent post . Following the success of TestBash Home, we’re developing new ideas, together with Huib Schoots , to make TestBash Netherlands a truly unique experience. Line-up Thanks to our fantastic speakers, we can now confirm that the conference day line-up will be the same - check out the full list of talks . There are only two changes to the workshops and training: The workshop Performance Test to Resilience Test, Let’s Create Chaos! with Mark and Geoffrey is no longer happening. The 3-days training Professional Agile Testing - Successful Testing in an Agile Context! with Klaartje and Ya’ara is no longer happening. Tickets We’re opening the week with the very popular 3-day training course: Automation in Testing with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham . Ticket prices for the Automation in Testing 3-day training course starts at a Super Early Bird rate of €1000. Places are limited so get that request into your boss as soon as you can. We follow that with 5 world-class full-day workshops in a diverse mix of topics - will one of them fit your appetite for learning? Tickets are limited to 25 attendees workshop, so get yours now so you don't miss out! Workshop ticket prices start at €400 for the Super Early Birds amongst you. Get in quick as some Early Bird Tickets are already sold out! We conclude the week with our beloved single track conference day , TestBash, where we’ll have 10 talks and our Community Space for added learning opportunities in the breaks. All of this for a single ticket price of €99 per person! If you haven’t got your ticket yet, go to our Ticket Page and guarantee your spot now! Already have TestBash Netherlands 2020 tickets? You should have received by now an email with all your options and information about your booking. If you haven’t received it, check your spam folder and if you can’t find it anywhere, contact us on netherlands@ministryoftesting.com before the 31st of May 2020. Sponsorship Do you...

An Update on TestBash and MoT

Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 -0000

I’ve written previously about how hard the MoT team and I have found it to announce the cancellation of TestBash Brighton and TestBash Detroit. Then followed the postponement of TestBash Netherlands. Well today, I’m writing to inform you that there won’t be another physical TestBash in 2020. I’m going to share with you how we arrived at this decision, and what it means for the future of TestBash and Ministry of Testing (MoT). We are living through a truly horrific global pandemic that is impacting every person and business. The impact on MoT is severe. About 70% of our revenue comes from TestBash and we’ve lost this forecasted revenue for 2020. Which for a small independent bootstrapped business is a significant problem. I had held onto a few threads of hope that physical events could resume later this year, but as each week has passed, those threads have become more frayed. But it isn’t just the threads that have become frayed, so have the team and I. I reckon I’ve created more models and ran more permutations in the last few months than I have in my entire life. But each run created more unknowns. Now as testers, we’d seek answers to those unknowns, but there aren't any answers, because this is uncharted territory. Normal has gone, there is only new. These unknowns lead to a lack of control, and it's that lack of control that is breaking me, and in turn, holding MoT back. Instead, I’ve stopped asking questions, and accepted these truths: It’s currently not safe to run a physical TestBash conference in 2020. We don’t know when it will be safe. When it is safe, conferences will be different. It’s wrong to give speakers, attendees and sponsors the hope of participating in a physical TestBash, to then potentially take it away from them. I’m putting MoT at financial risk hoping physical events can happen. So with the acceptance of these truths, the threads of hope are broken, and MoT can focus on the next chapter of its journey. I find it unpleasant and uncomfortable to not have a physical TestBash to look forward to, but physical conferences will return when the time is right. And when that time comes we’ll be ready with the best TestBash yet. I feel a huge sense of relief to accept these truths. I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I have more control over our offerings. I also have a much clearer picture of our finances and where we need to be. Which leads me nicely to that 70% revenue deficit. How do we fill that? Online TestBash Software Testing...

Could you be our new EditorBoss?

Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Over the past few years, the articles that you read on the Ministry of Testing have been wonderfully edited and cared for by our current super talented EditorBoss Melissa Eaden. She’s done an amazing job balancing her own work-life with the EditorBoss role to help our authors create insightful and valuable articles. Not only is Mel an excellent editor but she’s also a first-class tester, speaker and instructor. It’s because of her success as a tester that she has had to step away from the EditorBoss role to focus on her testing work. We're very sorry to see Melissa go and wish her all the best luck in the world! However, this now means we're on the lookout for a new EditorBoss! Could this be you? What does the EditorBoss role entail? In a nutshell, the EditorBoss helps support our testing community to create and share the amazing stories and learning experiences they have with everyone. This includes: Reviewing new article submissions to determine which we will publish and give feedback to the others to help them submit again in the future Supporting authors in crafting their work, suggesting resources and encouraging authors to dig deeper Editing articles for grammar and spelling Supporting and celebrating the work of our authors to help them grow as writers You will be paid for your work on an article by article basis, which means the workload can fluctuate depending on what articles have been submitted. However, as Ministry of Testing grows, we’re seeing an increase in article submissions with an average of four articles released per month, so we’re confident there will be lots to do in the future! What are we looking for in an EditorBoss? We’re looking for someone that can cross the divide between editing and testing. Our ideal person is: Someone who has a strong knowledge of the craft of testing to help them understand what our authors are writing about, and suggest ways to improve their articles Someone who is confident with the English language and can provide suggestions and edits around grammar, spelling and structure. Get in touch if you want to be our EditorBoss! If this sounds like something you might be interested in, then please get in touch with Mark our DojoBoss at mark@ministryoftesting.com for a chat.

Win MoT Pro Membership thanks to PractiTest!

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want MoT Pro membership for the year? Thanks to PractiTest , you have the chance to win just that! Yes, that’s right. You could have access to all our learning content including our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, well everything! Plus, exclusive discounts to our software testing training and events. With MoT Pro membership you have the opportunity to upskill and build upon your software testing knowledge by engaging with our community-driven learning opportunities; connect, learn, discuss and share ideas with thousands of fellow software testing professionals. PractiTest is an end-to-end test management solution to organize, run and visualize all your QA efforts Incorporate all testing types: manual, exploratory and automation for any testing methodology. And connect all aspects of your testing with built-in integrations for a unified process and improved team communication. Extract and view valuable insights from your real-time test results using advanced customizable reports and dashboards in order to make smarter decisions and release better software, faster. To be in with a chance to win MoT Pro membership for the year fill in the form below before 5pm GMT on Friday 1st May - The competition is now closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 8th May and emailed directly. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners later in the year as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site. Loading…

Bring Your Team Together With TestBash Home

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0000

It’s an interesting time for the majority of the world right now… how are you and your team coping? Are they missing that daily interaction, the brainstormings, the mutual help, or do they miss asking those burning questions across the office that can’t wait? Do they need something exciting to look forward to, an opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge? Our brand new online event TestBash Home will provide that opportunity and more! Our brand new TestBash will give them the opportunity to connect with fellow testers. Connecting testers for a full 24-hours of talks, panels, activities, they’ll be exploring all the important topics and getting answers to those burning questions. Maybe even discovering new ways to work together as a team. Here are some of the examples of what to expect: Having trouble convincing your team to try Risk-Based Testing? Nishi Grover Garg will tell us how. Learn and practise lots of exploratory testing techniques in “A Bug Hunt Live” with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham. Prevent team burnout by recognising the signs and learn how to create a better balance in an agile team with Maryam Umar’s talk. Got a question about coaching, management and leadership? Ask the experts in our Panel Discussions. This is just sneak-peek, check out the full 24 hours schedule now available! What benefits will you and your team get? Give your employees a great testing experience that they’ll remember - this is the first #TestBash Home after all! You’re providing an opportunity for them to learn something new, share the quality culture and gain a joint understanding as a team. Just think of the changes they’ll be able to implement together. It’s a fantastic opportunity to bring your employees closer together while also integrating with the global Ministry of Testing Community. Stay connected and share ideas with the famous 99-Second Talks, Ask Me Anything, blogs and chats. The team can hold discussions and retrospectives remotely. Your team will have access to all the recordings post-event. They’ll get to recap on what they’ve seen, catch up on anything they missed, have meetings to discuss what they want to implement, adjust and change how they work and report back to you on their learnings. Tickets for TestBash Home are £49 per person. If you have a large team and would be looking to bulk buy a large number of tickets, get in touch with us on testbash@ministryoftesting.com . So what are you waiting...

TestBash X is Moving to October 2020 and is going to be SPOOK-TACULAR

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0000

In line with the current situation we’re living in and the COVID-19 spread projections made in the UK, we’ve had to take another very difficult but needed decision, to postpone our brand new TestBash X. And the good news is that TestBash X will now take place on the 30th of October 2020 - yes, on Halloween! Why? The safety of our staff and community is very important to us and we believe that even if our current situation improves in June, it will still pose a great risk for us all. We’ve already had to cancel three TestBashes and postpone another, so we’re very happy to be able to postpone our very first TestBash X instead of cancelling it. Next Steps If you were registered to attend TestBash X, you should have received an email from the MoT team containing all you need to know. However, for your convenience, we’ve included it all below. Questions You Might Have What do I need to do with my ticket to gain entry to the new date? Your ticket will be valid for the new date. You don’t need to do anything to transfer it, we’ll do this for you. I can’t attend the new date, what can I do? You can transfer your ticket to a colleague who would be able to attend on the new date free of charge. Alternatively, you can request a refund. A 15% admin fee applies to all refunds processed until 30th April 2020, after this time we will not be processing refunds on existing orders. If you are a Pro-Member and booked a ticket, we kindly ask you to let us know if you can’t attend so we can make sure the numbers are correct for the event. I’ve already booked travel/hotel. What can I do? Please check your terms with your travel provider and hotel, many are giving extra courtesy at this difficult time and waiving any rebooking fees. Will the conference be in the same location? Yes, we have managed to secure the same venue. What happens to the program? The schedule timings will remain the same. Keep an eye on The Club for any changes to the order of speakers or in the event that a speaker is no longer able to attend the new date.

TestBash Home: Bringing TestBash To You!

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Introducing TestBash Home , our first online software testing conference. The inaugural TestBash Home will debut on the 30th of April 2020 and run for a full 24 hours into the 1st of May 2020. Yep, you read that right, a full 24 hours, we’ll be travelling all timezones so that everyone in our truly global testing community can get involved. These hours are going to be packed full of interactive sessions including talks, panels, challenges, plus we’ll relive and reflect on some classic TestBash talks. Why We’re Taking TestBash Online As you’re aware, the coronavirus epidemic has impacted all aspects of our lives and put ⅓ of the global population on lockdown. While lockdown and other social distancing measures are tough on all of us, it’s the right thing to flatten the COVID-19 curve and save lives. However, this crisis has left many of us feeling isolated and missing human connections and resulted in many businesses facing financial difficulties. This includes us here at MoT, after deciding to cancel or postpone our upcoming events for the next 6 months, we’ve been wondering what the future will look like and how best we can connect the community. The answer is obvious and that is to move TestBash online. We’ve had this idea for years but there is nothing like the current situation to make that happen right now. And, in true MoT style, we have gone big on being experimental and creative. As always, we have collaborated with members of the testing community and have designed something that we believe will bring value and togetherness to everyone. That something is TestBash Home. A few words from MoT BossBoss I want to thank you all for showing me, and Team MoT, how strong and supportive our community is when I had to share the difficult news about canceling upcoming TestBash events. During these unsettling times, I feel togetherness is key. Community is at the heart of everything we do and, in turn, we have been a strong pillar for the testing community. To get through these tough times together, we are determined to bring positivity and opportunity to our community around the world. Over the years we have invested a lot in our tech with a view to moving more of what we do online. Everything we have built has brought us to now. I believe TestBash Home will provide us with the chance to connect, to support each other and continue to improve the software testing craft. ~ Richard Bradshaw BossBoss What’s the Plan? TestBash Home will...

TestBash Netherlands 2020 is Postponed to October 2020

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Our events team have been knocked down but they have got right back up again! We have been working hard to make sure we don’t have to cancel another event. The good news is, the TestBash Netherlands team have managed to secure the same venues for a later date in 2020. Why? There are differing views of the dangers of COVID-19 but the impact it’s having cannot be ignored. We’ve had to cancel two TestBashes already last week and we didn’t want TestBash Netherlands to follow in their footsteps. We’ve been speaking to the venues over the past few days to explore the possibility of postponing the conference to a later date when we’re more confident that the virus peak will be over. The good news is that we have managed to secure both venues in Utrecht for 12th-16th October 2020. The training will take place from 12th-14th October, the workshops will take place on 15th October 2020 and TestBash will take place on 16th October 2020. Next Steps If you were registered to attend TestBash Netherlands or any of the training planned before the conference, you should have received an email from the Netherlands team containing all you need to know. However, for your convenience, we’ve included it all below. Questions You Might Have What do I need to do with my ticket to gain entry to the new dates? Any tickets you had booked will be valid for the new dates. You don’t need to do anything to transfer them, we’ll do this for you. I can’t attend the new dates, what can I do? You can transfer your ticket to a colleague who would be able to attend on the new dates free of charge. Alternatively, you can request a refund. A 15% admin fee applies to all refunds processed until 14th April 2020 , after this time we will not be processing refunds on existing orders. I’ve already booked travel/hotel. What can I do? Please check your terms with your travel provider and hotel, many are giving extra courtesy at this difficult time and waiving any rebooking fees. Will the conference/training be in the same location? Yes, we have managed to secure the same venues for the training, workshops and conference. What happens to the program? The schedule timings will remain the same. Keep an eye on The Club for any changes to the order of speakers or in the event that a speaker is no longer to attend the new dates. Why cancel Brighton and Detroit but postpone the Netherlands? Postponement to a time outside of the virus peak was not possible for Detroit and Brighton. We’ve been...

TestBash Brighton 2020 is Cancelled

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

The week of hard knocks for our events team continues. TestBash Brighton 2020 is cancelled and will not be happening in March. This is disappointing news for everyone, we’ve been looking forward to delivering a great TestBash experience, and we’re sure you were looking forward to attending. Why? As I’m sure you are aware, the world is facing a tough challenge right now. And while there are differing views of the dangers of COVID-19, the impact it’s having cannot be ignored. We are seeing speaker cancellations, attendee cancellations, forced cancellations due to travel bans, flight cancellations, the fear of forced or self-isolation, impact on sales, increased costs and a whole lot more. We faced our first ever event cancellation this week with TestBash Detroit. Still feeling the pain from that wave, we woke to an inbox full of speaker and attendee cancellations. On top of this, the UK government announced that we were entering the delay phase of their plan which included more encouragement to isolate based on mild symptoms. We held out hope that it wouldn’t come to this, but it became clearer and clearer each day that it would be irresponsible to run a TestBash during this pandemic, therefore cancellation is the correct approach. It hurts to cancel a TestBash, let alone two in a week. However, with cancellation comes a sense of relief. The pressure on team MoT has been compounded each day, as it has with attendees, so this decision hopefully relieves some of that pressure, knowing that you will still get that TestBash experience sometime in the future. Next Steps If you were registered to attend TestBash Brighton or any of the training planned before the conference, you should have received an email from the Brighton team containing all you need to know. However, for your convenience, we’ve included it all below. For Ministry of Testing, we are going to take some time to recover and allow the team some time to recover from what has been a very difficult three weeks. We request you only contact team MoT if it’s imperative to do so. We hope the questions below answer all your concerns. Questions you might have What do I need to do to get my new ticket? We will keep a record of all orders for Brighton. You’ll need your Brighton ticket reference which has been emailed to you. Once you’ve picked the event you’d like to transfer to, simply email us with your Brighton ticket reference and details of which TestBash you'd like it transferred to. ...

TestBash Detroit 2020 Cancelled

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

It’s been an incredibly tough week for our events team. The toughest week I daresay we’ve ever encountered in all of our years organising events. With a tough week came decisions that no team ever wants to make. The result of this is that we have taken the decision to cancel TestBash Detroit 2020. This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We’ve been monitoring the global situation for all of our TestBash locations closely every day and updating our risk assessments to ensure that to proceed would be safe for everyone involved. As we released on Monday , we are still confident that our risk assessment for all of our events is an effective course of action. Why Cancel Detroit? As I’m sure you are aware, the world is facing a tough challenge right now. And while there are differing views of the dangers of COVID-19, the impact it’s having cannot be ignored. We are seeing speaker cancellations, attendee cancellations, forced cancellations due to travel bans, flight cancellations, the fear of forced or self-isolation, impact on sales, increased costs and a whole lot more. We’ve seen 30% of our speakers cancel, and 30% of the attendance cancel in the recent days, and I’ve no doubt more would have followed. When you combine those with all factors above, TestBash Detroit has become untenable, and the only sensible thing to do, as much as it hurts us, is to cancel the event. Speaker or Attendees If you are reading this and were scheduled to talk or attend TestBash Detroit, please check the email used to purchase your tickets for actions you need to take. What about your other events? As things stand right now, Brighton and the Netherlands are both going ahead. As per our COVID-19 update , we will continue to assess these locations.

TestBash and COVID-19

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Yes, all of our TestBashes are going ahead as planned. A question the events team have, understandably, received a lot over the past few weeks is “Will TestBash go ahead in light of COVID-19?” In light of the number of queries we’ve been fielding and to help our attendees understand the steps we’re taking, we’ve put together an outline of the questions we’ve frequently been asked along with our plans to keep attendees safe. Is TestBash going ahead? Some of our TestBashes have been cancelled - TestBash Detroit and TestBash Brighton . We are closely following all updates from WHO and the governments in the countries our events are taking place in. At the moment, we believe that running these events will pose a very low risk for our attendees. If anything changes for any of our events, we will send out a communication to all attendees. What steps are you taking to ensure safety at the event? We have done and continue to update our risk assessments for each of our events. Should our risk assessment reveal elevated risk, our speakers and attendees will be the first to know. We have large tubs of hand sanitizer available at our events in addition to handwashing facilities available in all venues. We will be working with the venue staff to clean down all high contact surfaces with alcohol wipes on a regular basis. If you do have symptoms of COVID-19 please DO NOT attend the event. Email us and we will work with you to find a resolution, see “I’ve bought a ticket but now can’t attend, what next?” We will be using digital thermometers at registration to check for attendees running a fever as an added precaution. In the case where an attendee does present with a fever and cough, they will be asked to wear an N95 mask immediately which we will provide for the safety of our staff. We have been in contact with people who we know would have been travelling from Category 1 or Category 2 risk areas. If you have travelled through any of these areas recently and it has not been made aware to us, please let us know as soon as possible. Food at the event will be plated for attendees by our gloved catering staff to increase hygiene and reduce queuing times which will help us to ensure your safety. There will be ample amounts of tissues available for attendees, we encourage you to use these where necessary and bin them after use in line with WHO recommendations . We will have WHO guidance posters printed and displayed throughout our venues to remind...

Win a Ticket to TestBash Detroit Courtesy of BrowserStack

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Would you like to win a ticket to TestBash Detroit ? You can and it’ll only take 99 seconds of your time! We love giving back to the community and we’re lucky that for all of 2020, BrowserStack has partnered with us to do just that. For every TestBash in 2020, BrowserStack is sponsoring one person to attend and, for TestBash Detroit, this could be you! We have one ticket to give away for TestBash on Friday, 24th April, PLUS two nights accommodation! We want people to enjoy the full TestBash experience which includes attending meetups and networking with all of the wonderful people who will be attending TestBash. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win is record a 99-Second video telling us why you should get to attend TestBash and share a link to it in the form below before Friday, 20th March . The winner will be chosen by the TestBash Detroit team by 30th March. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners TestBash Detroit trip as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site.

Win a Ticket to TestBash Detroit Thanks to TestRail

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want to win a ticket to TestBash Detroit ? Of course, you do! And thanks to the team at TestRail, you can. Our vision has always been to help the community however we can. We’re excited to be partnering with TestRail throughout 2020 to do just that. So, what does this mean for you? For TestBash Detroit, TestRail has sponsored one person to the conference day. Do you want to be that person? We have one ticket to give away for TestBash on Friday, 24th April, PLUS two nights accommodation! We want people to enjoy the full TestBash experience which includes attending meetups and networking with all of the wonderful people who will be attending TestBash. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win is fill in the form below before Friday, 20th March . You can even nominate someone else who you think would get a boost both personally and professionally. The winner will be chosen by the TestBash Detroit team by 30th March. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners TestBash Detroit trip as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site.

Win a Pro Membership Courtesy of Wonderproxy

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want a Pro membership for the year? Well, because of Wonderproxy , you have the chance to win one! Yes, that’s right. You could have access to all of our Masterclasses, Courses, TestBash talks, well everything! Take the uncertainty out of localization testing with a vast global network of proxy servers and scalable testing tools. Verify your customers see the right promotions, confirm international currencies and languages, or just make sure everything loads correctly. Find out more about Wonderproxy . To be in with a chance to win a Pro membership fill in the form below before 5pm GMT on Friday 13th March - Competition has now closed. The winner will be chosen by the Marketing team by 20th March and emailed directly. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners later in the year as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site.

TestBashX Edinburgh - A New Type of TestBash Joins the Family

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0000

A new TestBash software testing conference experience is being launched in Scotland; let us introduce you to TestBashX ! TestBashX is an authentic, hands-on, active learning experience that will take place on 26th June at the Central Hall in Edinburgh. As always, Ministry of Testing is closely collaborating with local testers and this time all-round awesome community member Craig Wylie is working with us to bring this innovative event to you. A quote from Craig: I’ve always believed that great teams can solve impossible challenges, but didn’t realise there are communities out there like the Ministry of Testing that are pushing the boundaries of testing every day. I wanted part of this for myself and Edinburgh, I started the local meetup and its gone from strength to strength with the support of a great team and community. With the MoT Glasgow and Newcastle meetups as established as Edinburgh it felt like a great time to create a unique event for Scotland. I am proud to be partnering with such a great teaching community as Ministry of Testing, the experience and wealth of knowledge they bring to this type of event makes them an obvious choice to do this with. After all, they inspired me in the first place. What's With the X? The X stands for experience, which we know starts with an “E” but “X” sounded way cooler! TestBashX is designed to be an active learning experience that’s all about getting hands-on and doing some testing! The day will consist of an opening and closing talk, but sandwiched in between is a learning circus. A learning circus is an active, cooperative learning approach that involves groups of people moving around a space, visiting several learning stations and completing authentic collaborative tasks. Put simply, it’s loads of mini-workshops that you will complete with fellow testers. The TestBashX Circus will be made up of several learning stations with carefully crafted testing challenges for you to complete in small groups. Each station will be run by a software testing expert and will focus on different testing topics. As an attendee, you'll then visit each station to ensure you get the most out of the day. So What Should I Expect? Two awesome talks from two accomplished international speakers in the testing community. We are so lucky to have them take part in this new, innovative event! After the opening talk, you will be grouped up with fellow testers and you’ll stay in this group for the duration of the day...

He hoki tatou! TestBash is back in Wellington, New Zealand!

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0000

After an amazing event last year in Wellington, we are back for another stellar TestBash event in New Zealand on the 16th and 17th of November 2020! Do you want to join us at the world's most southern capital? There’s so many ways you can join us… from guaranteeing your space now with our new Blind Bird Tickets to hosting a talk or workshop or maybe even volunteering? We know there’s an option for you! Talks and Workshops We are looking for speakers to give 30 minutes talks on our conference day and hosts for our half day interactive workshops , so, if you feel you have what it takes to make TestBash New Zealand 2020 another great success, submit your abstracts via our continuous call for papers (CCFP). As with all Ministry of Testing events, your travel and accommodation are covered and workshop hosts receive a fee for presenting, see the CCFP link for more details. We guarantee you’ll see a bunch of friendly faces cheering you on. Deadline to submit your abstracts is the 21st of March 2020 . Volunteer Want to help us out on the day and get all the buzz from TestBash for free? We promise to keep you fed on the day! Our volunteers get access to the full day of TestBash and the recordings afterwards. If you’re interested in volunteering for the conference or workshop days, email us on newzealand@ministryoftesting.com to learn more. Blind Bird tickets Tickets are now available with a very limited number of super discounted Blind Bird tickets. With the Blind Bird tickets, you’ll get priority on your workshops selection before general release and a great discount! As you know, you’re in for a great event, so reserve yours now! These super special tickets are only available until the 1st May , or until they are all gone, so register now . Launch List The full conference, workshops and training lineup will be revealed soon. If you don’t take a chance on a Blind Bird ticket, or you miss out, make sure you subscribe to the launch list for TestBash to be the first to hear all about them! The Club This year we are debuting our Community Space on our conference day. The community space will provide the opportunity to meet staff as well as mingle with fellow attendees, so make sure you check it out in your breaks and lunch time. You’ll be able to meet the speakers during dedicated AMA slots and ask them questions about their talks, challenge yourself with testing activities and even become the star of a future podcast. Plus much more,...

Win a Ticket to TestBash Brighton Offered to You by TestRail

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want to win a ticket to TestBash Brighton ? The good news is you can! All you have to do is get involved over on The Club . This is the first time TestRail is sponsoring us and oh.. what a start! They have signed up to our Annual Black Belt Sponsorship! Yes… for the whole year! And what does this mean for you? For every TestBash in 2020, TestRail will be sponsoring one person per TestBash to attend! Do you want to be that person for TestBash Brighton? We have one ticket to give away for TestBash on Friday, 27th March, PLUS two nights accommodation in Jurys Inn! We believe that everyone should get to have the full TestBash experience which includes attending the meetups and getting to know many of the wonderful people who will be attending. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win is get active over on The Club . That’s right, The Club Ninja of the Month will win a spot at TestBash. The winner will be chosen by the TestBash Brighton team at 2pm on Friday, 28th February. We’re very happy to work throughout 2020 with TestRail to support the community, starting with TestBash Brighton. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners TestBash Brighton trip as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site. So what’s stopping you? Head over to The Club and start getting involved with the conversations!

Win a Ticket to TestBash Brighton Thanks to Legal & General

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want to win a ticket to TestBash Brighton ? The good news is you can! All you have to do is tell us which part of TestBash Brighton you are most looking forward to and why. Legal & General are back as sponsors of TestBash Brighton 2020 which includes sponsoring one person to attend TestBash and this could be you! Legal & General were the first company to join us in this initiative during TestBash Brighton 2019 and we’re delighted to welcome them back on board again to support the community. As part of the competition, we have one ticket to give away for TestBash on Friday, March 27th, PLUS two nights accommodation in Jurys Inn! We want you to have the opportunity to have the full TestBash experience which includes attending the meetups on Thursday and Friday and getting to know many of the wonderful people who will be attending. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win is fill in the form below before 2pm GMT on Friday, 21st February . The winner will be chosen by the TestBash Brighton team by 28th February. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners TestBash Brighton trip as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site.

Win a Ticket to TestBash Brighton Due to the Generosity of BrowserStack

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0000

How would you like to win a ticket to TestBash Brighton ? Well, you can by simply snapping a picture of the Ministry of Testing logo in the wild! BrowserStack has signed up as annual Black Belt sponsors of all TestBashes in 2020! This means that for every TestBash in 2020, BrowserStack is sponsoring one person to attend and, for TestBash Brighton, this could be you! We’re excited to work throughout 2020 with BrowserStack to support the community, starting with TestBash Brighton. We have one ticket to give away for TestBash on Friday, 27th March, PLUS two nights accommodation in Jurys Inn! We believe that everyone should get to have the full TestBash experience which includes attending the meetups and getting to know many of the wonderful people who will be attending. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win, is snap a picture of the Ministry of Testing logo in the wild and share a link to the picture in the form below. The deadline is 2pm GMT on Friday, 21st February . The winner will be chosen by the TestBash Brighton team by 28th February. Don't have any MoT swag? Don't worry you can still take part! We've attached the MoT logo below, so, print that of and go take that snap! Then when you win your ticket to TestBash Brighton you can grab some MoT swag! You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners TestBash Brighton trip as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site.

Win A Ticket to TestBash Brighton Courtesy of nineDots

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0000

Do you want to be in with a chance to win a ticket to TestBash Brighton ? All you have to do is tell us how you feel attending TestBash will impact your career and what you hope to learn. We are excited to announce that nineDots have signed up as Black Belt sponsors of TestBash Brighton 2020 which includes sponsoring one person to attend TestBash and this could be you! The MoT Ethos is all about giving back and supporting the community. It's wonderful to work with companies who share our vision and nineDots are no different. This means that we have one ticket to give away for TestBash on Friday, 27th March, PLUS two nights accommodation in Jurys Inn! This is because we want people to enjoy the full TestBash experience. You can attend meetups and network with all of the wonderful people who will be attending TestBash. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win is fill in the form below before 2pm GMT on Friday, 21st February . You can even nominate someone else who you think would get a boost both personally and professionally. The winner will be chosen by the TestBash Brighton team by 28th February. You'll get to hear all about the lucky winners TestBash Brighton trip as we'll work with them to write an experience report for the Ministry of Testing site.

Roll Up! Roll Up! TestBash and Test.bash(); Manchester are back in town!

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash and Test.bash();, our software testing conferences, are back at The Lowry Theatre Manchester on the 1st and 2nd of October, for their 5th (TestBash) and 3rd (Test.bash();) years, and it will be bigger and better than ever! We had to put the lions jumping through rings of fire on hold due to Health and Safety reasons, but we’ll still have jaw-dropping conference talks, workshops and training and extraordinary feats of tech-defying talks! Our Box Office is open with the all-new Blind Bird tickets , and for all of you wishing to join as one of our headline acts… the auditions are open! We are also looking for supporting acts. So check out the plans below because it’s going to be one hell of a show! Auditions are open! We are looking for our headline acts across all 3 days, so, if you want to perform at TestBash Manchester submit via our continuous call for papers (CCFP). We are looking for 30-minute talks for both conference days and half-day interactive workshops . As with all Ministry of Testing events, your travel and accommodation are covered, see the CCFP link for more details. Plus with it being TestBash if you’re looking stage-left or stage-right you’ll see a bunch of friendly faces cheering you on. Deadline to audition is the 22nd of February . Blind Bird tickets The Box Office is now opened with a very limited number of super discounted Blind Bird tickets. With the Blind Bird tickets, you’ll get priority on your workshops selection before general release and a great discount! As you know, you’re in for a great show, so reserve your seat today. Final curtain call for these showstoppers is 1st April, or until they are all gone, so register now . Launch List The full conference, workshops and training lineup will be revealed soon. If you don’t take a chance on a Blind Bird ticket, or you miss out, make sure you subscribe to the launch list for either TestBash or Test.bash(); to be the first to hear all about them! Intervals We’ll have plenty of refreshments on hand, but this year we are also debuting our Community Space on both conference days. The community space will provide the opportunity to meet the cast and mingle with fellow attendees. You’ll be able to meet the speakers during dedicated AMA slots and ask them questions about their talks, challenge yourself with testing activities and even become the star of a future podcast. Plus much more, stay tuned to The Club for the full Community Space schedule. ...

TestBash Netherlands 2020 Lineup Is Live - You “Gouda” Join Us!

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0000

That’s right folks, TestBash Netherlands is back and bigger than ever. You feta believe we’ve got more training, new venues and lots of exciting surprises in store for you. Ministry of Testing has partnered with Huib Schoots again to make sure that from Monday 25th to Friday 29th May, there are plenty of learning opportunities for everyone. You’ve Gotta Brie Kidding Me, What’s the Plan? Okay, enough cheese puns now! We’ve moved venues this year, our venues over the past 3 years were beautiful, however, you love us so much that we’ve outgrown them. We’ll spend Monday to Thursday of this busy week in Seats2Meet . We’ll wrap up the week in Jaarbeurs with our much loved, single-track conference. 3-Day Training (25th - 27th May) From Monday to Wednesday, we’re bringing you not one but TWO training courses. Automation in Testing with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Professional Agile Testing with Ya'ara Egger and Klaartje van Zwol Workshops (28th May) On Thursday we’ve got 6 full-day workshops on a range of topics: Performance Test to Resilience Test, Let’s Create Chaos! with Geoffrey van der Tas and Mark Abrahams Contract Testing in Practice with Pact with Pierre Vincent Experiencing the Highs and Lows of Unit Testing and Test Driven Development (for Testers and Developers) with Alexandra Schladebeck and Zeb Ford-Reitz Coding for Non-Coders with Jim Holmes Yippee-API-yay! A Kickstart in REST API Testing with Lianne Klaver and Eveline Bongers-Staal Exploring Your Progress: A Tester’s Approach to Career Growth with Ash Coleman TestBash (29th May) Wrapping up this busy week, we’ll have our much loved single-track conference, you cheddar not miss this lineup: Embracing Leadership: My Journey to Stop Fearing and Start Leading with Pedro Gonzalez Resilience Testing! Why Should You? with Geoffrey van der Tas Tester's Guide to Managing Biases Lina Zubyte Unmasking Security: Seeing Through the Eyes of an Attacker with Saskia Coplans The Power of Mocking APIs with Shivani Gaba Learning through Exploration with Alexandra Schladebeck and Zeb Ford-Reitz Voice Is a New Frontier! - Testing next Generation Interfaces with Lucian Adrian Stroie Gold Is in Your Trash Can - How to Maximize Feedback’s Value from Testing with Alexandre Bauduin Test Automation as a Service Team with Jarsto van Santen and Jurian Jilderda A Lean Approach to Sharing the Testing with Ali Hill As well as having 10 talks and our famous 99-second talks,...

November 2019 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0000

We're now into the festive season, thankfully we've lots of fantastic content to keep you cosy...or insert something just as cheesy here. Either way, lots of new content for you to discover. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Self Learning Plans posted by froberts. When you're self-learning, it can be difficult to find structure but there are some excellent suggestions here to help. Name your 3 top testing skills. ONLY 3, you can do it posted by mcgovernaine. There's quite a variety of skills listed here, what are your top 3? Power Hour - Operability posted by robertmeaney. A fascinating topic with a great range of questions from the community, a great opportunity to learn more about Operability and join the conversation. Exploratory Testing Debriefs - How do you do yours? posted by langers. Every team does this differently often experimenting until they find an approach that works for them, what suggestions do you have? What’s the difference between a human test and an automated check? posted by hellofrommot. Always a hot topic in testing circles, what do you think the differences are? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Brian Segurson. MoT News New Topics Pages: Find What You’re Looking For We’ve selected nine of our most popular topics and created pages for each of them. We’ve even organised the content by type. So if you want to quickly view all the podcasts about Leadership or articles on Performance testing, you can. Not only does each topic page offer a quick view of related content but they come with one of our famous 99-second intro videos. The Dojo All the talks from TestBash Manchester 2019 : A Code Challenge of Confidence - Elisabeth Hocke Observability and Testing: Explore What's Happening Under the Hood - Pierre Vincent The Wheels on the Bus Go Fail, Fail, Fail - Yong Yuen He and Daniel Smart How I Learned to Be a Better Tester Through Practising “Humble Inquiry” - Kwesi Peterson My Story of Kanban and Its Positive Impact on Testing - Conor Fitzgerald Continuous Testing - Gary Fleming Threat Modelling: How Software Survives in a Hacker’s Universe - Saskia Coplans Turning the Quality of Your Deployment Pipeline into a Team Task - Areti Panou 99 Second Talks - TestBash Manchester 2019 All the talks from our automation and technical...

Go! Go! Go! The TestBash Detroit 2020 Lineup is Live

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is heading to the Midwest US for the first time from 20th-24th April 2020 . Ministry of Testing has partnered with the wonderful Hilary Weaver-Robb , a long-standing member of the Ministry of Testing community (there’s even a tattoo to prove it!), to bring you a week filled with learning opportunities for people at every level in their career. Places are limited so get that request into your boss as soon as you can. Our Blind Bird tickets have flown out the door so move quick, this is a lineup you won’t want to miss! Tell Me More, Now! Automation in Testing (20th-22nd April) Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw are bringing their multi sell-out workshop to Detroit. Automation in Testing spans 3 days and will equip you with the skills to develop strategies for automation, create new automation, use tools to support testing and educate others on how to use automation effectively. Tickets for Automation in Testing start at $1700 for all 3 days but spaces are limited so get in gear and grab yourself a ticket now! Workshops (23rd April) On Thursday, we’ve got 3 exciting full-day workshops for you to choose from covering Test Strategy, Continuous Delivery and Getting Started with API testing. Join Lee Caldwell, Huib Schoots, Lisa Crispin and Ashley Hunsberger for a day of fabulous learning. Tickets for the workshops start at $600 per workshop. Read more about the workshops or head straight over to buy your ticket . TestBash (24th April) We’re concluding this exciting week with our beloved single track conference day, TestBash. We’ll have 9 talks, a Community Space and our famously fun 99-second talks. Check out the lineup over on the TestBash Detroit event page . Want to learn more about the Community Space? Keep an eye on our Twitter and LinkedIn , we’ll be sharing some sneak peeks in the run-up to our Spring TestBashes. Start planning your 99-second talk now! Check out the back catalog and maybe even practice at your local meetup. Fantastic learning can come from even the shortest of conversations. Now that our Blind Bird tickets have sold out, TestBash tickets will move to the price of $500 for this excellent day of learning. Grab yours now. Next Steps? Head to the TestBash Detroit event page for more in-depth information about all the sessions and the conference. Don’t need to know more, just want to get your ticket? Head over to our ticketing page and grab them quickly at the Super Early Bird rates! ...

New Topics Pages: Find What You’re Looking For

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Ministry of Testing is about to break the 1000 count for talks, articles, podcasts that we offer. So whilst the content is great, it can sometimes be a bit hard to find what you’re looking for. To solve this, we have created Topic pages. We want to offer you a catalogue that you can explore and browse with ease, and encourage you to discover new ideas and stories that have been shared. So what are the topic pages? We’ve selected nine of our most popular topics and created pages for each of them. We’ve even organised the content by type. So if you want to quickly view all the podcasts about Leadership or articles on Performance testing, you can. Not only does each topic page offer a quick view of related content but they come with one of our famous 99-second intro videos. The topics currently available are: What is testing Exploratory testing Leadership Communication Test Strategy Automation Collaboration Performance Mental health Contribute to our topics Our topics list and pages are achievable thanks to the contributions from the community. We are always on the lookout for help, and you can get involved by: Sharing your thoughts on what topics we should create pages for on The Club Helping us to create 99-second introduction videos Joining us in the discussion of our topics list and how we can improve it Topic pages are just the start towards making the Dojo more discoverable and engaging, and we’re excited about its future and the potential of topics. We hope that we can carry out this work with the support of the community.

October RoundUp of All Things MoT

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Here is your monthly dose of new software testing content to lift your spirits. We have new videos courses, articles and podcasts for you to get stuck into, bone appetite! The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. When do you know testing is completed or done for a feature or release or a project? posted by testerawesome. The definition of done comes up often, what's your definition of done for testing? Blog posts related to TestBash Manchester 2019 posted by wildtests. A great collection of sketchnotes, blog posts and experiences from TestBash Manchester. How to decide what tests should be done across multiple browsers? posted by pwong. Do you have a general rule of thumb for things that do (or do not) need to be tested across different browsers? Testing Challenge posted by froberts. Bit of a fun one, have you found all 18 bugs? How to decrease the regression testing time? posted by subbu. Doing manual regression testing can be tricky, how do you prioritise what you do to get answers quicker? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Stu Johnson. MoT News TestBash Brighton 2020: Our Biggest TestBash Yet! TestBash Brighton is back, bigger than ever and crammed full of learning opportunities for testers at every level. From Monday 23rd to Friday 27th March 2020, it’s going to be a bonanza week. You’ll need to move quickly because the tickets are going to fly out! The Dojo A spine-tinglingly awesome course from Alan Page; “ Introduction to Modern Testing ”. In this course, you’ll learn why we saw a need for Modern Testing (and why we called it Modern Testing), and why we think it’s important. Then, we’ll dive into each principle, and share the thoughts and foundation behind the principle; share examples of the principle in action, and guidance on how to apply each principle in your team or organization. Course Introduction Principle One: Our Priority Is Improving the Business Principle Two: Accelerating the Team Principle Three: Continuous Improvement Principle Four: The Quality Culture Principle Five: The Customer is King Principle Six: Data Principle Seven: Everyone Can Test Beyond Modern Testing A fa-boo-lous course from Lim Sim; “ Introduction to Linux Commands for Beginners ”. This 11-part course will take you through how to access the Linux command...

TestBash Brighton 2020: Our Biggest TestBash Yet!

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Brighton is back, bigger than ever and crammed full of learning opportunities for testers at every level. From Monday 23rd to Friday 27th March 2020, it’s going to be a bonanza week. You’ll need to move quickly because the tickets are going to fly out! Tell Me More We are always exploring how to improve every TestBash, our software testing conference, none more so than the original TestBash, Brighton. In true agile fashion, we held a retrospective earlier this year, where we explored all the feedback from Brighton 2019, the good and the bad, wove that with our own feelings and mapped out some ideas and experiments. We’ve been working hard over the past few months to deliver as many of the changes as we can to you. There are lots more surprises yet to come but here’s everything you need to know so far. What’s New? Meetup Open Space We’re moving the Open Space to be a midweek meetup! Having the Open Space on Saturday made it harder for many folks to attend, but it was also difficult for people to maintain their energy levels after TestBash. Therefore, we are going to experiment with having the Open Space as part of the pre-TestBash meetup, as one of the many options we’ll have available during the evenings to ensure we offer something for everyone. We believe this will provide an opportunity to reflect on the workshops, or for TestBash attendees to meet and explore ideas before the conference day. This, of course, means that anyone in the area can also attend without needing a ticket. Stay tuned to the Brighton meetup page for more details. Community Space The evolution of the UnExpo, the Community Space. We’ve run two UnExpos at Brighton now which were huge successes, the feedback on both occasions was overly positive. However, as mentioned, we are always looking to improve, so welcome the Community Space. The UnExpo will form part of the Community Space, allowing attendees and speakers to create posters to share ideas and trigger conversations. In addition to that, we are generating a true Ministry of Testing experience by bringing our online world to TestBash. We’ll have things like The Club Wall, where you can post and answer questions just like on The Club . We’ll have live Ask Me Anythings with several of the speakers. We’ll record some Ministry of Testing podcasts live and a whole host of other surprises. Training Outside of the certification schemes, there are little opportunities for in-depth face to face training, we...

September 2019 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash season is in full swing with 6 TestBash software testing conferences taking place over a 3 month period. So you can imagine all the mayhem, fun, learning and bonding going on. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Masterclass Further Discussion: Onboarding testers: Growing your new hire posted by heather_reid. A great discussion about onboarding continued after our most recent masterclass ended, join in! Alt Attribute for Image Element posted by srinivasskc. An interesting discussion about adding Alt attributes and item descriptions for 100000+ items on a site. What’s the best testing advice you’ve ever heard? posted by rosie. As we're drawing into longer nights and colder weather, it seems like the best time to raise our spirits with some of the best advice we've ever heard. Help with trying out DevOps? posted by nufenix. Trying to move towards DevOps can be tricky, especially with a legacy product, check out the advice so far. What is the role of test manager? posted by testerawesome. Do you have or need test managers and if so, what are you looking for from them? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Kate Paulk. MoT News Better Than Eurovision: TestBash is Back in the Netherlands! 2019 smashed all of our expectations in Utrecht and we’re sure 2020 will be no different. We’ve taken all of the attendee feedback on board and we’ve got 2 new and better venues this time, plus some extra surprises. The Dojo Here are all the new things on the Dojo from September including all the talks from TestBash Germany 2019, some great articles, and a new Masterclass webinar recording: All the talks from TestBash Germany 2019 99 Second Talks - TestBash Germany 2019 Speaker AMA - The 99 Second Edition (Mis)Using Personas with the Seven Dwarfs - Cassandra H. Leung When to Say No to Automation - Jack Taylor A Tester’s Survival Guide for Agile Transition - Parveen Khan Performance Testing of Web Applications: So Much More than Running a Script - Igor Samokysh Dude, Why You Don't Test UX? - Greta Ruškienė Rebooting Your Career and Your Life - Ciprian Balea Let's Make Our Customers Happy! - Rohit Singhal Qualitative Risk-Based Test Reporting - Nancy Kelln An unmissable Masterclass with AJ Larson: Onboarding testers - Growing your new hire - Onboarding is a painful process in just about...

Better Than Eurovision: TestBash is Back in the Netherlands!

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is coming back to the Netherlands ! 2019 smashed all of our expectations in Utrecht and we’re sure 2020 will be no different. We’ve taken all of the attendee feedback on board and we’ve got 2 new and better venues this time, plus some extra surprises. “ We have had 3 wonderful Testbashes in the Netherlands since 2017 and as an organizer, I am happy and proud with what we have accomplished. We have grown to a 5-day event with over 200 people attending on the conference day alone. We sold out all tickets last year and the collaboration with the MoT people is efficient, cozy and professional. It is fun and rewarding to create a TestBash in Utrecht. That is why we decided to go for another TestBash in 2020! ” - Huib Schoots Our Excellent Plans Automation in Testing - The much loved, multi-sellout 3-day training course will be back on 25-27th May . A second 3-day training course - 25th-27th May . Be the first to hear . Workshops - A firm favourite in the Netherlands, we’re bringing them back on 28th May . TestBash - Our single-track conference day will be on 29th May with lots of great talks and of course the famous 99-second talks ! Plus lots of meetups and community events happening throughout the week. Submit NOW! We will be accepting talks and workshop proposals until 25th October 2019 . Submit now! Our events rely on you, the wonderful testing community. We want to see your submissions! New speakers are valued at TestBash. We’re looking for full-day workshops, both established and new content welcome. For TestBash talks, we look for new talks that are 30 minutes long. We’ve captured some awesome reasons you should speak at our events on our speaker need to know page. If you have any questions, just ask. Don't pay to speak! We cover all speaker's expenses and workshop hosts get a fee for presenting. Interested in sponsoring? Email netherlands@ministryoftesting.com for more details. Be the first to hear! Want to be the first to hear about TestBash Netherlands related news, sign up to our Netherlands launch list .

August 2019 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:00:00 -0000

It's been a scorcher of a month in the Ministry of Testing world, the weather has been pretty good too! We hope you all survived with cool beverages, ice cream, sorbet and plenty of awesome content. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Career Progression In Software Testing: How Did You Get To Where You Are Now? - posted by heather_reid. From stepping on to new ladders to climbing them, there are many ways to progress in your career, how did you progress? What do you and don’t you add to a regression suite? - posted by melissafisher. This, of course, depends on your company and their priorities but some excellent food for thought in this post. Power Hour - Exploratory Testing - posted by simon_tomes. From introducing exploratory testing to deep dives and tools, Simon and Elizabeth provided an excellent range of answers in this Power Hour. When someone says they want to learn #Automation, I have to ask WHY. WHY do you want to learn automation? - posted by nufenix. Do you want to learn automation for the right reasons and will you regret your decision if it's for the wrong reasons? Ask Me Anything: Communities of Practice - posted by heather_reid. A fantastic list of resources and the conversation is still going strong from our most recent AMA, join in! The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Luke Liu. MoT News Being Uniquely Me at Ministry of Testing by Heather Reid By having the freedom to be uniquely me, I genuinely feel like I bring a better version of myself to work every day, even if that version of myself sometimes needs coffee before opening emails. Tester's Start Your Engines - TestBash Is Coming to the Midwest That’s right folks, TestBash is coming to Detroit for the first time on 23-24th April 2020. The Ministry of Testing team is excited to be partnering with Hilary Weaver-Robb to bring you the next edition of TestBash. The Dojo Last year we said farewell to the Super Testing Bros hosting our podcasts. We wanted to make sure our podcasts would be fun, relevant and full of useful insights. We thought; who better to know what’s useful and relevant than members of our community? This August, we finally have the first episodes of the new Ministry of Testing Podcast! The first 2 pilot podcasts from our MoT podcast challenge: Michael Lang meets Theresa Neate to discuss all...

Tester's Start Your Engines - TestBash Is Coming to the Midwest

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 00:00:00 -0000

That’s right folks, TestBash is coming to Detroit for the first time on 23-24th April 2020. The Ministry of Testing team is excited to be partnering with Hilary Weaver-Robb to bring you the next edition of TestBash. TestBash is my favorite conference and I’m so excited to help bring it to Detroit! Finally after years of begging Richard to bring it here, he caved :P I can’t wait for the awesome testers in the Midwest to experience what TestBash is all about, and enjoy what the Motor City has to offer. - Hilary Weaver-Robb As a CommunityBoss, it’s been fantastic to watch TestBash grow over the past number of years. Hilary has joined Ministry of Testing as a speaker, workshop host and a volunteer at so many of our events now that bringing her into the fold as TestBash Detroit organiser feels like such a natural, positive step to take. I can’t wait to see where 2020 takes us! - Heather Reid Community is always at the heart of what we do and it’s clear to us that the community in Detroit is strong. Over the past five years, the Motor City Software Testers meetup has grown from strength to strength demonstrating what an amazing testing community there is in Detroit. As the community is always at the heart of MoT we can't wait to see you all out in force at TestBash Detroit . So, What’s The Plan? TestBash Detroit will be a 2-day event. The first day will be workshop focused and the 2nd day will be in the format of our much loved single-track conference. Right now we are looking for submissions. We will be accepting talks and workshop proposals until 30th September 2019. Submit now ! Why Speak at TestBash? We say no to paying to speak! We cover expenses as a minimum and workshop hosts get a fee, which you can read more about on our speaker expenses page . We have a new travel booking system which means you won’t be out of pocket for your travel to TestBash and the speaker's hotel is already booked, we’re that excited! Still not sure? We’ve captured some awesome reasons you should speak at our events on our speaker need to know page. If you have any questions, just ask :) Want to Attend? There are a tonne of great reasons to attend TestBash not limited to the ones we’ve captured on our TestBash attend page. We take our Code of Conduct seriously. It’s important to us that TestBash is a safe space to learn from and with each other. If you want to be the first to hear when the lineup launches, sign up to our launch list . ...

Being Uniquely Me at Ministry of Testing

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 00:00:00 -0000

by Heather Reid Background Throughout my professional career, there have been a lot of rules that felt quite like being back in school. Employees must not have more than one hair colour Employees must not have any body modifications such as tattoos or piercings Employees are not permitted to wear shorts to the office Employees must wear sleeved clothing at all times Employees hair must be tied back at all times The list goes on. Admittedly some have made sense in certain settings, e.g. the shorts; while I worked in a lab environment or dangling earrings/long hair while operating the lathe in engineering class in school. There are some that have never made sense to me though like tattoos and hair colour. It’s always felt like someone was trying to push me into a box of “acceptable appearance”. Why Now? This all started with a Tweet I saw recently about the colour of someone's hair on an ad on LinkedIn. My instant reaction sums up my thoughts, even now, about the exchange. There's a creative, intelligent brain under this purple hair that you'll never know about if you only judge me by my hair 💁 https://t.co/wMGzTD3CSx — Heather Reid (@heather_reiduff) July 19, 2019 I’ve always had purple hair since working with Ministry of Testing but this weekend, my hairdresser and I decided to take that one step further. My new very professional hair colour(s) 😍 pic.twitter.com/wjhJtut95L — Heather Reid (@heather_reiduff) 3 August 2019 I didn’t think about the ramifications to my job because I honestly didn’t think I needed to. My purple hair has never been an issue for anyone in the company. Richard's reply backs that up pretty nicely! Twitter isn't the place for company policy, but we need to have a chat on Monday. . . . . . . . And talk about how awesome this hair is!!! — Richard Bradshaw (@FriendlyTester) 3 August 2019 Being Me I know I’m good at my job. I know that the brain inside my head makes me good at my job. I know that my hair colour and the tattoos I have are absolutely 0 impact on my brain's ability to do that job. If anything, these things are a visual representation of the creative side of my brain that helps me to be uniquely me in my job. By not having to worry about my hair colour or tattoos in my job, I can spend that energy focusing on making a positive impact for others. I’ve spent so many years of my life concerned about having “normal” looking hair and only getting tattoos where I could hide them so that...

July 2019 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 00:00:00 -0000

There has been a lot going on this month! Our Power Hours are taking off a treat, plus lots of development work happening on our website to make it even more useful to you! Topped up with the normal amount of new software testing content. It's been a sun-sational month. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Power Hour - Testability posted by ash_winter. Ash and Nicola discuss if a feature can be considered "untestable", the differences between testability for automation and manual testing and more. Power Hour - Personas posted by cassandrahl. Cassandra provides excellent insight into who should create personas, how they should be created and how you can use them in your work. Accessibility Workshop idea needs feedback posted by adystokes. Ady is creating a workshop to help people get into accessibility testing, what do you think of the ideas so far? What’s your biggest learning blocker? posted by mcgovernaine. There seem to be quite a few common themes emerging here, what is your biggest learning blocker? What do you mean when you say continuous testing? posted by heather_reid. Heather was curious, like Lisa Crispin was, about the different meanings people have when they say "continuous testing", what's yours? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Lee Marshall. MoT News North West Tester Gathering Merges with Ministry of Testing Manchester North West Tester Gathering (NWTG) is one of the longest standing meetups in Manchester with the first meetup being held on 23rd November 2011! Now as one combined meetup we’re really excited about what we can bring to the Manchester testing scene. Our New Logged In Homepage Previously you saw the Dojo Catalog page which lists all the latest content added to The Dojo, along with all other series that are available, which is great, but it’s very specific to The Dojo. What this page doesn’t show you is everything else MoT does, which is a lot! We wanted to change that and provide a page that shows the latest from all that we do. The Dojo July has been a scorcher for software testing content on The Dojo. So why not take a break from the heat (or chill if it’s winter where you are) and check out all the new things on the Dojo this month: A new TestBash Playlist: 99 Second Talks From TestBash Another heartwarming Scholarship Story: The TestBash San...

North West Tester Gathering Merges with Ministry of Testing Manchester

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 00:00:00 -0000

"Woah, Big news! I am absolutely delighted to announce that as of Summer 2019 the artist formerly known as North West Tester Gathering is merging with Ministry of Testing Manchester!" ~ Amy Newton, NWTG Organiser North West Tester Gathering (NWTG) is one of the longest standing meetups in Manchester with the first meetup being held on 23rd November 2011! Everyone who has been involved with NWTG over those eight years has brought so much value to the Manchester testing scene. Regular attendance at a NWTG is 50+! That’s a lot of great knowledge getting shared, which in turn has spread out to the wider testing community. Ministry of Testing (MoT) brought the Software Testing Clinic (SWTC) to Manchester in 2018, a twelve-month programme of meetups aimed at introducing new people into software testing, and providing a foundation knowledge for existing testers who haven’t been on any formal training. MoT has also had a huge presence in Manchester as we brought TestBash , our software testing conference to Manchester in 2016, and we’ll be celebrating the fourth TestBash Manchester in October! However, we never ran any traditional meetups in Manchester because NWTG was doing such a kick-ass job! Now as one combined meetup we’re really excited about what we can bring to the Manchester testing scene. We’ve had our first committee meeting and pleased to let you know that Amy Newton, Saskia Coplans, Gem Hill, Chris Forsyth, Richard Bradshaw, Dan Smart, Neil Studd, Marlon Hope and Roz Shaw are the new driving force behind MoT Manchester. We’ll be bringing regular meetups, workshops, SWTC sessions and lots of experiments to see what brings value this great Manchester testing community. Getting Involved If you’re currently a member of MoT Manchester and not a member of NWTG , you’ll need to join NWTG group as we’ll be closing down the MoT Manchester group and rebranding the NWTG to keep its incredible history (and larger member count (-; )! If you’re interested in speaking at a future MoT Manchester Meetup get in touch with one of the committee members mentioned above. We’re always looking for local companies to support our events in Manchester with sponsorship and venue support, so if your company is interested please get in touch via meetup. More Ministry of Testing Meetups Don’t live near Manchester? Don’t worry, Ministry of Testing has meetups in 71 locations now, in 32 countries across six continents. We're still waiting for someone to come...

Our New Logged In Homepage

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 -0000

What? New Latest Page. When you log in with your Ministry of Testing (MoT) account you’ll now see this page . Why? Previously you saw the Dojo Catalog page which lists all the latest content added to The Dojo, along with all other series that are available, which is great, but it’s very specific to The Dojo. What this page doesn’t show you is everything else MoT does, which is a lot! We wanted to change that and provide a page that shows the latest from all that we do. Next? This is version 0.1, we went with panels that we thought the community would benefit from, as well as panels that were already coded and used in other areas of the platform. This is because we wanted to get something live ASAP and start collecting feedback on how it’s being used. We’ve added tracking so we can see which panels are getting utilised, and, of course, you can let us know your thoughts at any time. The best way to do this is via Support > Contact Us when you are logged in. We hope with your feedback and analytics we can keep making regular improvements to this page. We’ve already started having thoughts on the panel order, personalisation, new panels, removing some panels, improving the design and much more. I’m confident that the list will grow even more with your feedback. Background Features don’t just magically appear, so if you’re interested in how this one came around read on. A few weeks ago I (Richard) was catching up with the team messages on Slack, we are nine full-time people now. I saw conversations about an event that had gone live, an article, some active club posts, the next Testing AMA and a whole load more. It became apparent to me at that moment that I can no longer keep up with all that is going on. A fantastic problem to have as BossBoss, it means the team is producing so many learning opportunities for and with the community. But what if I wanted to see everything that is going on? To do that I would have to visit many pages. I’d have to check out the latest events , read some blogs , explore The Club , check MoT News , look at the latest Dojo content , read the latest jobs and a whole host more. Doable, but that’s a lot of tabs! I thought about it some more and decided I wanted a page to collate all the above, one page to get a quick update on all things Ministry of Testing. So, I specced it out. In doing so, I thought if I’m struggling to keep up to date and I run the company, how is the community keeping up to date? This...

June 2019 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 00:00:00 -0000

With a successful TestBash Netherlands and London Tester Gathering Workshops all done and dusted, it should be time to relax in the summer sun. But we can’t just sit around when there is so much awesome learning to share with you all! The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. What are you favourite software testing tools? posted by rosie. We all use tools to help us with our jobs, what tools do you use and which ones are your favourite? What does testing mindset mean to you? What’s your tester mindset? posted by testerawesome. As testers, we don't all have one or the same mindset which is our super power. What are your career goals? posted by froberts. Upskilling, mentoring, reading, meetups and more, what are your career goals? Test Case Management Tools? posted by kyewayy. It can be overwhelming looking at the list of options and capabilities out there! How would you test a data warehouse? posted by nufenix. With data and reports on that data continuing to grow, it's important that we know how to test them. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Ady Stokes. MoT News TestBash Brighton 2020, The Year Feels Very Futuristic! In 2020, TestBash Brighton will be our first testing conference of the year. And as always, we listen to your feedback, make tweaks and are improving as each year passes. The Dojo For June, our TestBash Netherlands videos came in hot off the press and our podcast Testers’ Island Discs podcast came back. So find yourself a sun lounger, put up your feet and check out what we have released for you this month: An insightful AMA from Sauce Lab’s very own Marcus Merrell on Shift Left, Shift Right . The Shift Left/Shift Right movements, are much more than mere buzzwords, seek to "smooth out" the big testing hump that blocks releases, moving testing resources earlier and later in the SDLC. All the Talks from TestBash Netherlands : Risks from Human Factors in Highly Automated Systems - Andrew Brown The Illusion of Control - Drew Pontikis Growing Your Magical Creatures - Vera Gehlen-Baum & Beren van Daele Constructing an API Testing Framework - Joep Schuurkes A Testers View on the Challenges of an Agile Transformation - Gitte Ottosen The Skill of Continuous Testing - Jitesh Gosai From Having a Mentor to Gaining an Ally - Anne Colder & Vincent Wijnen Great Test Automation...

TestBash Is Back In Brighton

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Brighton 2020, The Year Feels Very Futuristic! We’re entering our 9th year of TestBash-es, can you believe it? Seriously, we’re pinching ourselves at how time has flown and how this idea of bringing people together through software testing conferences has quite literally gone global. From tiny seeds, the community has come together to make software testing truly matter. If you were part of the testing community or industry 10 years ago, have a think about how much it has changed! In 2020, TestBash Brighton will be our first testing conference of the year. And as always, we listen to your feedback, make tweaks and are improving as each year passes. Here’s a roundup of what we are planning for TestBash Brighton A full week of training courses, half-day workshops and our beloved single track conference day. TestBash Essentials will be back on Thursday 26th of March and will be more hands-on, led by some of our awesome Software Testing Clinic hosts. Our TestBash Workshop day will also be on Thursday 26th of March with 10+ half-day workshops to choose from. TestBash Conference day will be on Friday 27th March, lots of great talks and of course the famous 99-second talks ! Plenty of community events and activities to choose from throughout the week. Childcare will be back! (Free childcare services for children of presenters!) SUBMIT, SUBMIT, SUBMIT... Yes, we're talking to you! We will be accepting talks and workshop proposals until Friday, August 2nd, 2019 . Submit now ! Our events rely on the community, as both attendees and presenters. We encourage you all to submit! We’re looking for full day and half day workshops, these do not need to be new content. For TestBash talks, we generally look for new talks. Every talk is a keynote ! Don’t pay to speak! We cover expenses as a minimum and workshops get a £500 fee. We take our Code of Conduct seriously. Interested in sponsoring? Email brighton@ministryoftesting.com for more details. Be the first to hear! Want to be the first to hear about TestBash Brighton related news, sign up to our Brighton list .

May RoundUp of All Things MoT

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash season is in full swing with all TestBash Software Testing Conferences now on sale ! This month, TestBash Netherlands took place in a new venue and all the awesome talks from this event will be available on the Dojo very soon. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Global Resources for Mental Health Awareness and Support posted by heather_reid . The community is putting together a list of resources by region for mental health awareness and support, add useful resources you've found or explore the ones already there. How to organise test cases for configurable application posted by gabrijela . When you have a product that has multiple versions with different configurations for each client, how do you structure your test cases? Power Hour - Test Cases & Scenarios posted by gasparnagy . Gáspár spent over an hour answering a whole range of questions on The Club, check out the replies and add your own. Best Advice You Have Received as a Tester? posted by pniroula . From who is responsible for quality to how to report your findings, what's the best advice you have received? Power Hour - Dive into Browser Developer Tools with Alan Richardson and Viv Richards posted by alan . Add ons, Twitter accounts, tools, courses, YouTube videos, Github repos, and more, this is a thread every tester needs to read! The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Faith Roberts. MoT News Flux Federation Sponsor Tickets for TestBash New Zealand We are excited to announce that Flux Federation have signed up as Gold sponsors and have chosen to sponsor 3 people to attend TestBash New Zealand. Tickets to TestBash, Our Software Testing Conference, in New Zealand Are Now on Sale We’re super excited to announce that our TestBash New Zealand lineup is live. We can’t wait to welcome you to Te Papa, Wellington for our very first conference in New Zealand. We have a few surprises up our sleeve. Our SSL Certificate Expired, oOps! I’m usually a late waker, I don’t do mornings, however this morning I had to be up to take a family member to the airport for 7 am. I reluctantly wake up at 6.40am and reach for my phone to see what is going on in the world, my usual routine, just less awake on this occasion! My Slack and the MoT Twitter are on fire with news of the site being down, and a few more accurate tweets regarding...

Flux Federation Sponsor Tickets for TestBash New Zealand

Thu, 16 May 2019 00:00:00 -0000

We are excited to announce that Flux Federation have signed up as Gold sponsors and have chosen to sponsor 3 people to attend TestBash New Zealand . The MoT Ethos is all about giving back and supporting the community. It's wonderful to have companies value and support our efforts to always be giving back. This means that we have 3 tickets to give away for the Tuesday PLUS two nights accommodation. That's right, hotel is included too! All you need to do is fill in the form below before Friday, June 7th. After the lucky winners have attended TestBash New Zealand, Ministry of Testing will work with you to write a post for the Ministry of Testing website about your experience. We look forward to hearing all your stories and look forward to welcoming you to our first TestBash in New Zealand.

Tickets to TestBash, Our Software Testing Conference, in New Zealand Are Now on Sale

Mon, 13 May 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Tickets To TestBash New Zealand 2019 Now On Sale! We’re super excited to announce that our TestBash New Zealand lineup is live. We can’t wait to welcome you to Te Papa , Wellington for our very first conference in New Zealand. We have a few surprises up our sleeve but for now, the plan for the week. TestBash We’ll start the week on Tuesday 29th October with TestBash day, a single track conference focused on software testing and quality with eight fantastic talks and a community interactive session. We've put in a lot of work to create our TestBash lineups, ensuring there is a balance of topics, diversity and speaker experience. This method has led to this fantastic lineup: Integration Tests: The Test Automation Gap of Mystery with Trish Khoo Setting Sail into the Great Unknown – How I Got Started in Testing from a Non-technical Background with Mike Clarke The Automation Break Up: Saying Goodbye to Full Stack Tests with Task Analysis with Mark Winteringham Blockchain Testing - Let's Make It Easy with Kim Nepata A Fork in the Road - the Uncertain Future of Non-technical Testing with Aaron Hodder How to Lead When You're Never in Charge with Francis Ho The Mindful and Deliberate Tester with Karen Greaves & Samantha Laing Learning About Observability with Katrina Clokie We'll finish the day with a post-conference party, stay tuned to the Ministry of Testing Wellington meetup group for more details on that. The Super Early Bird price is limited (and a bargain!), so check out details of the lineup and register for your super early bird tickets fast! Tickets start from just $500. The Super Early Bird tickets are available until June 21st. Need help convincing your boss? Check out “ How To Obtain Budgets For Attending Conferences ” by Dan Ashby. But if you want a real bargain, go Pro on The Dojo (as an individual or a team) and you’ll qualify for an extra $50 off each ticket (plus access to some amazing learning resources). Automation in Testing We’ll wrap up the week with the three-day ‘ Automation in Testing ’ course with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham starting on Wednesday 30th October. This workshop sold out at every TestBash so far and has received great feedback, so we’re offering it again! It's the first time this course has been run in New Zealand! You can read all about the course over on the event page . The course tickets start from $2000 (Super Early Bird). Places are limited so register for your place...

Our SSL Certificate Expired, oOps!

Tue, 07 May 2019 00:00:00 -0000

I’m usually a late waker, I don’t do mornings, however this morning I had to be up to take a family member to the airport for 7 am. I reluctantly wake up at 6.40am and reach for my phone to see what is going on in the world, my usual routine, just less awake on this occasion! My Slack and the MoT Twitter are on fire with news of the site being down, and a few more accurate tweets regarding the cause being our SSL certificate had expired. I’m wide awake now! It’s 6.45am. We are a small team at Ministry of Testing, nine people in total with two of those mostly focused on Tech/Development. So, I’m hoping that one of them is awake and able to sort the issue. 6.45am - Issue reported to the dev team 6.56am - We post updates to Twitter and Slack to inform the community that we are aware of the issue. 7.07am - Our DevBoss, Andrew, replies stating that he can see the Cert Issuer we use to issue our certificates but can’t find any credentials in our 1Password vault. Twenty-two minutes for a response at that time is great, but unfortunately, Andrew is unable to take any action, but let me share some context here. Andrew joined MoT a little over a year ago, the last time our certs were updated was three years ago. Our TechBoss, Graham, has done the majority of the development work and system management for MoT for the last 7 years, and SSL certs hadn’t come up in conversations yet. We bought 1Password in last July, and again, SSL hasn’t come up in conversations, so, unfortunately, those credentials weren’t added to 1Password. Actions : The credentials for our Cert Issuer have now been added to 1Password, so Andrew and other members of the team can get access. 7.28am - We hadn’t heard from Graham, so I pinged a WhatsApp message to see if he is around. Some more context, mornings are very busy in the Sherry household, they have five children, the youngest being one! 8.01am - Graham has used his magnificent juggling skills and found some time to look into the expired certs, ninja! 8.48am - Graham reports to the team that he has nearly resolved the issue, however, some DNS caching is slowing him down. He also discovered while logging into Comodo that this was set up on an old email account, our old software testing club domain, for those that know the history of MoT . It took us a while to move off the softwaretestingclub domain, but we finally did it, guess when, that’s right, June-July 2017, not long after the last SSL cert has been renewed!...

TestBash San Francisco 2019 Tickets Are Live!

Mon, 06 May 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Grab Your TestBash San Francisco Ticket Now! That’s right, tickets to our software testing conference, TestBash, in San Francisco are now on sale. We’re heading back to the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco for a two-day single-track conference on November 6-7, 2019. Once again, we have an exciting lineup with a truly diverse range of speakers and topics. There is something for everyone in the software testing community. We’re sure you will feel right at home when you arrive. Behavior-Driven Pragmatism with Andrew Knight The Poorly Titled TestOps Talk with Alexander Langshall Your Brain on Usability: UX for QAs with Jessica Versaw Cultivating Your Tester Ecosystem: Growing a QA Department from the Ground Up with Matthew Record Automation Yoga: Stretching ROI with a Testing SDK with Brendan Connolly A Beginner’s Guide to Test Automation with Angela Riggs Stacking The Automation Deck with Paul Grizzaffi The "Do Nots" of Testing with Melissa Tondi Growing Test Managers with Eric Proegler This is What a Tester Looks Like with Charlene Granadosin & Charlotte Bersamin Integrating AI Into Your Tests with Jennifer Bonine Test Machina: Demystifying AI-Driven Test Automation with Tariq King Observability: Unlearn Guessing, Reduce Stressing and Learn to Embrace Reality with Rob Meaney Devs Should Love Your Tests with Carlos Kidman From Rags to Riches: Turning Your Test Automation Into a Cinderella Story with Niranjani Manoharan Accessibility Testing 101 with Crystal Preston-Watson We’ve got meetups, talks and some exciting surprises too. Attending TestBash San Francisco will take you on a learning journey from professional growth and mentoring to automation and DevOps to accessibility and usability and everything in between. The Super Early Bird price is limited (and a bargain!), so check out the lineup and register for your super early bird tickets fast! Tickets start from just $999. But if you want a real bargain, go Pro on The Dojo (as an individual or a team) and you’ll qualify for an extra $100 off each ticket (plus access to some amazing learning resources). Sponsorship If you want to support us for this amazing event, we are looking for sponsors. This is a great opportunity to present your brand to hundreds of highly engaged testers. For more details on the sponsorship options, check out our sponsorship page or email sanfrancisco@ministryoftesting.com.

April RoundUp of All Things MoT

Fri, 03 May 2019 00:00:00 -0000

The first TestBash of the year is over and it was a roaring success, getting us ready for the year of useful, insightful and utterly brilliant TestBashes ahead. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Testing tour 2019 posted by punkmik . Inspired by Lisi Hocke’s talk at TestBash Brighton 2019, Kim wants to go on her own testing tour starting in May and is looking for people to pair with. Ask Me Anything: Whole Team Testing posted by heather_reid . This month we had an excellent Ask Me Anything with Lisa Crispin who continued answering all of the questions over on this epic Club thread! Blogs from TestBash Brighton 2019 posted by nufenix . A growing collection of live blogs and post-event reflection blogs, plenty of food for thought. What would you do? How can I automate this? posted by davgonca . A great thread helping someone quite new to automation with suggestions of approaches, questions to ask and resources to explore. Missing Layer From The Test Automation Pyramid posted by friendlytester . An exploration of an addition to the automation pyramid, testability, what do you think testability brings to the traditional pyramid model? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Lisa Crispin. MoT News TestBash Manchester 2019 Is Live! On 30th September - 5th October 2019 TestBash Manchester is occurring in Manchester, UK. Super Early Bird tickets are on sale today so register now and grab yourself an absolute bargain! TestBash Australia Tickets Are Live Grab Yours Now! TestBash, our software testing conference, is heading back down under to Sydney, Australia for its second year on October 24th-25th. Not only are we serving up the awesome TestBash single track conference day, but we've got excellent half-day workshops to make TestBash Sydney a multi-day confer-fest! The Dojo An unmissable Testing, Ask Me Anything with Lisa Crispin on Whole Team Testing that was kindly sponsored by mabl . Lisa also supported this Testing AMA with this awesome Club thread full of more useful answers to your questions A new TestBash Playlists series: Top Automation Talks From TestBash. We have gathered our top 12 Automation talks from our TestBash Software Testing conferences. They cover lots of aspects from how to approach automation, to how to prevent problems with your automation. ...

TestBash Australia 2019 Is Live!

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Australia Tickets Are Live Grab Yours Now! TestBash , our software testing conference, is heading back down under to Sydney, Australia for its second year on October 24th-25th. Not only are we serving up the awesome TestBash single track conference day, but we've got excellent half-day workshops to make TestBash Sydney a multi-day confer-fest! This year we're located right smack in the center of Sydney CBD, at the coworking space Fishburners . So, what’s the plan for the week? Automation in Testing A 3-day course, from Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd of October, to help you with your automation in testing challenges. This will be taught by Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham - this has sold out at every TestBash so far! You can read all about the course over on the event page . Tickets start from $2000 inc. GST. Workshop Day Thursday 24th October We have eight fantastic workshops to choose from. Four in the morning and four in the afternoon. There is something for any tester at any level, don’t miss out! Tickets start from $700 inc. GST. The unmissable workshops we have lined up are: Morning Hands-on Intro to AWS and a Taste of DevOps, for Testers with Theresa Neate Hot Fuzzing with Dan Billing Learn to Code in Ruby by Making Random Sandwiches with Trish Khoo Mentoring Mastery - Passing on Skills You "Just Do" with Nicola Sedgwick Afternoon Analytics Rebooted – A Workshop with Anand Bagmar Test Strategy Workshop with Mike Talks Intro To Automated Visual Validation with Angie Jones Facilitation Skills for Testers with Divya Konnur Places are strictly limited for all workshops so don’t delay in booking , and when you do, be sure to make your workshop selections ASAP! This will be followed by a meetup straight afterward. A great chance to reflect on the day and meet new people. Conference Day Friday 25th October We have a packed single track conference day, have yourself and your batteries charged to keep up with the note taking and conversations that are going to happen! For the early birds, we will start at 8 am with a purely optional, chilled and enjoyable lean coffee. The conference line up consists of 8 talks, plus the famous 99-second talks that all attendees are welcome to take part in. We’ll also have some surprises added in throughout the day so stay tuned! Our conference line up has a wonderful mix of local and global talent. We’re sure it will give every tester at any level excellent learnings to take...

TestBash Manchester 2019 Is Live!

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Whoa, whoa, hold the door, TestBash Manchester tickets are live? Stop everything and get your tickets now ! On 30th September - 5th October 2019 TestBash Manchester is occurring in Manchester, UK. Super Early Bird tickets are on sale today so register now and grab yourself an absolute bargain! TestBash Manchester has sold out for the past 3 years running and is expected to sell out yet again, so please bear that in mind if you are interested in attending this year. We don’t want you to get FOMO. It’s going to be an action-packed 6-day extravaganza at The Lowry , filled with opportunities to learn, network, have fun, and of course, space to reflect on all that’s going on. Here’s the itinerary for the week: Day 1-3: Pre-Training We start the week on Monday 30th September with the three-day ‘ Automation in Testing ’ course with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham . This workshop sold out at TestBash Brighton and received great feedback, so we’re offering it again! You can read all about the course over on the event page . The course tickets start from £1200 (Super Early Bird) inc VAT. Day 3: Workshops Next, it’s the workshop day on Wednesday 2nd October . We have six fantastic half-day workshops for you to choose from. All six workshops have lots to offer and are run by experts in our craft. Using Dependency Mapping To Enhance Testing Techniques with Melissa Eaden 10 Ways YOU Can Do Accessibility Testing with Deborah Lee How Test Reporting Changes Your Testing with Elizabeth Zagroba and Joep Schuurkes Contract Testing in Practice with Pact with Pierre Vincent Mindbusters - Test Your Mind with Göran Kero and Maaike Brinkhof Getting High Coverage Regression Tests Quickly with Emily Bache Places are strictly limited for all workshops so don’t delay in booking, and when you do book , be sure to make your workshop selections ASAP! Day 4: TestBash Thursday 3rd October is TestBash day, a single track conference focused on software testing and quality with nine fantastic talks. We put in a lot of work to create our TestBash lineups, ensuring to focus on a balance of topics, diversity and speaker experience. This method has led to this fantastic lineup: My Story of Kanban and Its Positive Impact on Testing with Conor Fitzgerald Continuous Testing with Gary Fleming A Code Challenge of Confidence with Elisabeth Hocke Turning the Quality of Your Deployment Pipeline into a Team Task with Areti Panou T-shaping a Development Team...

March RoundUp of All Things MoT

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Hooray, we're almost in April and into our first month of TestBash fun! Are we seeing you in Brighton? If you are, you can find some folks introducing themselves over on Twitter . The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. ISTQB - That´s it! No more certification exams, as they prove nothing by bjoern_w. I am still a little upset, but I wanted to share my thoughts about ISTQB certification. Started to use Selenium but still don't know what I am doing by mazza. I’ve been testing for a number a years now and started to use Selenium but, the problem I have is understanding how it works and some basic concept of it. Tools for supplying high quality data for test by adamattonic. Curious what data folks at MoT use to test? TestBash Brighton Week 2019: Everything You Need To Know by heather_reid. As TestBash Essentials and TestBash Brighton approach, it’s time to get everything you need to know in the one place! How do you know what to test? by rosie. I’m asking this as I know it’s such a common question and it would be really useful to have an epic discussion on it. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Gerard McCann. MoT News More European Tickets on Sale! TestBash Germany is now live! We’ve been growing from strength to strength in Germany over the past number of years and listening to feedback from the community at every turn. So this year, we’re adding a workshop day on September 12th which gives you 6 half-day workshops to choose from on an exciting range of topics. The Dojo We've another addition of the DojoBoss vlog and here’s the new content that’s waiting for you on The Dojo: An unmissable Masterclass with Daniel Hunt on How to Test Data Analytics without knowing anything about Data Analytics . This is Data Analytics testing 101! Traversing such buzzwords as machine learning, data science and predictive analytics we'll take a look at some simple methods, common pitfalls and general approaches that will make sense out of the data. There's nothing better than proving that testers can test more than we're supposed to! Another talk from one of our many MoT Meetups "Are We There Yet?” Driving Quality & Tackling Automation Debt with Amber Pollack-Berti . “Automate All the Things!” your team cheers. But it’s easier said than done—particularly with new...

Generous Anonymous Donor Sponsors TestBash Netherlands Workshop Ticket

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0000

A generous anonymous donor has sponsored 1 workshop ticket for TestBash Netherlands. Their hope is that this ticket would go to someone who would not be able to attend otherwise. The winner can choose any of the awesome workshops to attend, you can see a full list of the workshops here . Simply fill in the form below. Tell us the reason you should win this ticket and which workshop you would like to attend. The competition ends on 25th March. Please note, the winners travel and accommodation is not included in the prize. The ticket is for the workshop day only. If you'd like to attend the conference day, check out the lineup on our event page and buy your ticket. We look forward to reading your submissions and welcoming you to TestBash Netherlands. Heather & Huib

TestBash Germany Tickets Now On Sale! Our Software Testing Conference is Returning to Munich

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0000

More European Tickets on Sale! TestBash Germany is now live! TestBash is returning to Germany for its third year on September 12th-13th! We’ve been growing from strength to strength in Germany over the past number of years and listening to feedback from the community at every turn. So this year, we’re adding a workshop day on September 12th which gives you 6 half-day workshops to choose from on an exciting range of topics. So, what can you expect? Automation in Testing A 3-day course, from Monday 9th of September to Wednesday 11th of September, to help you with your automation in testing challenges. This will be taught by Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham - this has sold out at every TestBash so far. Workshop Day Thursday 12th September We have six fantastic workshops to choose from. Three in the morning and three in the afternoon. There is something for any tester at any level, don’t miss out! The workshops we have lined up are: Morning Designing Test Games with Rick Tracy Test Automation Strategy Workshop with Cards Game with Dana Aonofriesei Hacking the Juice Shop: Security Testing for Non-experts with Lena Wiberg Afternoon Implementing Exploratory Testing with Nancy Kelln Resilience Testing: Let the Chaos Begin! with Geoffrey van der Tas & Mark Abrahams How Developer Tools Can Help You Test with Jan Eumann This will be followed by a meetup straight afterward. A great chance to reflect on the day and meet new people. Conference Day Friday 13th September We have a packed single track conference day, have yourself and your batteries charged to keep up with the note taking and conversations that are going to happen! For the early birds, we will start at 8 am with a purely optional, chilled and enjoyable lean coffee. The conference line up consists of 8 talks, plus the famous 99-second talks that all attendees are welcome to take part in. We’ll also have some surprises added in throughout the day so stay tuned! Our conference line up will take you on a journey through team and career transitions, exploratory testing, UX, automation, performance and personas. There is something for everyone at every career level. Then, of course, a meetup with food and drink afterward to continue the discussions. The Super Early Bird price is limited (and a bargain!), so check out the lineup and register for your super early bird tickets fast! But if you want a real bargain, go Pro on The Dojo (as an individual or a team) and...

February RoundUp of All Things MoT

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0000

February was short...OK bad joke, being the shortest month of the year and all. Regardless of length, we've had a very busy month, with new events launched, new course and new content. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. What’s a testing belief you once held but have now let go? posted by rosie . The software testing world is always changing, our beliefs often change with it. 30 Days of Testability - Day 1: Define Testability posted by philipp . Our latest 30 Days of Testing challenge is off to a strong start with this excellent collection of definitions! Is code freeze still a thing? posted by billkav . Do you stop doing changes on the release branch until a release to production? QA Career Development posted by amcharrett . Have you experienced a QA career development that has worked for you? Automated Test Run Timing posted by fabio . What benchmark timing would you suggest for automation runs? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Vasileios Kavvadias! MoT News Community Service at Ministry of Testing by Rosie Sherry A couple of weeks ago we had our first ever Ministry of Testing Retreat. The whole team got together to go over all things MoT. Life is ever so busy. As we grow it often feels like a bit of a hamster wheel as we try to make all the things happen without it all falling apart beneath us. London Tester Gathering Workshops Line-up is Live The Ministry of Testing and Tony Bruce are excited to announce that the London Tester Gathering Workshops programme is live! It’s a perfect opportunity for all you software testers to polish up some existing skills or learn some new ones. TestBash, Our Software Testing Conference, Returns to the West Coast TestBash, our global software testing conference, is returning to the West Coast! After the huge success of last year, the demand for an encore is clear. We’re keeping the same format: a two-day single track conference on November 6-7, 2019. Joining Ministry of Testing as MoneyBoss by Sarah Kitchener Before joining the Ministry of Testing, I was caught in a toxic working environment which was having a detrimental effect on my mental health and family life. The Dojo In our ongoing effort to keep you up-to-date with all that’s happening on The Dojo, Mark has started a new DojoBoss vlog and collated all the...

Joining Ministry of Testing as MoneyBoss

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0000

By Sarah Kitchener Before joining the Ministry of Testing, I was caught in a toxic working environment which was having a detrimental effect on my mental health and family life. I worked as a Finance Manager for a local company in Lewes. I was promoted to this role but also retained my already full workload from my previous role. Added to this, I also inherited a lot from my line manager and was dragged into things that weren’t specifically related to my job. It was all getting a bit too crazy. In addition, my annual leave was restricted and not to be taken in the first two weeks of each month or during the whole month of August. With a young child at school, not being able to take time off in August caused no end of stressful arrangements each year. This partnered with spiteful office politics began to take a negative effect on my mental health and the relationships with my Husband and Son, Sidney. I kept saying ‘ I love my Accounting work, but I just wish I was able to do it at home’. Is This Job Too Good To Be True? While studying one evening, I noticed a remote Bookkeeping job based in Brighton which took me to the MoT jobs board . It seemed a little too good to be true and finally at 9 pm I decided to email off my CV. The following afternoon I received an email from Graham (TechBoss) asking to meet with him in Brighton. I was extremely nervous but I felt the meeting had been very positive. While travelling back home, I received a text from Rosie (FounderBoss) asking to meet in Lewes for a chat. Speaking to Rosie and seeing her passion for the MoT community was very inspiring. The focus on maintaining the community feel and support for each other was something I feel was definitely missing from my current job. Shortly after I received a job offer from Rosie for the role as MoneyBoss (by far my favourite job title). Upon accepting the offer, I then spoke with Richard (BossBoss) who welcomed me to MoT and made sure I had everything I needed ready for my start date. From the very beginning, I had been welcomed and looked after. Richard made it clear that MoT would be a great place to work, especially for people with young families. This ethos is ingrained in MoT from Rosie, who is a mother of 5. There are no fixed hours at MoT, unlimited holidays and everyone is fully remote, providing complete flexibility to each individual. This allows MoT staff to fit work around their life, not their life around work. After hearing this, a huge weight...

Software Testing Conference San Francisco 2019 Announcement

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash, Our Software Testing Conference, Returns to the West Coast TestBash, our global software testing conference, is returning to the West Coast! After the huge success of last year, the demand for an encore is clear. We’re keeping the same format: a two-day single track conference on November 6-7, 2019. Ash Coleman , Angie Jones and the Ministry of Testing team have BIG plans for this year. Message from Angie & Ash: Last year, you all took San Francisco by storm. The friendly, community vibes made our hearts sing. The brilliance of both the speakers and the audience blew us away. It's our absolute pleasure to host you again this year. Let's make it even bigger and better! Apply to speak Do you have stories, ideas, learning opportunities, or the solution to a tricky problem that you want to share with us? We are looking for talks that are highly creative, fun, but still focus on learning. If this sounds appealing, submit your talk . We will review TestBash San Francisco submissions until March 15, 2019 – so be sure to submit before this date to have your idea considered. TestBash is a very friendly community-focused software testing conference and the right place to start your speaker career! New voices – we want to give you a stage to share your stories and to send sparks of your testing fire to an inflammable and engaged audience. If you have passion and energy for your profession, this is the place to share it! If selected, Ministry of Testing will cover all your travel and accommodation expenses. You can find all the details of our promise to support all speakers in our speaker policy . Want to know more? Check out our speaker need to know page. If you need help to prepare your talk, please contact us, we know amazing experienced speakers who love to help new voices. Be courageous and step up! Community This event is for you! Got a speaker who you would love to see at TestBash San Francisco? Tell us who that is, we will see if we can make it happen. Tell people about this event. Encourage people that you believe have a great problem-solving story that they need to share it. Know people in the area? Let them know it’s taking place. Sponsorship If you want to support us for this amazing event, we are looking for sponsors. This is a great opportunity to present your brand to hundreds of highly engaged testers. For more details on the sponsorship options please email sanfrancisco@ministryoftesting.com Sign Up...

London Tester Gathering Workshops 2019 Tickets Now On Sale!

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0000

London Tester Gathering Workshops Line-up is Live The Ministry of Testing and Tony Bruce are excited to announce that the London Tester Gathering Workshops programme is live! It’s a perfect opportunity for all you software testers to polish up some existing skills or learn some new ones. We'll be bringing together a line-up of past and new workshop facilitators for a one of a kind event. The line-up has been crafted to offer a wide range of new and important topics to cover all learning needs. We took your feedback on board from 2018 and this year, we are trying something new - you are able to purchase tickets to individual workshops. This means you can buy a full day workshop, or attend a single half-day workshop, or maybe buy tickets for all three days! It’s entirely flexible so you can pick and choose. Remember, places are limited, so get in quick! What's Happening? Full Day Workshops - Wednesday 26th June We have 3 full day workshops to choose from on Wednesday: Exploring Systems Quality in an Ever-changing Distributed World - Abby Bangser & Jon Barber Automate Scenarios with SpecFlow - Gáspár Nagy Work and Play - James Lyndsay Half Day Workshops - Thursday 27th June We have 6 half day workshops to choose from on Thursday, 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Morning: EventStorming; Deliberate, Collaborative Learning Between Multiple Disciplines - João Rosa & Kenny Baas-Schwegler Write Better BDD Scenarios - Gáspár Nagy Build and Test Your Own Blockchain Application - Rhian Lewis Afternoon: Testability Workshop - Rob Meaney Introduction to Deep Learning: Hands-On - Bill Matthews Sharpen Your Tests by Learning from Them - Sharath Byregowda Half Day Workshops - Friday 28th June We have 6 half day workshops to choose from on Friday, 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Morning: DevTools for Testers - Viv Richards iOS Automation Using XCUITest with Swift - Swarnim Kumari Liberating Structures - Sharon Dale Afternoon: Connecting the Dots - Empowering People Through Play - Nicola Sedgwick & Christina Ohanian Web Security Workshop - Hands On and Brain On Experiential Based Learning - Santhosh Tuppad API Testing With Codeception in PHP - Swarnim Kumari The Super Early Bird price is limited (and a bargain!), so check out the line-up and register for your super early bird tickets fast! But if you want a real bargain, go Pro on The Dojo (as an individual or a team) and you’ll qualify for an...

Community Service at Ministry of Testing

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0000

by Rosie Sherry A couple of weeks ago we had our first ever Ministry of Testing Retreat. The whole team got together to go over all things MoT. Life is ever so busy. As we grow it often feels like a bit of a hamster wheel as we try to make all the things happen without it all falling apart beneath us. It’s exciting though, to witness the growth of our team. We had many laughs at the retreat, but also made time to get serious on planning for 2019. As Founder of MoT and with community in my heart, I was keen to address how we could keep the strong community feel as we grew as a team. We knew we could do better as a team to address community growth and cohesiveness and that we should be leading more by example. It sure was easier when MoT was mostly me leading it and just one or two TestBashes a year. Now that we have 10 events this year, with a team of 10, it’s near impossible to keep up with it as an individual. As we’ve grown, we’ve felt the strain of keeping that community vibe going. As a team we are stretched, often wearing many hats. When various different things are calling for your attention it is so easy to say ‘that person can wait’. Or that ‘Club post’ will have to happen another time. Or that really nice and valuable TestBash idea is hard to justify without specific budget. But the more we put those things to the side as ‘it can wait’ the more we lose that community feel that we were essentially built upon. I’ve known for a while that this MoT beast needs to grow without relying on me. Heather and I were conscious of the community looking like the ‘Heather and Rosie’ show (especially on The Club). I was conscious of Aine not getting enough visibility or credit for all the work on social and communications that she does. Then, more from a Founder and strategy perspective, I was concerned and focused on how to get MoT to grow without relying on me. As a team it was great to highlight that the community has grown massively within the past year. The Club members have doubled. Other signs of a healthy community have gone upwards too - activity, visits, awareness, #AllTheTestBashes etc. However, alongside this comes challenges. As we grow, how can we keep all these testers connected in a positive way? Community Service At our company retreat we came up with this idea of ‘Community Service’. It’s a term we can play on in a humorous way, we hope. The likes of Google are well known for their 80/20 rule where staff are encourage...

January RoundUp of All Things MoT

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0000

January was all about looking inwards and defining some goals. You may have followed some of our shenanigans on our first retreat. We have refocused and we've lots of plans for the year ahead! How are your goals? The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. How to test Bandersnatch posted by rosie. If you haven't seen this film on Netflix yet, this thread does contain spoilers but also some interesting ideas! Creating a Test Strategy From Scratch posted by heather_reid. How have you approached creating a software testing strategy? Ask Me Anything: Robots in Automation posted by heather_reid. Resources and discussions following on from our brilliant AMA with Jason Huggins. Will AI/ML take my job? posted by lisa.crispin. It can free our time up to do more valuable things than crunch data around but could it take our jobs? How do you review test automation code? posted by nwhitter. How do you review automation to make sure it is acceptable for the test suite? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Shey Crompton! MoT News Legal & General Sponsor Tickets for TestBash Brighton We are excited to announce that Legal & General have signed up as Gold sponsors and have chosen to sponsor 3 people to attend TestBash Brighton. We're particularly excited by this one as the MoT Ethos is all about giving back and supporting the community. This means that we have 3 tickets to give away for the Friday PLUS two nights accommodation. That's right, the hotel is included too! We’ve Updated Our Speaker Policy For Full-day Workshops at TestBash by Richard We’ve made a change to our speaker policy around full-day workshops to make it fairer for everyone. Our previous remuneration was 50/50 profit share, which often resulted in a huge difference in remuneration for instructors. Not to mention the additional overhead from team MoT to produce the profit shares. 10 Amazing Reasons to Attend TestBash Brighton by Rosie There’s no doubt that the world of conferences, software testing and TestBash has changed in the past few years. In the case of TestBash(es) we’ve evolved and grown in many different ways, I thought it would be helpful to point out some key points and ideas we are working on. TestBash Manchester: TestBash Of The North The North remembers what an absolute belter TestBash Manchester 2018 was,...

TestBash is Coming to New Zealand in 2019!

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Our Software Testing Conference is Coming to New Zealand For many years WeTest has been the heart of New Zealand’s software testing community. WeTest Wellington and Auckland meetups and conferences started small and grew steadily over the years, always with the goal of giving a platform to software testers and creating new opportunities for learning and connection. Ministry of Testing and TestBash have also been growing. We have been expanding our conferences within Europe and further afield to the United States and Australia. The WeTest family feel that the best way to keep growing, sharing ideas and fostering the New Zealand testing community is to join the growing number of global TestBash software testing conferences. Of course, we won’t be doing this alone. The wonderful Shirley Tricker will be joining us in bringing TestBash to New Zealand. Some words from Shirley: I've long admired the value that Ministry of Testing offers the testing community. While my role is no longer in testing I love working with testers and want to be part of the next chapter supporting the growing community in NZ. What’s the plan? It’s going to be a busy week with our conference day on Tuesday 29th October followed by 3 days of the super popular Automation in Testing . Apply to Speak Do you have stories and ideas you want to share with us or the solution of a tricky problem you solved? We want talks that are highly creative, fun, but still focus on learning. It doesn’t matter if you’re a well-seasoned speaker or brand new to it, you can go ahead and submit your talks right now! We will be reviewing TestBash New Zealand submissions until 8th March 2019 – this means if you submit before this date then your submission will be considered for New Zealand. TestBash is a very friendly community focused software testing conference and the right place to start your speaker career – 99 seconds or 30 minutes – it is up to you! If you need help to prepare your talk, please contact us, we know amazing experienced speakers who love to help new voices. If selected, Ministry of Testing will cover all your travel and accommodation expenses. You can find all the details of our promise to support all speakers in our speaker policy . Want to know more? Check out our speaker need to know page. Community This event is for you! Got a speaker who you would love to see at TestBash New Zealand? Tell us who that is, we will see if we can make it happen. Tell people...

Legal & General Sponsor Tickets for TestBash Brighton

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

We are excited to announce that Legal & General have signed up as Gold sponsors and have chosen to sponsor 3 people to attend TestBash Brighton . We're particularly excited by this one as the MoT Ethos is all about giving back and supporting the community. It's wonderful to have companies value and support our efforts to always be giving back. This means that we have 3 tickets to give away for the Friday PLUS two nights accommodation. That's right, hotel is included too! All you need to do is fill in the form below and we will choose 3 people on Friday 15th of February. We look forward to hearing all your stories and look forward to welcoming you to TestBash Brighton. TestBash Brighton Team

We’ve Updated Our Speaker Policy For Full-day Workshops at TestBash

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Written By Richard. We’ve made a change to our speaker policy around full-day workshops to make it fairer for everyone. Our previous remuneration was 50/50 profit share, which often resulted in a huge difference in remuneration for instructors. Not to mention the additional overhead from team MoT to produce the profit shares. There are many motivations for changing this, but one of the biggest was that last year we had a few workshops that made a loss. On those occasions, we of course still paid speakers travel and accommodation and we paid them £500 because no one should have to do all that work with no remuneration. I’ve run and still run many workshops and they are a lot of work. To receive no financial remuneration is not acceptable, even if all parties accepted the risk of it happening. That is not the Ministry of Testing way. Having said the above, we felt it was time for a new model. Taking inspiration from other events, and balancing what we believe to be fair for instructors and MoT, we’ve settled on the following:- £1500 fee for the full-day workshop This way instructors know they are getting some financial reward for all the work they will be putting in to deliver a top-class workshop. £50 per attendee after fifteen If your class proves to be hugely popular we feel it’s only fair to reward that. So, for example, if your class sold 22 places, your total fee would be £1850. Expenses This shouldn’t need mentioning at all, but of course, we’ll be covering all your travel and accommodation expenses on top of the above-mentioned fees. Class size limit Nothing has changed here, I just want to reiterate that we will never oversell your workshop. If you tell us your workshop limit is 24, we will sell no more than 24. Some events cram 60-90 people into a workshop, that is just wrong and unfair to everyone in that room; a terrible learning environment. We hope you welcome this change we and hope to read a workshop abstract from you or see you at a TestBash conference soon. Read our full speaker policy and our what speakers need to know QnA . Richard BossBoss

We've Just Launched Coding for Non Coders!

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

We're excited to be taking some serious action in educating the world of testing. To code, or not to code? Should I be more technical or not? To understand software and the systems better, or not? How can I get started in coding? This is one of the biggest discussion and debated areas within the software testing world. In fact, it's not just the testing world that discusses this. I've come across many an article from designers questioning whether they should be more technical too. Testers are not alone in this in this battle. Jim will help you get your head around getting started with some basic coding concepts. But perhaps more importantly, he'll equip you to have better conversations about the tech you are helping to build. You can learn about code to help you automate tests, or you can learn about code to help you understand the many ways you can contribute to making better software. Both reasons are perfectly valid. It's pretty exciting that Jim Holmes has poured his time and creativity to put this course together. I've been keeping a close eye on his tweets throughout his creation of the course and it's been wonderful to see the attention he has given it all. Both Jim and MoT will be working together closely to ensure that support is given to those that do the course. It's entirely online and support is provided via a private section on The Club. Check out the Coding for Non-Coders course . With pleasure, Rosie and TeamMoT

10 Amazing Reasons to Attend TestBash Brighton

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

by Rosie Sherry Want to go to TestBash Brighton , but struggling to put good reasoning together for yourself or your boss ? There’s no doubt that the world of conferences, software testing and TestBash has changed in the past few years. In the case of TestBash(es) we’ve evolved and grown in many different ways, I thought it would be helpful to point out some key points and ideas we are working on. Belonging ‘I feel like I belong. I now understand what TestBash is all about.’ This is one of the most frequent comments we get. I've heard it many times over the years. For some it can be an almost instant feeling. For others it can take years for people to get around to coming along to a TestBash. And sometimes it even takes a few TestBashes for them to get into the flow of it . When we talk about community we mean it. When you come to a TestBash - you are welcome and you belong. Sometimes these things take practice and effort. You may look around and feel that people connect with others more easily, whilst you are struggling. This is a natural way to feel and to be clear, what you see is not always the truth. People at TestBash are always practicing, seeking and exploring ways to connect better. The more you put in, the more you will get out. We work hard to encourage everyone to help each other out. Just like public speaking, it’s nerve racking at first, but with practice, these things become easier. You can come prepared, reaching out on our Slack, The Club, Twitter or simply emailing one of the team. Or you can just roll up on the day(s) and come enjoy yourself. The best thing is, the community is here all year round, not just for the conference. The Fair Trade of Software Testing When I started MoT I wanted to make the software testing world better. This is still a driving force behind our organisation today. When I am working on something, I always ask myself ‘how will this help the testing world?’ My heart says we can’t make the testing world better if we are not ethical about all things we do. This is now core to MoT, being fair trade AND listening to our hearts. We are not driven by money, but money helps us grow and serve you. So we find the balance. Trying to deliver value without compromising on our values. It turns out this is hard, but so, so right. When we try to make decisions, we always ask ourselves - ‘is this fair?’ When you buy from us you know that you are backing a team that is truly...

TestBash Manchester: TestBash Of The North

Sun, 13 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

The North remembers what an absolute belter TestBash Manchester 2018 was, so we are coming back, Manchester! For a fourth time! And, we can’t flipping wait! It going to be a spectacular action-packed week-long extravaganza at The Lowry , filled with opportunities to learn, network, have fun, and of course, space to reflect on all that’s going on. Here’s the itinerary for the week: Automation In Testing (Monday 30th September - Wednesday 2nd October) - a fantastic three-day training course taught by Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham. You’ll learn all about the current state of automation, how to design and implement reliable, targeted automated checks, and create new automation tools to test products at your company. TestBash Workshops (Wednesday 2nd October) are a series of ½ day workshops, some of which focus on technical testing and some on the softer skills a tester needs. A workshop ticket gives you the chance to choose two workshops that appeal to you on a first come, first served basis. TestBash (Thursday 3rd October) is our original software testing conference. It’s a single track event, meaning every talk is a keynote and all attendees have lots to talk about during the breaks and socials. Expect a balance of talks that cover the important aspects of testing, quality and working in software development. It’s fun-filled, jam-packed day! Test.bash(); (Friday 4th October) is our technical testing and automation focussed conference. It’s a single track event, with fun and unique elements sprinkled throughout. Expect talks that include code, live demos and in-depth talks on the technical aspects of testing. Open Space (Saturday 5th October) is the favourite part of TestBash for many regulars; it’s the time when you can reflect on all that you’ve learnt, exchange ideas and information, and collaborate with peers. You design the programme, you go to the sessions that interest you and participate as little or as much as you want; it’s a totally bespoke conference just for you! Speak Got something to share? Well, come and speak at TestBash or Test.bash(); we’re looking for 30-45 minute talks . It doesn’t matter if you’re a well-seasoned speaker or brand new to it, you can go ahead and submit your talks right now! The deadline for submissions is 28th February 2019 . Don’t delay submit your talks today! If selected, Ministry of Testing will cover all your travel and accommodation expenses. All our speakers also get to...

December RoundUp of All Things MoT

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

December was a great month, a nice end to 2018. We're all ready for 2019 and no doubt full of resolutions. Is one of them to speak at a TestBash ? Or maybe to focus on your professional growth with a pro member account ? The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. How to test a mobile game? posted by nitin1387. When you're new to mobile games testing, it can be difficult to know where to start or what skills are transferable. Do you have beef with the idea that anyone can test software? posted by rosie. How do you respond to the arguments that anyone can test software, so professional software testers are not needed, in a meaningful way? How Would You Test An ATM? posted by heather_reid. What behaviour would you expect, and not expect, from the ATMs you use? Test Team Structure posted by inkyfreak. What way are teams in your organisation structured and what have you found to be the most effective structure for test teams? Your Most Used or Favourite Swag Item posted by heather_reid. We're mindful of the environment and keeping waste levels low at MoT, so we're wondering what swag items you use every day no matter where you got them from. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Tuan Tran! MoT News New Ministry of Testing Dojo Boss We have a new boss, Mark Winteringham is our DojoBoss . We’re very excited to have Mark on board, many of you will know him already from his content on The Dojo , or his many other ventures such as the Software Testing Clinic . For those of you who don’t know Mark, you soon will, he’ll be reaching out to you in due course to find out what you’d like to learn on The Dojo and to see if you’d like to contribute content . CommunityBoss & Remote Work Follow Up by Heather Reid Simon Knight wrote a blog post recently about remote working and effective ways to work as a remote worker. This blog post was in response to one from Lisa Crispin about the need for feedback. Having read both and Medium kindly reminding me of my read stats on here, I realised I haven’t written a blog post about remote working and what it’s like being a CommunityBoss. The Dojo We have big plans for The Dojo in 2019, including the addition of more software testing video courses like this one from Jim Holmes , and the addition of more features. To get you started with your...

The Return of The UnExpo - Call For Stands

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

The UnExpo, our attendee-driven expo, is back at TestBash Brighton on Friday 5th April 2019 ! We want you to get involved and connect with the community by designing and running a stand. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to TestBash or have been there from the very beginning, anyone can run a stand at the UnExpo; we all have something to share and much to learn from one another. UnExpo Awesomeness Last Year If you were at TestBash Brighton last year, we don’t need to tell you how brilliant the UnExpo experiment was and what amazing conversations took place during it. For those who missed it, here’s the Full UnExpo report and some lovely feedback from the Twitterverse. It were great! Got me thinking about lots of different stuff and practising my testing skills! — James Sheasby Thomas (@RightSaidJames) March 17, 2018 Are There Any Changes To The UnExpo? Based on the feedback we received from attendees, we're tweaking the UnExpo format for the better: There will be even more poster stands than last year so more of you can get involved in sharing your work, thoughts, hobbies, ideas, research or even just introducing yourself to the community. All booked stands will run all day during the breaks and lunch of TestBash, rather than switching poster presenters each break. This gives you the chance to showcase your stand to everyone at TestBash and means your poster gets the attention it deserves. There will be a limited number of stands that are reserved for folks inspired by TestBash to sign up to on the day, these will rotate each break keeping the UnExpo fresh. What Topic Can I Run A Stand On? You can run a stand on anything you like! Think eureka moments, latest conundrums, day to day life as a tester, professional development ideas or interesting debates among the community. You’ll have a room full of testers to share your ideas with and, in return, you’ll be able to pick their brains too! Here are some stands that were run last year to give you inspiration: Lateral thinking puzzles Co-design a performance testing strategy Help me get my first software testing job Self-care and testing My lessons learned running a test community of practice Learning buddies Do I Need to Create A Poster In Advance? No, we’ll provide everything you need to create your poster on the day of TestBash; all the Sharpie colours, paints, stickers, poster paper etc. Your poster can be as simple or as complex as you like, the only purpose of the poster...

Welcome our New DojoBoss

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

We're excited that Mark Winteringham has joined team MoT. He will be heading up The Dojo. Find out all about it in this video

Top Ten TestBash Talks 2018 - As Chosen By The Bosses

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

In 2018 we hosted a record number of eight TestBash software testing conferences around the world! If you didn’t manage to make any of those TestBashes, don't worry all our TestBash talks are available on The Dojo. Plus we've a full year of TestBashes ahead - you can see them all on our Upcoming Events page . We heard a total of 81 talks at TestBash events this year, some of which were from new speakers, some from those who are tester famous, all of which were awesome. Despite the collective awesomeness, the MoT bosses have put their heads together and would like to share their chosen top ten TestBash talks of 2018. Here they are in chronological order: Experiences In Modern Testing by Alan Page at TestBash Brighton on 16th March Having led (and still leading) teams through the transformation to modern, advanced testing, Alan packs in all he can on everything he knows about modern testing in 2018 and what it means to software testers. This talk is filled with experiences, anecdotes, and practical examples – as well as warnings about potential traps! Communities Of Practice, The Missing Piece Of Your Agile Organisation by Emilly Webber at TestBash Brighton on 16th March 2018 To show you why communities of practice are a vital piece of your agile organisation and what role they can play, Emily draws from her experiences of developing communities of practice at many different organisations, as well as case studies from her ongoing research into this area. Kill the Mutants! by Nico Jansen & Simon de Lang at TestBash Netherlands on 13th April 2018 During this talk, Nico and Simon introduce you to the concept of mutation testing and how through its techniques of evaluating and modifying programs it can reveal new issues, risks and areas of code left untested. Not only do they talk about the why, but the how, with an introduction to an open source mutation testing tool called Stryker. Take The Blue Pill Or The Red Pill, You Decide If You Want To Change - Leigh Rathbone at TestBash Dublin on 18th May 2018 With quality being built into a coder's work from the offset and the challenges facing testing teams seeming greater than ever, testers now have a choice to take the blue pill and do nothing or opt for the red pill and to learn and change. Leigh tells us of his exciting journey of swallowing the red pill, and of his 7-year drought taking the blue pill. His key message is that it has to be you that makes the decision to take the red pill,...

TestBash Is Returning to Sydney. Will You Be Throwing Another Shrimp on the Barbie?

Sun, 06 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0000

Launching a conference in a new location is hard. Even with the best planning you never truly know what to expect. It's fair to say that if we did have any exceptions of TestBash Sydney 2018, they were far exceeded in every measure. Because of that, we're coming back! We're not coming back the same though... just like Arnold we'll be pumping iron in the off season and coming back HUGE! Not only will we be serving up the awesome TestBash single track conference day, but we'll be on the hunt for some bonza workshops to make TestBash Sydney a multi-day confer-fest! We've also begun talks with a new venue space which is truly built on collaboration and is in one of the best possible locations the city has to offer. Want to speak? We can't all of the credit for a bloody ripper conference, in fact, the bulk of it has to go to the speakers! Do you have a solution to a tricky problem you solved? Do you have a story that you think others will learn from and they must hear? We want talks and workshops that are creative, entertaining, but also educational. Our motto is “Co-creating smarter testers” and we want you to help us achieve this, and although this is a testing-centric conference, don't limit yourself if you have something that sits outside the 'normal' realm of testing. If it's different, but still applicable, let us see it! You can submit your proposal to TestBash Sydney using our continuous call for papers . We will be collecting submissions until 28th February 2019 – meaning that if you submit before this date your submission will be considered for Sydney in 2019. Workshops After the success of 2018, we wanted to offer more, and as many of you requested us to bring workshops to Sydney, that’s what we're doing in 2019. We will be looking for submissions to present 1/2 and/or full day workshops on a variety of topics. These workshops do not need to be built on brand new content, but they will more likely be accepted if they tackle practical and modern testing challenges. If you’ve got something that sounds like that, then submit a workshop ! TestBash Conference Day TestBash is a very friendly community conference and the right place to break new ground and try out the speaker’s role. To all new speakers and those considering it – let those voices be heard, share your stories with the audience. If you have passion and energy for your profession, this is the place to share it! To those you are not quite ready, or perhaps speaking isn't...

10 Most Popular Articles of 2018

Fri, 28 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0000

In 2018, Melissa, our EditorBoss was focussed on releasing high-quality software testing articles on weekly basis to provide our readers with regular, relevant content throughout the year. All this, whilst still providing extra support to the many new writers we work with... not an easy task. The editing team managed to release an article every Monday morning for the first six months of the year until MoT and authors alike were wrapped up in the conference season. So we didn't get to 52 articles, but we did publish 40 new articles between all our article series ... not bad at all! All of these 40 awesome articles had many learning takeaways, and some gorgeous stories could even bring a smile to your face or a tear to your eye. We're very proud of all the articles we've produced this year and are incredibly grateful to our authors for choosing to collaborate with us. We always endeavoured to produce high-quality software testing articles with long-lasting relevance. And, this is reflected in our ten most read articles of 2018, we've got plenty of new articles in there but also articles from our archives showing that our articles continue to be useful for many years to come! Top Ten Articles of 2018 So here they are, from 10 to 1, the ten most visited articles of 2018 wrapped up and summarised just for you (enjoy, and please share with the community): How To Write A Software Test Plan - Richard C. Paterson As part of the Software Testing Clinic (SWTC) article series " Questions From Students " where frequently asked questions from students at SWTC sessions get answered, Richard covers all the basics of writing a software test plan from whether a test plan is required, to writing a good test plan, and, importantly, reviewing and updating your test plans. If you're new to software testing this article is definitely worth a read... in fact, the whole series is pretty great! Follow Richard on Twitter What Does It Mean To Be A Technical Tester? - Claire Reckless From this years' Testing Planet , Claire analyses the current and highly debated topic of what it means to be a technical tester and gives her knowledgeable and thoughtful opinion on the subject. She discusses what being a "technical tester" really means, how labels such as technical or non-technical could be harmful and how software testers can improve their technical skills. If you're looking to improve your technical skills or are worried you're not technical enough, this is...

TestBash CCFP Reviews Move Online - Come Contribute

Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is the software testing conference ran by us all over the world, we currently have them in 7 locations. Last year in order to ensure we have the best speakers at our events we moved to a CCFP (continuous call for papers), meaning that you could submit whenever inspiration hit. The CCFP approach has proven a huge success, we average 300 abstracts for each TestBash, tough competition for 7-14 places! Of course, it’s not all down to the CCFP, we’re worked hard over the years to make TestBash an appealing conference to speak at. The growth of TestBash and our CCFP has made picking the conference a tough and time-consuming gig! Our approach thus far has been to tweet out requesting help or post a message on our Slack , which has usually resulted in 40-50 people offering their time to help. We would then send them a spreadsheet containing 40 anonymised abstracts where they grade them and add some comments to the abstract. We would do this for all 40-50 people, some would race through them and request more, the result... fantastic feedback from the community which we really appreciate and need but also a huge pile of spreadsheets! We were then collating those spreadsheets into a master sheet where we can start to create shortlists based on the community feedback. The whole process was time-consuming and prone to error, we needed something new. New has arrived. We’ve just put our CCFP Review page live! You can now contribute to Ministry of Testing and TestBash when it works for you. If you’d like to contribute to TestBash just visit the review page and you’ll be presented with an anonymous abstract to review. Simply read the abstract, and complete these three steps: Is the abstract anonymous? Were you able to identify the speaker(s)? We want to remove any bias from the process, so if the speaker has left some identifiable information in the abstract such as a blog link or used their name in a third person we want to know so we can remove that identifiable information or contact the submitter and ask them to resubmit. If it isn’t anonymous click “Abstract Not Anonymous” which will notify us. Give the abstract your score We use a simple scoring method as Ministry of Testing for grading abstracts Green - This means you really want to hear this talk, or attend this workshop, or you believe the community does. Orange - You’re undecided, it could go either way. Red - Nope, no, not interested in hearing this talk. Feedback We offer...

The Super Testing Bros Have Completed Their Final Level

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Our Beginnings In late 2016, James and I were pondering how we could broaden our personal testing communities and better connect with the world. I had a young family and James was due to join that merry band of fathers a few months later, getting to meetups was difficult and while we have an incredible community here in New Zealand, we understood that we are somewhat tucked away in our little corner of the world. Our ambition was to interact with and learn and share learnings through podcasts, we could reach out to the world and help testers around the world to improve their learning. So we jumped into it, became the Super Testing Bros, recorded and released our first episode in Jan 2017. Then we got lucky fast, even before we had our first guest on the show, whilst at Cast-X 2017, I struck up a conversation with Mark Tomlinson who gave us some great advice on podcasting and most significantly pointed us at the Ministry of Testing. Our Relationship With Ministry of Testing It took a couple of months to work out the groundwork, in that time we continued podding along with some fantastic NZ based guests, but we'd decided that we wanted to go to a European TestBash, in particular, TestBash Manchester. We agreed with Richard Bradshaw (BossBoss) to record interviews with each of the conference speakers and workshoppers in exchange for our tickets, and our company training budget would cover our flights. The experience of interviewing European and North American testers was profound, not only did we learn that during the NZ winter daylight savings is not conducive to convenient conversations with Europe, but we had our entire testing perspective shifted many times, by the shared experiences and learning from these great conversations. We made some great new friends and agreed to produce a podcast a month for the Ministry of Testing going forward. Our Final Level But now as we close out 2018, with 2 full years of podcasting and a great deal more knowledge under our belts this journey has concluded with our final podcast " Super Testing World ", and we begin new chapters in our careers. With a massive thanks to the support from Ministry of Testing, our listeners and guests we wish you all the best, a Merry Christmas and a happy new year full of learning and growth. James Espie & Dan Barrow (the Super Testing Bros)

London Tester Gathering Workshops

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0000

London Tester Gathering Workshops Are Returning in 2019 The Ministry of Testing and Tony Bruce are excited to announce that the London Tester Gathering Workshops are returning again in June 2019! With a slightly different format, the 2019 event will give you more learning, sharing and practical opportunities. It will be spread over 3 days, giving attendees the opportunity to pick from 1 of 3 full day workshops, with an additional choice of 12 half-day workshops. Be quick though, there are limited places available. And you'll need plenty of time to make your choices! The full program will be available on the event page in due course. As with all Ministry of Testing events, there is a wonderful community which comes together in a friendly, professional and safe environment. We think you will feel at home when you arrive and we look forward to welcoming you! The venue is The Tomlinson Centre , London. Be The First To Hear When The Lineup Launches Want to hear about the full lineup as soon as we launch? Head over to the London Tester Gathering 2019 event page and sign up to the launch list.

TestBash Netherlands 2019 Tickets Now On Sale!

Thu, 06 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0000

On 23rd-24th May 2019 TestBash returns to the Netherlands for its third year! We’ve been growing consistently and surely over the past two years and as always we are looking to keep the same friendly and learning focused vibe. You loved the format we delivered last year so much, we decided to keep a similar format this year with some added learning opportunities. We continue to invest in our software testing community in various ways and always put our values and ethics before profit. From the start, we have believed that no one should feel logistically unable to speak at a conference. We have always covered all speakers expenses at all TestBashes, no questions asked. Need help convincing your boss to attend? Try using the tips in this handy article . So, what can you expect? Automation in Testing A 3-day course, from Monday 20th of May to Wednesday 22nd of May, to help you with your automation in testing challenges. This will be taught by Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham - this has sold out at every TestBash so far. Workshop Day Thursday 23rd May We have six fantastic workshops to choose from. There is something for any tester at any level, don’t miss out! The workshops we have lined up are: Building Your Own API Testing Framework (Using Python, Pytest and the Requests Library) - Joep Schuurkes & Elizabeth Zagroba Experiential Coaching: Building, Nurturing and Helping Teams to Become More Effective - Christina Ohanian Investigating the Context - How to Design an Effective Automation Strategy - Bas Dijkstra Security Testing - Tom Heintzberger & Jeffrey Jansen The Art of Software Investigation - Ben Simo The Test Strategy in Today’s World - Iris Pinkster - O'Riordain & Greet Burkels Oh, and we should not forget, there will be a meetup straight afterward too. Conference Day Friday 24th May We have a packed single track conference day, have yourself and your batteries charged to keep up with the note taking and conversations that are going to happen! For the early birds, we will start at 8 am with a purely optional, chilled and enjoyable lean coffee. The conference line up consists of 9 talks, plus the famous 99-second talks that all attendees are welcome to take part in. Then, yes, you probably guessed it. A meetup with food and drink afterward to continue the discussions. So, what talks are we bringing this year I hear you ask? We have quite a lineup: Risks from Human Factors in Highly Automated Systems - Andrew Brown ...

November 2018 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0000

November has been a great month, we had our two days of TestBash San Francisco and a large amount of content went live. Don't forget you can contribute to Ministry of Testing by becoming a writer . The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. 30 Days of API Testing - Day 1: Define API testing posted by testerawesome . With over 50 replies, this is the go-to post to understand API testing! 30 Days of API Testing Day 3: Begin Reading an API Testing Related Book posted by heather_reid . There's quite a lot of people in the challenge reading Alan Richardson's book but there are also some other great suggestions from beginner to advanced levels. Ask Me Anything: CI/CD and Delivery Pipelines posted by heather_reid . Abby answered all of the unanswered questions from this months AMA, if you're catching up on the Dojo, you can add your questions too. Practical ideas on creating empathy within your software testing team posted by rosie . As testers, many of us are skilled in having empathy for our users but how do we help the rest of the team become more empathetic with the people who are using the software? Tools use to discover what API calls our applications are making posted by oceannguyen . In order to help tackle Day 9 of the 30 days of testing challenge, oceannguyen asks about the differences between API testing tools and tools used to discover API calls. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Duong Ho Nguyen! The Dojo On The Dojo this month we have not one, not two but three new TestBash series packed with awesome, current testing talks from the best testing talent around including our new, technical testing conference Test.bash();. Dive in and learn all the things: All the talks from TestBash Australia 2018 : 99 Second Talks - TestBash Australia 2018 Next Level Teamwork: Pairing And Mobbing - Maaret Pyhäjärvi Enchanting Experiences: The Future Of Mobile Apps - Parimala Hariprasad Exploratory Testing: LIVE - Adam Howard Avoid Sleepwalking to Failure! On Abstractions and Keeping it Real in Software Teams - Paul Maxwell-Walters Test Representatives: An Alternative Approach to Test Practice Management - Georgia de Pont A Tester's Guide to Changing Hearts and Minds - Michele Playfair Advancing Quality by Turning Developers into Quality Champions - Peter Bartlett A Spectrum of Difference:...

Software Testing Company Directory

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 -0000

by Rosie Sherry As the software testing community grows we are exploring ways on how to connect us all better. As part of this we feel it is important to view the software testing world as a bigger picture and try to figure out ways we can all support each other. One thing I’d personally like to achieve is finding the right balance of getting software testing related companies more involved and engaged. This could be anything from independents, to consultancies, recruiters, software vendors/creators…and so forth. There are just so many companies out there trying to do good things for the testing world. I’ve already discovered a few new ones in the process of getting the first entries on there. We feel it is important to gather as many of them as possible in one place. Our first step is to get a big list of them together. We’ve decided to do this in the form of a company directory, no cost associated so no excuses to not get listed! We’re starting small because honestly, our resources are limited, but we have lots of ideas on how to build upon this seed as it grows. I hope you’ll get your company added or check it out . Or feel free to drop me an email (rosie [at] ministryoftesting [dot] com) if you'd like to chat to me about anything about this

TestBash Germany

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is returning to Munich, join us again After two very successful years in Germany, we are excited to announce that TestBash is returning to Munich in 2019! The conference will take place on Friday, 13th September 2019 , we’re hoping it won’t be unlucky for us! We’re returning to the “Münchner Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz”. This year we’re expanding. Not only are we bringing you a day of fantastic conference talks on Friday and an Open Space on Saturday. We’re also having a workshop day on Thursday. After two sell-out years in Munich, we’re sure we won’t disappoint this year. We will bring you inspiring speakers, high-quality content, friendly and cheerful community and learnings you can take back to your whole team. Want to speak? Do you have a solution to a tricky problem you solved? Do you have a story that you think others will learn from and they must hear? Did you find a creative solution to a problem that others can try? We want talks and workshops that are creative, entertaining, but also educational. Our motto is “Co-creating smarter testers” and we want you to help us achieve this. You can submit your proposal to TestBash Munich using our continuous call for papers . We will be reviewing TestBash Germany submissions until 31st January 2019 – meaning that if you submit before this date your submission will be considered for Germany. Workshops We’ve been doing our workshop days for a while now at other TestBashes and we find they work really well. Many of you requested us to bring workshops to Germany. That’s why we’ve decided to add them to what we offer you in Munich. We will be looking for submission to present 1/2 day workshops on a variety of topics. These workshops do not need to be new content, but they will more likely be accepted if they tackle practical and modern testing challenges. If you’ve got something that sounds like that, then submit a workshop ! TestBash Conference Day TestBash is a very friendly community conference and the right place to break new ground and try out the speaker’s role. To all new speakers and those considering it – let those voices be heard, share your stories with the audience. If you have passion and energy for your profession, this is the place to share it! Sponsorship If you want to support this awesome event, we are happy to have you as our sponsor. This is your chance to present your brand to a bunch of highly engaged testers. For more details on the sponsorship options please...

My Manchester Adventures: A TestBash Speaker’s Experience Report

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00:00 -0000

By Hilary Weaver-Robb This year has been a roller coaster for me, to be sure. One of the high points was being accepted to speak at Test.bash(); Manchester , Ministry of Testing’s first targeted automation conference, and being asked to give a workshop beforehand. Test.bash(); was part of TestBash Manchester; a week-long software testing event made up of some training days, a workshop day, two conference days and an unconference day. I was excited to speak at TestBash event for the first time. I'd attended TestBashes in Philadelphia as a volunteer but hadn't really gotten to experience TestBash fully before. I was also looking forward to meeting many folks in the MoT community I only knew from the internet ( Twitter and Slack mostly) for real, and seeing community friends I had met before. I had never been outside of the Americas and was very excited to finally get to see the UK! This trip was going to be particularly great as my husband was able to come along, and it was to be just a few weeks before our anniversary so we decided we’d extend our visit for a few days to enjoy it without plans! TestBash Manchester Arrived: My Anxiety Kicked In I arrived in Manchester and while I was excited to meet the community, I have social anxiety and was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of all of the social events around TestBash - there were meetups every night, as well as a speaker’s dinner. Thankfully this is an AMAZING community, during all of the TestBash Manchester socials, even when I felt uncomfortable for a minute or two, or anxious, it went away quickly as someone would walk up and start chatting. I met so many wonderful new people, and became fast friends with several. And finally getting to know some in person rather than just online - fantastic! This community, man. I love it so much. It makes me tear up a bit how wonderful and welcoming it is. I couldn't ask for better! Wednesday morning, the workshop day, came and I walked over to the venue, The Lowry , for check-in and breakfast. As a TestBash speaker, I was able to attend any of the workshops. And even though my workshop was in the afternoon, and normally I would feel anxious about it, I decided to distract myself with one of the amazing offerings! I went to Angie Jones ’ workshop on code smells . There were lots of great takeaways, even for someone that thinks they know what they’re doing (like me ;)). I always felt like I shouldn’t put Asserts outside of the tests themselves,...

TestBash Brighton 2019 Tickets Now on Sale!

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 00:00:00 -0000

By Rosie Sherry and Kim Knup TLDR; Tickets are now on sale for TestBash Brighton. We’re excited about the strong connection and growth of the MoT Community and expanding our offerings. We have TestBash Essentials, TestBash Workshops and TestBash conference tickets to choose from. Plus, we are now offering childcare for the 3 days. Have a peek to see what interests you and your team! We just hosted our first Test.bash(); - our first software testing conference with a theme on technical skills and automation. We have proper feels for what TestBash Essentials is going to be like after the immense positive feedback from Test.bash(); So, we’ll keep it to the point. This is what you need to know about TestBash Brighton 2019… Automation in Testing A 3 day course, from Monday 1st of April to Wednesday 3rd of April, to help you with your test automation challenges. This will be taught by Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham - we’ve done this twice before our TestBashes recently and they’ve both sold out. TestBash Essentials TestBash Essentials will be on Wednesday 3rd of April 2019 - it’s a one day single track conference focused on the foundations of software testing. This has been on our wishlist for a while as we believe something out there should exist to help newer people to testing learn about good, not necessarily new, testing ideas. We actually think this could be really useful to all testers, but really it’s designed to cover essential software testing topics well. TestBash Workshop Day TestBash Workshop Day will be on Thursday 4th of April 2019 - our workshops have sold out the past couple of years. They are all half day sessions with a max of 30 attendees, designed to give attendees and trainers plenty of opportunity to support and communicate with one another. There is an exception to the TestBash Workshop Day attendee numbers - as we are trialling out a Workshop Track . We have grouped some talks that cover similar topics into a 1/2 day workshop session. We’ve done this for talks about Continuous Development and Personal Stories. So in each of these workshop tracks you will get to see talks and have time for discussion. TestBash Conference Day This is the main conference day and will be the busiest with lots and lots of software testers on the day. It is our traditional single track software testing focused conference, with lots of pre and post and activities: from meetups, to lean coffees, to runs and more! ...

September 2018 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 00:00:00 -0000

September has been all about Germany and Manchester TestBashes, to say it's been a busy month would be an understatement! As always, we've plenty of content to share. - don't forget you can contribute to Ministry of Testing by becoming a writer . The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. Google Killing URLs, what does it mean for testing? posted by rosie. Google wants to kill the URL, what will this mean for your projects? Live Blog: Culture is Often Framed by What You DON’T Say, Not Necessarily by What You Do Say – Ash Coleman posted by alex_schl. Alex fantastically summarised Ash Colemans recent talk at TestBash Germany where Ash spoke about culture in ourselves, in our space and also in TestBash. When to hire a/more testers posted by watchful_tester. What kind of dev to test ratios do you work with and how do you determine when to hire more testers? "What are the pro’s and con’s of writing an API test automation framework at code level as opposed to using a tool" ( https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-writing-an-api-test-automation-framework-at-code-level-as-opposed-to-using-a-tool/18232 ) posted by tilston1001. Why should you write an automation framework at code level, as opposed to using a tool like Postman or SoapUI and utilising what they have to create a framework? What Test Metrics do you use to measure test the quality of the system and productivity? posted by bonnie. Before we look at test metrics, it is important to consider what we want to achieve from the metrics. Useful real-world APIs to test against posted by tilston1001. A great collection of replies for anyone looking to practice API testing. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Alex Schladebeck! The Dojo All 26 TestBash talks from Germany and Manchester will be on The Dojo very soon but here’s the new content waiting for you on The Dojo, this month: A couple of Testers’ Island Discs podcasts with Neil Studd: Testers' Island Discs Ep23 - Elizabeth Zagroba - We kick-off a bumper month of episodes with a visit to the island by Elizabeth Zagroba, to talk about the ideas behind her upcoming presentation at TestBash Germany, entitled "Doubt Builds Trust". Among the discussions, there are debates about the challenges of saying "I don't know", stories about exploring doubt within interview...

My Experience of TestBash: My First Software Testing Conference

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 00:00:00 -0000

By Elena Ivan Last week, I did two things for the first time: baked a cake and went to Ministry of Testing’s TestBash conference. Both of them made me step out of my comfort zone and try out things I hadn’t done before. While the making of the cake was tasty, I am more excited about sharing my experience of TestBash Germany with you. It was the first time I’d been to a testing conference, so I didn’t know what to expect or how it was going to be. I had heard only good things about the MoT community, but somehow, I was never an active part of it, just reading articles and watching TestBash talks online on The Dojo . So, I was looking forward to meeting the community in person. The Morning of TestBash The location of TestBash Germany was at the Munich Künstlerhaus which translates to the Munich House of Artists. It is in the city centre of Munich and is a great venue, full of history, and was very well chosen. However, with the conference being on a Friday, after a working week, my mind was elsewhere. On route to the venue, I was still caught up in work topics and answering emails and struggled to find my way. So, when I eventually arrived, I was immediately surprised to see all these smiling people; networking, answering questions and preparing the start of the conference. There were a few familiar faces (colleagues from work, people I'd met before at local meetups), but mostly new faces. And, I must admit, I felt nervous and had feelings of imposter syndrome creeping in. The historic Munich Künstlerhaus, venue of TestBash Germany 2018 Time for the TestBash Talks Whilst trying to move past these feelings, the talks started. And instantly, I got captivated. The first talk “Doubt Builds Trust” by Elizabeth Zagroba , which is a topic that highly resonates with me, since in my job, our team problems were often based on a lack of trust, probably some issues still are. Additionally, I had a hard time building the team’s trust in me when I first started working there. Trust is always a sensitive topic. It’s all about #trust #testbash #oktobertest pic.twitter.com/7ifYHp7TFy — Elena Ivan (@IvanElenaa) September 14, 2018 Ravneet Kaur’s talk “Testing for purpose” was also a very interesting talk for me. It focussed on the importance of having a culture of experimentation in your company and not being afraid to make mistakes. This talk was also advocating releasing in small chunks to smaller user groups to find out first if your idea was...

August 2018 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Get monthly software testing community news to your inbox - sign up for our much-loved newsletter ! August has been a month of preparation for our next round of TestBashes! They've come around quick, we can't wait to get to them! As always, we've plenty of content to share. - don't forget you can contribute to Ministry of Testing by becoming a writer . The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. The Importance Of Saying “I Don’t Know” In Software Testing posted by heather_reid. Saying "I don't know" can be daunting, the experiences of both saying and hearing this seemingly simple phrase cause some pause for thought. “But I have nothing to talk about!”: ideas for Testbash talks posted by thatdamnqa. You want to talk at a conference but you're struggling for inspiration, share and view ideas of conference talks people would like to see. 99 Things You Can Do To Become A Better Software Tester posted by rosie. We're crowdsourcing suggestions of how you can become a better tester from empathizing to always be learning, what do you suggest? Accessibility and UX/navigation for Voice devices/interfaces posted by gemma.hill1987. A discussion about what things people are doing to make voice interfaces, such as Alexa, accessible. How are you charging Testers work? posted by pavluka. From lone contractor to testers working for larger companies, how do you sell your testers work to clients and when you do, how do you charge them for that? The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . Our Club Ninja this month is Joe DeMeyer! The Dojo On The Dojo we have some excellent software testing talks from our friends at PMT Conf 2018 , an excellent course on an Introduction to HTTP for testers, and lots of great pods and resources , enjoy: An fantastic new course on an Introduction to HTTP by Mark Winteringham: Introduction to the course What is HTTP? What is a Web Service? URIs HTTP Methods Status Codes Response Bodies Sending Payloads HTTP Headers Authorisation and Authentication Updating and Deleting A few Testers’ Island Discs podcasts with Neil Studd: Ep20 - Mark Winteringham - On an epically hot day, Neil and Mark talk about building pathways for learning, optimising delivery for classroom and online training, supporting worldwide franchises, and how to get testing talked about more within universities. Ep21 - Matthew Bretten - Matt...

New eBooks Created From Our Software Testing Courses & Guides!

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0000

We've had a few requests to view individual software testing courses and guides from testers that are unable to pay for the full pro membership. We put on our thinking hats and tried to figure out how could we best help out our awesome community of software testers? We know that it can be hard for smaller companies to find the funding for our membership when they're starting out, or if you're new to the testing field, you might be self-funded and can't quite afford it yet. We had Dan Ashby help you figure out How To Obtain Budgets For Attending Conferences , now we've come up with a clever way to give you some of the most requested courses - eBooks! Which Software Testing Courses And Guides Have We Converted and Where Can You Buy Them? You can buy all our testing eBooks from Amazon and we've kept the costs low, which means you can buy them all! Blazing New Trails: Tips For The Lone Tester by Kate Paulk How To Build A Performance Testing Stack From Scratch by Matt Fleming When Support Calls: Helping Your Support Team To Help Your Customers by James Thomas, Chris George, Neil Younger How to Use Python to Automate Almost Anything by Josh Grant 30 Things Every New Software Tester Should Learn by Heather Reid

Growing a Software Testing Conference One Year at a Time - TestBash Netherlands is back in 2019!

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0000

tl;dr : TestBash NL will be back on May 23rd and 24th 2019. Please submit your workshops or talks by Sunday, October 14th. We are very excited to announce that TestBash, our conference for software testing, is coming back to the Netherlands for the third time! In 2017 and 2018 we had around 200 people enjoy the great atmosphere of TestBash Netherlands in Utrecht. Previous TestBashes in Utrecht have followed a simple yet appreciated format - a training day (or two) followed by the single track conference day delivered by speakers from the community and who also love testing. We’d love to do it all again!! We are coming back in Spring 2019 and we need you to submit your talk or workshop proposal. Rosie says we can’t promise you the sun, but I’m an optimist! What we can promise you is a community led, single track software testing focused conference, with training and talks from practising software testers (or developers, or managers, or designers!) with plenty of opportunities to participate as an introvert or extrovert at our meetups, lean coffee or our famous 99 second talks. Since we simply love the venue, we are going back to the friendly and cosy 19th-century historic venue, Boothstraat 7 in Utrecht on Thursday and Friday 23rd and 24th May 2019 . Mark this in your schedule now! Come and participate in TestBash Netherlands 2019 TestBash Netherlands would not happen without you. We are looking for training and talk submissions. Experience is not essential, in fact, we would love to hear new software testing voices. So if you’re interested in presenting at TestBash Netherlands get submitting now. We’re looking for talks of no more than 30-45 minutes, plus full day training courses for the Thursday. You can go ahead and submit your abstracts right away using our continuous call for papers form . The deadline for being considered for TestBash Netherlands 2019 is midnight on Sunday, October 14th . If you’ve already submitted an abstract and selected “Doesn't matter where, I'm in”, your abstract is already in the mix! We Say No To Pay To Speak From the start, we have believed that no one should feel unable to speak at a conference. We have always covered all speakers expenses at all TestBashes, no questions asked. We do go further than that though. We can help and guide accepted speakers through the nerve-racking process of presenting. And if there are any other challenges you may have, just mention it and we will see what...

July 2018 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Get monthly software testing community news to your inbox - sign up for our much-loved newsletter ! July has been another great month, the 30 Days of Testing challenge went down incredibly well, we had so many of you getting involved! We also had lots of content and discussions happening. The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. 30 Days of Automation in Testing Day 4: What Types of Testing Can Automation Support You With? posted by heather_reid. From mundane tasks to data generation to cross-browser testing and more, there's a wealth of tasks that automation can support you with. 10 days of note taking experimentation - Start Mon 23rd posted by punkmik. Based off the blog post "10 Experiments to Improve Your Exploratory Testing Note Taking" by Alan Richardson, join the experiment! Sprint 6 What's something that seems obvious within your profession, but the general public seems to misunderstand? posted by dominickua. Do the general public know we exist and do they think we're the reason for them receiving buggy software? 30 Days of Automation Testing Day 9 - Find, use and share your thoughts on an API testing tool posted by pmichielsen. Postman, Swagger, SOAP UI to name a few, there's a lot of tools out there and some useful thoughts here about them. 30 Days of Automation in Testing Day 25: Share what actions you take to make your automation maintainable posted by youngdq232. You might need a code refactor or it could be something as easy as descriptive variable names, there's many ways to ensure your automation code is maintainable. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . We have a super secret anonymous ninja for the month of July! The Dojo Snapshot of all the content produced for The Dojo throughout June. You'll find articles, podcasts and videos. We have a mix of free and pro membership content - as you might expect, as a pro member you have access to all content created. A couple of new articles from the Testing Planet 2018 : A Practical Guide To Release Testing by Josh Grant. One of the most critical parts of any software project is releasing it out into the world, and customers. RiskStorming In Agile Teams With TestSphere by Gem Hill. As a software tester, I am always on the lookout for new ways to get teams talking and sharing knowledge and information. July’s 30 days of Testing Challenge: 30 Days of...

June 2018 RoundUp of All Things MoT

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Get monthly software testing community news to your inbox - sign up for our much-loved newsletter ! June has been another great month, the regular online events, lots of exciting announcements and plenty of new content shared! The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. What software testing models do you use to help with your testing? posted by rosie. Do you use the HTSM, a pyramid, a periodic table or make up your own? CV’s: How Do You Write Yours? posted by heather_reid. It started as a dream to crowdsource a sample CV, but it's looking like there's a lot of differences depending on the country you are based in. Sprint 4: What’s the non-technical skill that every tester should have, but most don’t seem to? posted by heather_reid. Be it common sense, self-confidence, leadership or presentation skills, there's a very long list of suggestions and blogs for this one! Newbie and interview conundrum posted by roosh. What do you do when you want that job but the interviewer wants you to break agreements you've signed with your current employer? Sprint 3: What non-testing focussed book do you wish you’d been given on your first day testing posted by dominickua. Suggestions for guides to recognising good and bad management and how to work effectively with others and get what we all want to get done. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . We're delighted to announce that Magda Oszer is our Club Ninja for June! The Dojo Snapshot of all the content produced for The Dojo throughout June. You'll find articles, podcasts and videos. We have a mix of free and pro membership content - as you might expect, as a pro member you have access to all content created. A couple of new articles from the Testing Planet 2018 : What Does It Mean To Be A Technical Tester? By Claire Reckless. Many testers are concerned about not being technical enough, and that they can only be valuable and have career longevity if they are technical. What does this even mean though? How to Become a Software Tester Without A Computer Science Degree by Cassandra H. Leung. There is more than one way to becoming a software tester, Cassandra shares her journey. WCAG 2.1: The Area Of Effect For Mobile Accessibility by Helen Burge. Accessibility guidelines are not a recent trend, but with events in the Digital World, they are taking more prominent roles within...

30 Days of Automation in Testing, Are You Taking Part?

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Our famous 30 Days of Testing Challenge is back this JULY! This time we're focussing on Automation in Testing and this challenge has been written by the AIT gurus themselves; Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham . What's more, this challenge has been kindly sponsored by SmartBear ... thank you! What's #30DaysOfTesting challenge about? Our 30 Days of Testing Challenge does what it says on the tin; in 30 days, try and check off as many of the testing challenges set as you can! Why take part? These challenges are awesome at helping testers explore specific testing topics and learn collaboratively with the rest of the testing community. They also take the hard work out of how to get started with learning testing topics by tasking you with daily bite-sized challenges. Who can take part? Everyone can take part! 30 Days of Testing Challenges are suitable for those who are new to the testing topic, those who want to brush up their skills and even the experts in the field can get great value out of taking part and joining in on the community conversations around the challenge by following the #30DaysOfTesting hashtag on Instagram , Twitter , LinkedIn How can I take part?! Go to the 30 Days of Automation in Testing Challenge , find the list of 30 challenges (plus a bonus challenge!), one for each day of the month. Download the PDF. Save it somewhere. Print it out. Stick it on your wall. Get your team Involved! The goal is to tick off as many of the challenges as you can. You can, of course, do this on your own and in your own timeframe, or you can join us in our joint community effort! We will be encouraging the community to share their progress on this challenge from the 1st of July 2018 . If you're taking part in the community effort, you may have an image to share as you complete the tasks, maybe a blog post, a video or status update about your challenge journey... whatever it is tag us online, use the hashtag and get involved! Here is how you can share your progress: On Instagram , Twitter , LinkedIn – use the #30daysoftesting hashtag On our 30 Days of Testing category in The Club On our Ministry of Testing Facebook group On our MoT Slack Let everyone know you're taking part and download an " I'm taking part " badge

TestBash Essentials - a new one day conference

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0000

by Rosie Sherry You may have seen we announced our call for papers for TestBash Brighton 2019 . Within it we also announced TestBash Essentials - a new one day conference from Team MoT focused on more introductory ideas in software testing. TestBashes have become renowned for our great talks (and other things too), but what I've personally noticed over time are the needs of different people. Yes, it kind of sounds obvious when I put words to paper. People have different needs and wants, which is why we came up with Test.bash() in Manchester for those after more technical software testing concepts. It felt like there was still more to do. I've always been aware of the lack of good resources and talks that cover the more basic ideas of testing, generally on the 'internet' and at conferences. For conferences this is understandable, people don't submit the ideas because they don't think the ideas are 'new' enough. And also, we often don't accept them either, as I've personally felt some would feel put off attending if the content wasn't advanced enough. Our solution is to create TestBash Essentials - a one-day software testing conference focused on teaching those that are newer to testing ideas about testing in a really good way. The ideas do not need to be new, they could be, however, it is more important that people who do not know a lot about testing should walk away feeling like they understand testing better. In time, and as (hopefully) we host more TestBash Essentials, we will end up developing a huge resource of talks that will help testers get to grips with any software testing concept. I hope this will attract many new speakers to submit too. I know many are reluctant to submit because they don't feel like their ideas are innovative enough. We are all testers. We can all teach something about testing. We hope you will submit and share what you know . Or sign yourself up to the launch list so you don't miss out on specific announcements.

TestBash Brighton 2019

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0000

by Rosie Sherry Pay attention! New things! And submissions details below! Of course TestBash Brighton, our biggest and much loved software testing conference, is coming back next year. As always we are evolving as we feel and see the community change. 2019 will see Kim Knup join us as a lead designer of the event. Kim has long been a supporter, attendee and speaker at many of our TestBash and Meetup events. She also lives local to Brighton. Rosie is particularly excited to see what she can bring to our TestBash experiences. "I am really excited to help shape TestBash Brighton for 2019. TestBash Brighton was where I first met the testing community and it ignited a passion for the craft that since has just grown. Going to TestBash has helped me grow as a tester and person immensely. I am looking forward to giving back, especially with our new 4 day event!” - Kim TestBash Brighton 2019 will see it become a 4 day event, plus some training days before hand. Day 1: TestBash Essentials (Wednesday 3rd of April 2019) TestBash Essentials is a new one day conference that provides an introduction to the world of software testing. This could be of interest to a variety of people looking to navigate and understand the world of testing: new software testers developers designers managers TestBash Essentials is about bringing testing knowledge and experience to those that would benefit from it, but not necessarily be an expert in it (yet). We feel the world would be a better place if we could share the bare essentials of good testing in a space that does not require prior knowledge. Of course this means we are looking for submissions for this conference that will cater for this audience. This means that the topics do not need to be new ideas. Our focus is to cover introductory and basic software testing concepts really well. Can you help with that? Then submit a talk! Also find out all the positive reasons why you should speak at a TestBash event . Day 2: TestBash Workshop Day (Thursday April 4th 2019) We’ve been doing our workshop days for a while now and we find they work really well. They sold out well in advance last time, so we’ll be looking at increasing the workshops that we offer. Again, we will be looking for submission to present 1/2 day workshops on a variety of topics. These workshops do not need to be new content, but they will more likely be accepted if they tackle practical and modern testing challenges. Can you...

Autumn TestBash Events!

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0000

We have now launched all of our TestBash events happening in Autumn 2018. We hope there is one that you can convince your boss to attend. Each TestBash covers a variety of different and relevant topics with a diverse set of speakers from across the globe. This is also backed by a friendly and inclusive community that will help you feel at home. So, which TestBash will it be? So what is actually happening? TestBash Germany 14th September - Early Bird Tickets Available We're returning to Munich for #OktoberTest. You not only have the chance to be part of this great international community but also see a very exciting lineup. The goal was to create a lineup that helps you to see your testing from different perspectives. TestBash Manchester 26th - 27th September - Super Early Bird Tickets Available This is our third year returning to Manchester! With good reason. This year we have some pre-TestBash training, workshops and of course the conference day itself. Expect a multitude of topics to be covered, you can learn about security, bias, exploratory testing and lots more. Check it out for yourself. Test.Bash(); 28th September - Super Early Bird Tickets Available Our first ever Test.Bash(); in response to your demands! We had so many requests to run a more technical conference, so we've done it! It will be in the same format as our normal TestBash conference, this time we're delving into the depths of coding...and much more too. TestBash Australia 19th October - Super Early Bird Tickets Available This is another new addition! We're off to the southern hemisphere and couldn't be happier about it. The goal was to be as diverse as possible and appeal to a wide audience. With that in mind, we’ve put together a wonderful line up of speakers - both local and international - with topics that cover multiple areas of our amazing craft. TestBash San Francisco 8th - 9th November - Super Early Bird Tickets Available OK, so we've been the USA repeatedly, however, it's our first time to San Francisco! We're wrapping up the year with a 2-day extravaganza. 17 talks, a few surprises and a gathering of an awesome community! What a wonderful way to round out the year?!

Monthly Newsletter: May RoundUp of All Things MoT

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0000

May has been rather great, lots happening, between TestBash Dublin, the regular online events and of course lots of new content - plus planning our future events! Let's just say it's been busy. As always, we've gathered everything that has gone live in this one monthly email! The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. 30 Days Of Ecommerce Testing Day 9: Tools posted by heather_reid. From dev tools to monitoring tools, there are lots of suggestions here that would work outside e-commerce too. Sprint 1: A technical tip all testers should know posted by dominickua. A round-up of the first set of blogs from the Bloggers Club, a community movement to encourage people to blog. Teaching non-testers about testing posted by gemma.hill1987. When you're the only "official" tester on the team, how do you get the rest of the team on board with and thinking about testing? Ask Me Anything: Security Testing posted by heather_reid. A collection of resources shared in our AMA with Dan Billing, Dan has also answered questions we didn't get to in the live event. The Book Club: The Checklist Manifesto posted by kstoltzenburg. Have you read the book yourself or do you plan to? Join Karo, George, and Alan as they discuss and review it. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . We're delighted to announce that David Kotschessa is our Club Ninja for May! The Dojo Snapshot of all the content produced for The Dojo throughout May. You'll find articles, podcasts and videos. We have a mix of free and pro membership content - as you might expect, as a pro member you have access to all content created. A couple of new articles from the Testing Planet 2018 : Rethink Your Automation Setup by Stratos Ioannis. After spending countless hours working around framework issues, maintaining tests that are more hardcoded than the ten commandments, and investigating test failures that appear only during your absence, you realise something is wrong. UI automation shouldn’t have to be this hard to deal with or maintain. Modern Testing Principles by Melissa Eaden. Modern Testing Principles created by Alan Page and Brent Jensen are the natural evolution of the Agile Tester. With these seven principles of Modern Testing, testers can start moving from being the owners of quality to being the ambassadors of shippable quality. A few new...

Continuous Call For Papers — A Year On

Mon, 28 May 2018 00:00:00 -0000

In November 2016 we introduced our Continuous Call for Papers. The idea came around after a realisation that we always seemed to have a Call for Papers (CFP) open for a particular TestBash due to the sheer number of them these days, this year alone we had/have Brighton , Netherlands , Dublin , Germany , Manchester , Test.bash(); , Australia and San Francisco ! The same abstracts would appear in each CFP, meaning the person had to log on each time and submit their abstract, a bit tedious. Sometimes folk would forget for a specific CFP and unfortunately miss out. There had to be a better way. People may select a location for a specific reason, such as being unable to travel, or it’s been a goal of theirs to talk at the original in Brighton. One factor that didn’t matter was cost, as Ministry of Testing covers all the speaker’s expenses . So, I wanted a system that meant folk could still select a specific location but also an option for it doesn’t really matter which TestBash, I just want to talk at TestBash! The question is though, has it helped anyone? The answer is yes, it really has. I’ve some data for you. Stats At Brighton, we had three speakers who were previously unsuccessful but made the Brighton stage. At the Netherlands, we had two speakers, both of which the Netherlands was the last TestBash their abstracts were going to be considered for. At TestBash Dublin we had four speakers who’d previously read that horrible unsuccessful email but got a Dublin invite email that I’m sure put a big smile on their faces. Those events have been and gone and every single one of them did a sensational job! We still have four more TestBashes to go this year, so how did the CCFP help them? Germany was a clean sweep for first-time submissions, but importantly four of the abstracts had only selected Germany as a location, so way to go to those four! This brings us to TestBash Manchester where we have a staggering six people who had previously been unsuccessful. Now the data from this point forward is interesting, as the majority of people who submitted around this time did indeed select it doesn’t matter where they talk. This was because we had Germany, Manchester, Sydney and San Fransisco all open. However, those six didn’t make the cut for Germany but did for Manchester, so without a CCFP, they may not have submitted. The new show in town, Test.bash(); our first targetted TestBash, how did this fair? Three of the speakers at...

Monthly Newsletter: April RoundUp of All Things MoT

Thu, 03 May 2018 00:00:00 -0000

April seems to have blown by with a mix of blistering heat or serious rain here! As always we've had a great month between online events and TestBash, so we've great content to share! We've gathered everything that has gone live, as well as those upcoming events, in this one monthly email! Handy! The Club A few selected discussions from The Club that we thought you might find interesting. A Bloggers club posted by dominickua. What better way to find motivation for blogging than to work on it with the community! The future of the Test Manager? posted by sgodfrey81. Can a tester operate without a Test Manager and be able to manage their own development or is the role of a manager within an Agile world more of supporting culture and people development? Key testing skill - in one word posted by sjwatsonuk. Steve is trying to find out from as many people as possible what one word sums up a key skill that a tester needs. The Book Club: Crucial Conversations posted by heather_reid. Assuming you're not afraid of a few spoilers, a discussion about Crucial Conversations and why the contributors would recommend it to others. Learning buddies in Test Management? posted by bangser.a. Following on from Abby's UnExpo stand at TestBash Brighton, if you interested in learning, teaching or sharing experiences about Test Management join the conversation. The Club Ninja Each month we select one of our Club users to be our Ninja of the Month . We're delighted to announce that Abby Bangser is our Club Ninja for April! The Dojo Snapshot of all the content produced for The Dojo throughout April! You'll find articles, podcasts and videos. We have a mix of free and pro membership content - as you might expect, as a pro member you have access to all content created. #30DaysOfTesting challenge is back with 30 Days of E-Commerce Testing that has been kindly sponsored by Sauce Labs A 99 Second Introduction to Biases from The Software Testing Clinic Another Ask Me Anything, this time on “ Technical Testing ” with Mark Winteringham. We managed to get through lots of questions. A brilliant new online 99 second talk from Gareth Waterhouse - The Stickman Tester poem inspired by The Stick Man book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. A couple of new articles from the Testing Planet 2018 : Mobile App Testing Mnemonic: Reminders & Tips For Testing Mobile Apps by Daniel Knott. Easy to remember right? The article...

MoT 2.0 - We Have New Shiny Things!

Wed, 02 May 2018 00:00:00 -0000

By Rosie Sherry At Ministry of Testing we have been putting our efforts into growing up. Part of growing up means doing things a bit more professionally and responsibly. It means making plans for the future. It means taking risks and making investments. It means growing our team and our wonderful testing community. And it means that we also make new shiny things! But first…we’ve come a long way! It’s easy to forget our humbling beginnings. I mean, to prove it, I just had to dig out some old logos and design stuff. We started out as The Software Testing Club. This was the online community that I started in 2007. For a laugh, look at how our STC logo evolved. ! And here are some of our monsters. As you can see, some didn’t quite make the journey. Whilst others got some facelifts. In 2011 I felt the need to create a separate project from STC to focus in on the mission of what has become Ministry of Testing. For me personally I was just a bit tired of working for free and I wanted to see if I could make a living doing something that I believe the software testing community needed. The first Ministry of Testing website was something I put together using HTML and CSS. I found a template I liked and put things together. Interestingly, the focus and our mission hasn’t really changed since it started. We then moved onto a WordPress platform. This is what you’ve seen as the front MoT page, our jobs board, our much loved Testing Feeds and many content pages. It looked something like this. Next on our list of projects was creating The Dojo. I remember The Dojo launching when I was pregnant with Eloise - this is how I remember things these days, by relating them back to my children! That means it’s been 3.5 years of The Dojo existing and growing. We have built The Dojo from scratch, it has all been custom built according to our needs…and resources. It’s been a project that we have been committed to grow consistently and with a long term view. We knew we would out grow our WordPress platform, and it was far from ideal having it run along side The Dojo. It has just been a bit of a mammoth task to do so whilst managing all the things we have going on. The Software Testing Club Is Dead, Long Live The Club On top of this, we also ditched our old Software Testing Club forum and started it afresh with The Club , now merged into the MoT brand. We decided to just ditch all the content and start a completely new forum...

30 Days of E-Commerce Testing is Coming

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Our famous 30 Days of Testing Challenge are back! These are a great way to kickstart a month learning about a new area of testing. The theme for this 30 Days of Testing challenge is E-Commerce Testing and is been kindly sponsored by Sauce Labs . These challenges are a great way to learn on your own, as a team effort or join in online with the wonderful Ministry of Testing community. You can find a list of 30 challenges and a bonus challenge, one for each day of the month. Find the 30 Days of Testing Challenges and Download the PDF. Save it somewhere. Print it out. Stick it on your wall. Let’s do this! What are the rules? The goal is to tick off as many of the challenges as you can. You can do this in your own timeframe, or you can join us in our joint community effort. We will be encouraging the community to share their progress on this challenge from the 1st of May 2018. You may have an image to share as you complete the tasks, a blog post, a video or status update about your challenge journey, whatever it is! Tag us online, use the hashtag and get involved! Here is how you can share your progress: On Instagram , Twitter , LinkedIn – use the #30daysoftesting hashtag On our 30 Days of Testing category in The Club On our Ministry of Testing Facebook group On our MoT Slack

TestBash and Test.bash(); Manchester 2018 Are Live!

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0000

TL :DR On 26-29th September 2018 TestBash Manchester and the first Test.bash(); are happening in Manchester, UK. Super Early Bird tickets are on sale, so register now and save! This will be the third year for TestBash in Manchester, and the last two years have both sold out, so please bear that in mind if you are interested in attending this year. We don’t want you to miss out! This year’s event is bigger than ever with a total of six days of TestBash if you attend all the things! Day 1-3: Pre-Training We start the week on Monday, 24th September with the three-day ‘Automation in Testing’ course with Richard Bradshaw and Mark Winteringham . This workshop sold out at TestBash Brighton and received great feedback, so we’re offering it again! You can read all about the course over on The Dojo . The course starts from £1200 (Super Early Bird) inc VAT. Day 3: Workshops Next, it’s the workshop day on Wednesday, 26th September . We have six half-day workshops for you to attend. All six workshops have lots to offer and are run by experts in our craft. We are also very happy to have six, awesome, female instructors at this event and encourage more women in the community to submit workshop proposals to us… we are actively looking for you! We only achieved 25% female workshop instructors last year at all TestBashes and this is something we are focussing on changing. Coaching Skills To Unlock The Potential Tester In Everyone with Toby Sinclair Clean Coding Practices for Test Automation with Angie Jones Exploratory Testing 101 with Karo Stoltzenburg and Tracey Baxter Connecting the Dots - Empowering People Through Play with Nicola Sedgewick and Christina Ohanian Have Some Cake With Your Frosting: Testing Both the UI and API Layers with Hilary Weaver-Robb Life's a Riot with Stubs, Fakes, Spies and Mocks with Ash Winter and Chris Chant Places are strictly limited for all the workshops, so don’t delay in booking, and when you do book, be sure to make your selections ASAP! Day 4: TestBash Manchester Thursday, 27th September is TestBash day, a single track conference focused on testing/quality with nine fantastic talks. There will be 250 attendees eager to learn about all things testing/quality. We put in a lot of work to create our TestBash lineups, ensuring to focus on a balance of topics, diversity and speaker experience. This thinking in this instance has lead to this fantastic lineup! Jedi Mind Tricks for Testers ...

TestBash Australia Tickets Now On Sale!

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0000

"Crikey! She’s a beauty.” – Steve Irwin (aka The Crocodile Hunter) It may be a stretch, but there is a chance that Steve was talking about the upcoming TestBash Australia conference! Oh, and likely with this one too… “I believe that education is all about being excited about something, seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an education message.” We’re excited, our speakers are excited, and if you’re excited too… then imagine the education you’ll get when you attend the inaugural TestBash Australia on Friday 19th of October, 2018 ! We believe that the software testing community of Australia needs something different, something that rethinks the norm… and we believe Ministry of Testing’s TestBash is just the thing. We've been watching closely ever since its inception all those years back in Brighton, and we’ve been loving what we saw. So let’s experience it for ourselves! Our goal with the program was to be as diverse as possible and appeal to a wide audience. With that in mind, we’ve put together a wonderful line up of speakers with topics that cover multiple areas of our amazing craft… from people and culture through to the technical aspects of test automation. There will be something for everyone on the stage, and even more so off the stage as you take advantage of the networking opportunities that only a truly inclusive conference can provide. When you add to this our two special guest speakers, Parimala Hariprasad and Maaret Pyhäjärvi , and our amazing host for the day Trish Khoo , you’ve got yourself one hell of a conference! Anne-Marie Charrett, David Greenlees, and the Ministry of Testing Team can’t wait to share the TestBash experience with you. We’re here to change the face of software testing conferences down under, and give you something to get truly excited about! Buy your ticket now !

Tickets For London Tester Gathering Workshops Are Live!

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0000

We're delighted to announce that the Super Early Bird Tickets for the London Tester Gathering Workshops are now live! We have eight half-day workshops over two days on the 28th-29th June at the Tomlinson Centre. There is a great line up this year, covering a variety of topics in the morning and afternoon workshops. You can expect to expand your knowledge and broaden your thinking in how you approach your software testing on a day to day basis. Thursday's Workshops From Unit to End to End Tests with Jest - Marton Hipszki Exploratory Testing 101 - Kim Knup & Claire Reckless Facilitation Skills for Testers - Toby Sinclair Getting Started With Web API Testing - Matthew Bretten Friday's Workshops BDD and Cynefin - Liz Keogh The Evil Tester's Test Ability Audit - Alan Richardson Threat Modelling for Testers - Dan Billing iOS UI Testing with XCUITest in Swift - Swarnim Kumari You can find out more about the workshops and facilitators on the London Tester Gathering Workshops page. We've only 60 spaces available, so act quickly if you don't want to miss out on this awesome two day event.

The TestBash TestMatch - A Conference Game To Connect People

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0000

At TestBash Brighton we tried out a new game. We called it TestMatch. Sounds cheesy, but it turned out so good! One of the biggest challenges people face at conferences is getting to know one another. We put a lot of effort into this at our TestBash conferences. From meetups, to lean coffees, to unexpos and all the way to a general positive atmosphere. The TestMatch idea came about by wondering how, as people, can we focus in on what we have in common. Rather than looking at our differences, how can we find out how we are similar. I've seen how many friendships and networks have grown over the years at TestBash. And sure, we most likely all have a common interest in software testing, but we are human first and other interests keep us together too. TestMatch was an attempt at finding out what we could find in common. There were no limits to finding a match, anything connecting two or more people was a valid entry. Most TestBash attendees submitted their entries via Twitter . To be honest, there were so many entries, but most of them brought smiles to our faces. Both cheating on #tbtestmatch #TestBash #Brighton @Marcel_Gehlen pic.twitter.com/plmPo9ou2Q — Vera Gehlen-Baum (@VeraGeBa) March 16, 2018 Both Aussies #tbtestmatch #TestBash pic.twitter.com/lsRA71fiww — Nick Pass (@SlatS) March 15, 2018 We found a #tbtestmatch ! Both me and the awesome @Gem_Hill loves listening to Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann ( @HelenAndOlly )s podcast 'Answer me this' - and we both did it in reverse chronological order! pic.twitter.com/Q8UPvAV3No — Johan Sandell (@sandell_johan) March 17, 2018 Women in Testing with fit bits #testbash #tbtestmatch @nicolasedgwick @gwendiagram @ducksnsquirrels pic.twitter.com/xmMdjglcBR — Rosie Sherry (@rosiesherry) March 17, 2018 @rhismith and I both born in Winchester hospital #tbtestmatch #testbash @ministryoftest pic.twitter.com/ftQqmeIYd1 — Dan Billing (@TheTestDoctor) March 16, 2018 Found my #tbtestmatch with @TheTestDoctor at #testbash - we’re both Scouts! pic.twitter.com/3ziWITj44N — Matt (@MattSaunby) March 16, 2018 Chris and I have never met but we live a few hundred metres from each other. And we both like vinyl (records, not clothing) #tbtestmatch pic.twitter.com/fZn28KmtLl — Simon Rigler (@The_Rigler) March 16, 2018 @TDelalic and @AntzScaravilli hate sitting on warm (and previously sat on) chairs! #throwback #tbtestmatch ...

TestBash Germany 2018 Tickets On Sale!

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Vera & Marcel have shared their vision for TestBash Germany, why they selected some of the speakers and what you will take away from this great software testing conference! Munich stands for beautiful nature, friendly people, Dirndl & Lederhosen, beer and the Octoberfest. This year we will bring all these cool things to our second edition of the #Oktobertest! You not only have the chance to be part of this great international community but also see a very exciting lineup. Our goal was to create a lineup that helps you to see your testing from different perspectives – for example with the talk by Michael Mingers who does not talk about software testing but how to test pen & paper roleplaying games. As we plan to play some games during our Pre-TestBash Meetup Thursday evening at the QualityMind’s Office, it will definitely give you more insights into this fantastic genre. Another perspective will be given by Christian Vogt, who is not only a tester but also an award-winning fantasy author, who shares his point of view on storytelling. Something you really do not want to miss! Also, all the other great talks will give you more background information on familiar and unfamiliar topics like Testing in Production (Lucas), Testing for Purpose (Ravneet) the influence of Emmanuel Kant on testing (Anders), Scaling Mobile Testing (Daniel Knott) or how to train young testers (Maja). While we are very excited about all the talks – we are especially looking forward to the more language-related ones by Elizabeth Zagroba on how doubt builds trust and Ash Coleman on how language shapes culture – both focusing on how our use of everyday language has an influence on our and others behaviour. All those talks should help you to see how multilayered testing is, how your everyday life can influence your testing and help you to become an even better tester or to see testing from a different angle! The next day -after the second Meetup – you have the chance to talk about those testing (un-)related topics at our OpenSpace at MaibornWolff right above the Theresienwiese, where you also could see the already built up tents for the Octoberfest – starting one week after. ;) This is what we have in store for you at TestBash Germany 2018. For more details of all the sessions and the ticket link, please head over to the event page at the Dojo . The Super Early Bird tickets are limited and after the Blind Bird tickets sold out you should order your ticket now. Better...

The UnExpo Full Report

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 00:00:00 -0000

The UnExpo: A Novel Approach to Increase Conference Attendee Engagement and Maximise Community Feels Bradshaw, R., Sherry, R., Reid, H., McGovern, Á. and Deery, S. Awesomeness 16: 3, March 2018 Abstract During the 3 breaks of TestBash Brighton 2018, The Ministry of Testing (MoT) trialled a new experimental conference engagement method named The UnExpo. The aim of the UnExpo was to boost the awesome community feels that are present at every TestBash and to provide a space in which software testers could converse deeply on topics of interest. Our results suggest that The UnExpo created an environment where software testers felt free to discuss their inner thoughts and feelings on the craft of software testing and their lives working in software development. We believe maximum feels were reached and attendees were highly engaged on a wide range of topics throughout The UnExpo. We intend to run a more streamlined UnExpo at future TestBashes and encourage other conferences run them too! Introduction TestBash conferences are the most awesome, friendly and affordable global software testing conferences out there. From the first ever TestBash in 2012, we now run seven TestBashes each year all over the world. Despite this growth, each and every TestBash still has the same strong community feel due to the steadfast strong ethics and principles rooted in the foundations of MoT set by the FounderBoss, Rosie Sherry. Sherry has always placed the software testing community at the heart of everything MoT does, and TestBash is no exception. We always listen to the community and enable community members to guide our business decisions. This is exactly how The UnExpo method came to be. We received feedback from the community that they would like more engagement and structured opportunities to confer with other attendees during the breaks of TestBash. Expos are what usually take place during the breaks software testing conferences, but they don't fit in with our customer experience goals, and so the hunt for an UnExpo began. We brainstormed and researched conference engagement strategies and took inspiration from science conferences. At every fair-sized scientific conference there are scientific posters sessions (figure 1). Figure 1: Scientific poster sessions - helping scientists talk science ( source: Wikimedia Commons ). These poster sessions offer the opportunity for scientists to share their work, practise their presentations skills and engage with other...

Choose Not To Be A Testing Hero

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 00:00:00 -0000

Our 99 Second Talks are becoming more renowned with each TestBash (our software testing conference), we even have a section on The Dojo dedicated to 99 Second Talks . At TestBash Brighton we had some outstanding talks - one, in particular, rang all the bells. There was lots of nodding and agreement around the room as Ali Hill delivered this rousing talk titled Choose Not To Be A Software Testing Hero. We all remember the monologue from Trainspotting, now you can download your own version of Choose Not To Be A Software Testing Hero , print it out and stick it next to your computer.

Ministry of Testing: A Year In Numbers

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

There is no doubt that 2017 was our most successful year on all fronts! Below is an infographic sharing all the things that Ministry of Testing got up to and achieved in 2017. We want to thank the Ministry of Testing community: every supporter, every speaker, every workshop facilitator, every attendee, every sponsor, every content creator, every collaborator, every contributor, our team and the software testing industry for making 2017 such a memorable one! We wouldn't be where we are without you and we look forward to working with you to make 2018 even better.

Test.bash(); - A Targeted Bash

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is entering its 7th year, which we are really proud of here at Ministry of Testing. TestBash has done it’s best to bring a balance of talks that cover all the important aspects of testing, quality and working in software development. We feel we’ve been doing a good job of that and will continue with the same model, 7th year and now global, we’re clearly doing something right. However, some aspects are moving faster than others, and one that’s hard to ignore is the community’s focus on technical testing and automation. We’ve included lots of training and talks on these topics at TestBash, but the demand is still high. We are in no doubt here at Ministry of Testing that teams and testers need a lot more than tools and automation skills in their belts, but we’ve been listening. The listening turned to pondering, and the pondering turned into Test.bash(). Test.Bash(); is going to be a one-day single track conference consisting of nine talks solely focused on technical testing and automation . It’s going to be on Friday 28th September 2018 at TestBash Manchester. The venue will be The Lowry . Speak at Test.bash(); Come and speak? We’re looking for 30-45 minute talks , you can go ahead and submit them right now! As this TestBash is focused on automation and technical testing, the audience will be primed for talks that include code, live demos (if you're brave) and in depth talks on technical aspects of testing. If selected, Ministry of Testing will cover all your travel and accommodation expenses as per our speaker policy . Speakers will also get to attend the workshop day, TestBash and the open space. The deadline for submissions is 25th February 2018 . Don’t delay submit them today! Community Not interested in talking? Can’t make the event? Not to worry, you can still support Ministry of Testing by sharing news about our events and all that we do on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram . We really appreciate it. Furthermore, you don’t have to miss out! All the TestBash talks from all 7 locations will be available on the Dojo with Pro Membership , check it out and get access to all the things! Sponsorship Are you looking to increase your testing/quality team? Are you looking to promote your testing service or tools? Or do you just want to support the Manchester testing community? All these things are possible by sponsoring TestBash Manchester. If you want to be the first to hear about this year's options, please...

TestBash Returning To Manchester For Its Third Year!

Mon, 22 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

So all the TestBashes are announced apart from, arguably the best, Manchester! OK, I’m biased because I live in Manchester and grew up there, but I’m very proud to be able to bring this great event back to Manchester for the third year running. Some long-term members of the testing community said that last years TestBash Manchester was the best TestBash they’ve been to! So no pressure this year… but I think we might top it! We are again returning to The Lowry , but this time on Thursday 27th September . However, there will be a full week of MoT events! Here is the itinerary: Monday - Wednesday: Automation in Testing three-day course with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw Wednesday: TestBash Workshop day Thursday: TestBash day Friday: Test.Bash() , read more about this new TestBash! Saturday: TestBash Open Space Speak at TestBash Come and speak? We’re looking for 30-minute talks , you can go ahead and submit them right now! If selected, Ministry of Testing will cover all your travel and accommodation expenses as per our speaker policy . The deadline for submissions is 18th February 2018 . Don’t delay submit them today! Speakers also get to attend the workshop day, Test.Bash() and the open space. Community Not interested in talking? Can’t make the event? Not to worry, you can still support Ministry of Testing by sharing news about our events and all that we do on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram . We really appreciate it. Furthermore, you don’t have to miss out! All the TestBash talks from all 7 locations will be available on the Dojo with Pro Membership , check it out and get access to all the things! Sponsorship Are you looking to increase your testing/quality team? Are you looking to promote your testing service or tools? Or do you just want to support the Manchester testing community? All these things are possible by sponsoring TestBash Manchester. If you want to be the first to hear about this year's options, please send an email to richard@ministryoftesting.com . Sign Up To Our Launch List Get a little something special – sign up to our Manchester launch list. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
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Revamping Resources For Software Testers

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

At Ministry of Testing, we’ve been collecting links to handy resources for Software Testers for many years now. Our latest resource list is on websites for software testers to practice their testing on . We’ve been keeping them all together on The Dojo in our Resources series to make testers’ lives a little easier. You can access all these resources with a free Dojo Club account . The idea behind the series was to create one place where testers could find and access all the useful and important things. The trouble with lists like these is how quickly things change. New testing tools are available on a monthly basis and our resources series can quickly go out of date. But, we think we’ve got a strategy to keep it current and even more valuable to testers. However, we need the testing community to help . What’s the plan? Crowdsourcing for the win! We’ve created a new resources category on our forum, The Club, for the community to be able to: Discuss the different resources and tools: shared experiences of using tools and any pro-tips will be very valuable to the community and could help out testers just getting started in a new area of testing. Share new and update existing resources: by letting us know of any changes to resources or of new resources we can keep the resources series up-to-date and valuable to testers. We’re hoping with the testing community’s help, we can make the resources series better than ever! Share All The Awesome Things You’ve Found! Sharing is caring. If you’ve found a great resource, that’s not in our resources , that made your testing life easier; please share a link to it with a brief description of what it is and why it was so handy over at The Club . We’ll then review all posts, ready to add them to the resources series. Together, we can make the resources for software testers , the best one-stop-shop for finding all the important things!

TestBash USA 2018 is Heading to San Francisco!

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

That’s right, our US edition of our software testing conference TestBash for 2018 is heading to the home of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco. Our first TestBash in the US was in New York followed by two epic years in Philadelphia, but it’s time for a change. Our original plan for TestBash in the US was to alternate between the east and west coast, but we’ve been unable to achieve that thus far due to various reasons. However, Mark Tomlinson who helps us co-organise TestBash Philadelphia indicated that he is looking to take a break from conferences in 2018 to focus on himself and life. So this left us wondering where to take TestBash USA 2018! So we thought back to our original east-west goal and while we were exploring our options Ash Coleman reached out indicating her desire to bring TestBash to San Francisco along with Angie Jones . We discussed it in more depth and the pieces just fell into place, so we are running with it, and it’s going to be epic! Some words from Angie and Ash I’m elated to be included in taking TestBash from coast to coast, landing on the West Coast, USA! A favorite conference of mine, only made better with its diverse backdrops found all around the world, it’s a pleasure to invite all to join us in our current home town, San Francisco. In the traditional TestBash fashion, I’m excited to include this location for the open calls available to all amazing speakers looking to spread knowledge and love about testing and ‘All the Things’! I look forward to the ridiculous amount of fun we are fixin’ to have and am grateful for this lovely opportunity! ~ Ash Coleman San Francisco is considered by many to be a driving force of technology and innovation. There’s something about this place that leaves you feeling inspired and ready to conquer the world. What a perfect place to host this year’s TestBash USA! Join us for two days of fun-filled, boundless learning where our beautiful foggy sky is the limit. ~ Angie Jones Apply to speak You have stories and ideas you want to share with us or the solution of a tricky problem you solved. We want talks that are highly creative, fun, but still focus on learning. The Ministry of Testing now has a Continuous Call for Papers . This means you can apply to speak at TestBash San Francisco at the same time as any of the other TestBashes. We will be reviewing TestBash San Francisco submissions until 11th March 2018 – this means if you submit before this date then your submission...

TestBash Brighton: Exposing The UnExpo

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Brighton: Exposing The UnExpo We've all heard of expos and unconferences, well at TestBash Brighton we’ll be running the first ever UnExpo! “Still not following you” I hear you say (in my mind) … let me explain, the UnExpo is going to be an attendee-driven expo. Meaning that rather than a room full of vendors promoting their wares, we’ll have a room full of attendees sharing their ideas, latest testing innovations or maybe even their latest testing conundrums. There are no thick and fast rules, we just want lots of testers talking testing! Where Did This Top Idea Come From? The community of course! Last year, at TestBash Brighton, we received feedback from some attendees that they would like more to do during the breaks. Expos are what some conferences use to fill their break-time gaps, but expos have never fit in with our ‘user-experience’ goals for TestBash. However, we are driven by what our community wants, love experimenting with new ideas, and so the UnExpo idea was born! When And How Will It Work? The UnExpo will run during the morning, lunch and afternoon breaks of TestBash Brighton on 16th March 2018. During this time, attendees will be given the chance to set up a poster stand to share their latest innovations, testing practices, new tools, testing problems, or thoughts on any topic that will initiate interesting discussions. There will be a poster creation station, where those with something to share, say or pose can get creative with lots of exciting stationary, arts and crafts (no glitter though, that’s bad for dolphins) to make a poster of beauty. Other attendees, armed with post-its, pens and awesome ideas, will then be able to visit stands of interest to discuss all things testing! What’s The Benefit Of An UnExpo? Whether you set up your own poster stand or visit other tester’s stands, there are many benefits to taking part in the UnExpo, such as: It gives you an opportunity to engage in conversations with other attendees interested in the same subjects as you. Who knows what that may lead to in the future… potential collaborations, job offers, or maybe even a new tester friend! When running a stand, you could gain impartial and insightful feedback from peers. Critique, both positive and negative, can help you improve ideas and solve problems. As an attendee, it gives you a quick and accessible way to see and hear all about what the testing community is up to. What tools are others using? What problems...

TestBash Germany Is Returning to Munich in 2018!

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Germany Is Returning to Munich in 2018! We are excited to announce: TestBash is returning to Munich in 2018! The software testing conference will take place on Friday 14th September 2018 , in the “Münchner Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz”. After some unforgettable learning & mingling moments we shared in 2017, we figured: why not do it again?! Just as last time, we are bringing inspiring speakers, high-quality content, friendly and cheerful community and a Bavarian spirit to TestBash Munich. But be ready for surprises: we are preparing a bunch of interesting activities to keep you thrilled throughout the whole event. The motto we are following again is: helping testers and people interested in testing learn, grow, network, get engaged and rock their testing endeavours! Wish to speak? Go for it! Are you eager to share stories and ideas with the community or have a solution to a tricky problem you solved? We want talks that are creative, entertaining, but also educational. The Ministry of Testing holds a Continuous Call for Papers . This means you can apply to speak at TestBash Germany at the same time as to any of the other TestBashes. We will be reviewing TestBash Germany submissions until Sunday 11th February 2018 – meaning that if you submit before this date your submission will be considered for Germany. TestBash is a very friendly community focused software testing conference and the right place to break new ground and try out the speaker’s role – 99 seconds or 30 minutes – up to you! To all new speakers and those considering it – let those voices be heard, share your stories with the audience. If you have passion and energy for your profession, this is the place to share it! Still unsure about your talk? Please contact us, and we can help you with the preparation. We know amazing experienced speakers who are delighted to support new voices. Be courageous knowing that “The Force will be with you. Always.” — Obi-Wan Kenobi is to trust, of course. Community In case you have a special speaker on your mind whom you’re burning to see at TestBash Germany, please tell us. We will see if we can arrange it. Share the event on social media with others. Invite people to share their amazing stories and challenges they’ve overcome. Spread the word! Sponsorship If you want to support this awesome event, we are happy to have you as our sponsor. This is your chance to present your brand to a bunch of highly engaged testers. For more details...

14 Most Popular Articles Of 2017

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0000

14 Most Popular Articles Of 2017 2017 was a year of supporting new writers in publishing great testing articles. I’ve long believed that we can elevate testers and our community through the power of great words. Good writing is as good as, if not more important than, good speaking. I don’t think it is a coincidence that a few of the writers below are new or soon to be conference speakers. It took a fair bit of tweaking, but we feel we’ve finally got a good process flow for publishing articles. Thanks to Sarah and Mel ! I’m personally proud and happy with what we published and in 2017 these were the top 14 most visited articles. I wanted to make a top 10 list, but it felt wrong to leave the others out! I’ve personally summarised each article. Read, bookmark and DEFINITELY share because you care, right? 30 Things Every New Software Tester Should Learn - Heather Reid Faced with the repeated question, time and time again, this massive and epic ‘article’ was created to help combat the question: How do I start learning about software testing? It has since gone on to become our top article of the year. And rightly so! Follow Heather on Twitter . The One Page Test Plan - Claire Reckless In my years of being a tester and being involved in the testing community, I have become increasingly frustrated by the lack of good resources on test planning. Too many people were referring to test planning as a document and a very long inefficient one that needed blanks filling in. The one page test plan is a breath of fresh air to help you simplify how you think about test planning. Follow Claire on Twitter . Ten Misconceptions About Software Testing - That Non-Testers Share - Kate Paulk Software testing is so misunderstood, others just don’t seem to get it like we do. This article takes a good and practical look at 10 ways software testers and software testing are misunderstood by ‘the others’. Follow Kate on Twitter . But I'm Not A Security Tester! Security Testing On The Web For The Rest Of Us - Kate Paulk It’s Kate again! Many software testers feel inadequate about their security testing skills. Should they learn and test software security? Or is that best left to an expert? This article is a great starting point to start dipping your toes into the art of security testing. Follow Kate on Twitter . What Tools Should I Learn? - Mark Winteringham Here, Mark from The Software Testing...

Top Ten TestBash Talks Of 2017

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 00:00:00 -0000

Top Ten TestBash Talks Of 2017 As Chosen By MoT Bosses In 2017 we hosted a record number of six TestBashes across the globe; next year we are hosting even more and in three new locations !! If you did not manage to make any of the TestBashes, don't worry all our TestBash talks are available on our learning platform The Dojo . We heard a total of 66 talks at TestBash events this year, many of which were from new speakers, all of which were awesome. Despite the collective awesomeness, the MoT bosses have put their heads together and would like to share their chosen top ten TestBash talks of 2017: How To Misuse 'Automation' For Testing, Fun And Productivity by Alan Richardson at TestBash Netherlands on 27th January 2017. In this talk, Alan explains how to ‘misuse’ the ‘automation’ tools you’ve heard so much about, he reveals their true nature, and how you can turn this to your personal advantage. If you’ve ever wanted an expert to quote giving you permission to use the tools how you want, this is the talk for you. Step Back to Move Forwards: A Software Testing Career Introspective by Del Dewar at TestBash Brighton on 24th March 2017. Del uses two decades of his own experience to consider the case for traditional career advancement, and explores the potential benefits of a new career paradigm. As the title suggests, perhaps that involves taking a step backwards to move forwards. The Tester’s Survival Guide To Joining A Continuous Delivery Project by Amy Phillips at TestBash Brighton on 24th March 2017. Amy shares her survival guide that will set you up for your first day on any Continuous Delivery project. You’ll be equipped to avoid the pitfalls, spot the opportunities, and you’ll see how testing is essential for successful Continuous Delivery. A Tale Of Testability by Rob Meaney at TestBash Belfast on 18th May 2017. Discover how Rob’s team transformed a bloated and ineffective release cycle, over a 12 month period, by using a whole team approach focused on building testability into the product. Cynefin for Testers by Liz Keogh at TestBash Belfast on 18th May 2017. Liz looks at how a tester's mindset and skills can bring much-needed clarity in a world of change, where quick reactions to problems are often better approaches than trying to predict them. Dear Future Me... A Letter to Myself about Testing, the Universe and Everything by Alex Schladebeck at TestBash Germany on 6th October 2017. In a letter...

TestBash Dublin Tickets Now On Sale!

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Dublin Tickets Now On Sale! On 18th May, TestBash Dublin is happening. TestBash is returning to the island of Ireland! This time we’re going to Dublin, the home of Guinness and an awesome community of testers. We think it’s going to be even more awesome than last time. Last year we had TinyTestBash Belfast, this year we’re taking it on tour! As always, we are looking to keep the same friendly and learning focused vibe of all TestBash events. [Need help convincing your boss to attend? Try using the tips in this handy article .] We continue to invest in our software testing community in various ways and always put our values and ethics before profit. You should know all speakers travel costs are paid (no matter where they travel from), this is something we have done from the very first TestBash. We also like to ensure there is diversity in attendees and speakers. We do this through mostly being nice and thoughtful, but we also like to ensure everyone feels welcome. We invest in new speakers to bring new ideas and voices to our industry. We invest in local speakers to help them get their voices to a global audience. We also ensure we have been thoughtful and sensitive towards a variety of diversity issues that exist in the tech world today. I've heard enough! Just Register Me! So What Can You Expect? Pre-training Day On Thursday 17th May, we will be having a pre-training course with the wonderful Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin , the Authors of Agile Testing and More Agile Testing Books : “Exploring Features and Stories: How Testing Helps Teams Build Shared Understanding”. Conference Day Friday 18th May We have a jam-packed single track conference day, have yourself and your batteries charged, it’ll be worth it! For the early birds, we will start at 8am with a purely optional, chilled and enjoyable lean coffee. The conference line up consists of 9 talks, plus the famous 99-second talks that all attendees are welcome to take part in. Then, yes, you probably guessed it. A fun packed meetup with food and drink afterwards. Did we say it was jam-packed? So, what talks are we bringing I hear you ask? We have quite a lineup: Organisational Psychotherapy Taster – Bob Marshall Testers as Test Consultants: How to learn the skills? – Janet Gregory & Lisa Crispin The Anxious Tester – Chris Kelly Take the Blue pill, or the red pill, you decide if you want to change – Leigh Rathbone Mistakes Matter – Maximizing the Benefits...

TestBash Australia: Throw Another TestBash On The Barbie!

Thu, 23 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0000

Ministry of Testing in partnership with Anne-Marie Charrett ( Testing Times ) and David Greenlees are bringing TestBash down under to Sydney, Australia! We get requests all the time to bring TestBash to new countries and cities, and we hope over time to action all of them, but when Anne-Marie planted the seed about TestBash Australia, it had to be explored! Ministry of Testing (MoT) is well known in the Northern Hebrides, but not down under. We want to bring MoT closer to all the awesome testers in the Southern Hemisphere. On top of that, having two of the biggest testing leaders in Australia in Anne-Marie and David is the icing on the cake. TestBash Australia will be a single day conference, in the TestBash single track format. It will be taking place at Aerial on the 19th October 2018 . We will have 9 talks , many pre and post meetups , awesome sponsors passionate about building community, and, of course, great people attending who care about building quality software. Tickets will be on sale around March-April 2018. Subscribe to the MoT Newsletter to be the first to hear about MoT down under. Even better, subscribe to the launch list (bottom of the page) for TestBash Australia and be the first to hear when tickets are on sale. Additionally, if you book a ticket and are on the launch list then you’ll be in for a special, exclusive MoT treat! Anne-Marie Charrett says… Australia needs TestBash. TestBash is synonymous with a vibrant and credible community with continuous learning and self-improvement at its heart. TestBash means great speakers and a community that learns to grow to respect and appreciate each other’s talents, both within and outside the testing sphere. Sydney has long had a good history of creating community. Trish Khoo, Bruce McLeod, Richard Robinson, David Greenlees, Samantha Connelly, and many others have grown the software testing community here down under. By bringing TestBash to Australia, Testing Times is continuing to grow and support the software testing community. TestBash brings courage and growth to our testing community. Come and be part of it! David Greenlees says… I recall watching on from afar (social media does have its positives) the very first TestBash that took place in Brighton all those years ago, and what an event it has become. A truly global conference that just keeps getting better with age… unlike the shrimp that got left on the barbie. During any TestBash, I’ve been glued to...

TestBash Netherlands 2018

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash Netherlands 2018 Tickets are Now On Sale! TestBash is returning to the Netherlands for the second year! It’s happening on the 12th-13th April 2018 . And we think it’s going to be even more awesome than last time. This year it’s a 2-day event with an additional pre-event course thrown in for good measure. What To Expect? Pre-event course – Wednesday 11th April For the pre-event course, we are proud to be hosting a full day course on Advanced Automation for Agile: UI, Web Services, and BDD with Angie Jones Workshop Day – Thursday 12th April Before the TestBash conference day, we have 6 full-day workshops to choose from! There is something for every tester from beginner to expert, so don’t miss out! Time to Lead – Communication and Enablement for Testers in an Agile Team – Zeb Ford-Reitz & Alexandra Schladebeck Introduction to Continuous Integration for Testers – Jeroen Mengerink & Richard Smith Reasonable Expectations in Test Automation: How to Create an Automation Strategy That Works – Ard Kramer & Bas Dijkstra The Art and Science of Test Heuristics – Fiona Charles BDD – Specification by Example – David Evans Conference Day – Friday 13th April Friday is a single-track conference consisting of 9 talks and the famously fun 99-second talks . Mind Your Language – Unintentional Bias, Social Identity and Teamwork – David Evans Go Old School – Why Test Techniques Aren’t Dead! – Sue Atkins Kill the Mutants! – Nico Jansen & Simon de Lang Encouraging Engagement – Changing Our Work Culture – Marianne Duijst Complex Problem Solving – Martijn Maas Agile Test Management within Continuous Integration – Angie Jones Lessons From Famous Detectives for Testers – Geoffrey van der Tas Holding Space: Making Things Better by Doing Less – Maaret Pyhäjärvi How Do I Automate Negative Tests – Tuhin Subhra Mitra On all the days, you can expect a wonderful community to come together in a friendly, professional and safe environment. We think you will feel at home when you arrive! The venue is the beautiful 19th century Boothstraat 7 building in Utrecht. The Super Early Bird price is limited and a bargain! Buy your early bird tickets fast! If you want a real bargain, go Pro on The Dojo (as an individual or a team) and you’ll qualify for an extra £50 off each ticket plus access to some amazing learning resources.

TestBash by the Sea Tickets Now On Sale!

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash by the Sea Tickets Now On Sale! On 15th-16th March 2018 TestBash Brighton is happening. And, so we are here, again! TestBash Brighton, the home of testing friends is returning for some jam-packed learning and fun! TestBash Brighton is our original and biggest TestBash. We’ve been growing consistently and surely over the years and as always we are looking to keep the same friendly and learning focused vibe with wonderful new things sprinkled in. [Need help convincing your boss to attend? Try using the tips in this handy article ] We continue to invest in our software testing community in various ways and always put our values and ethics before profit. You should know all speakers travel costs are paid (no matter where they travel from), this is something we have done from the start. We also like to ensure there is diversity in attendees and speakers. We do this through mostly being nice and thoughtful, but we also like to ensure everyone feels welcome. We invest in new speakers to bring new ideas and voices to our industry. And we ensure we have been thoughtful and sensitive towards a variety of diversity issues that exist in the tech world today. So, what can you expect? Introducing The UnExpo We’ve never had an exhibition hall for sponsors at any of our TestBash. We’ve always felt they didn’t quite align with our ‘user experience’ goals. However, because we like to do things differently, we’re going to try out an UnExpo. It’s an attendee-driven expo. Attendees will be given the chance to set up a “stand” and share their innovations, practices, new tools, testing problems, or thoughts on any topic that will initiate interesting discussions. More details coming soon! Pre-training Days We’re going to start with some pre-training courses: Automation in Testing with Mark Winteringham and Richard Bradshaw 12th-14th March Lean Testing with Aaron Hodder 14th March Workshop Day Thursday 15th March We have ten fantastic workshops to choose from. There is something for any tester at any level, don’t miss out! You would need to choose a morning and afternoon workshop to attend after you register. BUT! Not only that! We said this is jam-packed, didn’t we? There will also be a talk at the beginning of the day and one at the end. How to Bring Change Without Permission – Bhagya Perera TBA – Anusha Nirmalananthan The workshops we have lined up are: Mobile Security Testing – Jahmel Harris Technical Test Automation...

Goodbye Summer Giveaway Winners

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00:00 -0000

All of our Summer Giveaway winners have been contacted and all prizes from our awesome merch store are in the post! Remember if you were lucky enough to be a winner, make sure you take a picture and tag us on Twitter – @ministryoftest Instagram @ministryoftesting or you can tag our Facebook page @ministryoftesting Thank you all for taking part! We will undoubtedly have more giveaways for you to enter in future, for now, check out our upcoming events and get involved in the community.

Introducing Testers’ Island Discs

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 00:00:00 -0000

" We love podcasts here at the Ministry of Testing, so when I heard Neil’s idea for his new podcast, I immediately applied to be a guest! Then after some time I thought I’d love to support Neil with this new pod, so I reached out and offered him the backing of MoT. I’m very pleased to confirm that we are indeed supporting Neil with his podcast and have agreed to host them on The Dojo . Enough from me though, read what Neil has to say about his new podcast adventure! " Richard Bradshaw, FriendlyBoss at Ministry of Testing There’s something about podcasts which make them a particularly compelling format for telling stories. Some of my favourites are those which have a storytelling structure, allowing guests to share their experiences from the world of testing in a compelling and relatable fashion. In my role as co-host of the Screen Testing podcast, some of our best and most-popular recordings are those where guests have joined us with a particular narrative journey to discuss (our Hidden Figures discussion with Ash Coleman and Angie Jones, and our Yes Man chat with Leigh Rathbone, are recent examples of this). I wanted to create a new testing podcast which was specifically focused on storytelling. Something which encourages testers to share their passions and experiences, and which can provide a platform for voices that haven’t been heard before. A podcast which, like Screen Testing, has a different spin which allows people’s personalities to be brought into the spotlight. And so, today I’m delighted to be launching Testers’ Island Discs , with help from the Ministry of Testing. The concept is straightforward: each episode, I’ll interview a different member of the global testing community to talk about their career, interspersed with clips and discussions of the music that they love. Every guest gets to select five songs, and throughout the episode, we’ll occasionally pause our interview to discuss those selections. I’m not expecting you to select the five greatest songs of all-time. They’re five of the songs that mean the most to you: maybe they spark a particular memory, maybe they help you to get “in the zone” when you’re testing, or maybe they just put you in a great mood. Everyone’s tastes are different (I’ve had applications from 15 guests so far, and nobody has picked the same song twice!) so it’s going to be very interesting to help showcase this diversity within our community. Getting involved is easy, and recording is very...

Goodbye Summer Giveaway!

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0000

As the weather is fading and we’re getting ready for the onset of Autumn, we thought we’d help ease the transition with a wee competition! We have lots of prizes to give away It’s easy to participate. Just go to our giveaway page* and enter your email address (and then share to have a greater chance of winning). We’re all about sharing at The Ministry of Testing. What could you win? We have things, many fun MoT swag things from our online store to giveaway. We will pick 25 winners at the end with prizes varying from backpacks, t-shirts, mugs, TestSphere, beanies, hats and stickers. And don’t forget, the more you share this the higher chance you have of winning. Because at Ministry of Testing, we share because we care! Enter the giveaway*. * entries now closed .

Software Testing Clinic is coming to Brighton, Manchester and Cambridge… and maybe a town near you?

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0000

Back in March at TestBash Brighton we proudly announced that Software Testing Clinic was growing with a vision of seeing multiple Clinics being run by the best and brightest in our community. Our first Clinic outside of London has been Software Testing Clinic Glasgow run by the simply brilliant Del Dewar and Tracey Baxter. Their hard work and enthusiasm has resulted in a Software Testing Clinic Glasgow that has exceeded our expectations, with dedicated mentors supporting a new generation of amazing students that’s going from strength to strength. In fact Software Testing Clinic Glasgow has gone so well, we’ve decided to expand to not just one, or two, but three new locations! We’re extremely excited and proud to be starting: Software Testing Clinic Brighton hosted by Kim Knup and Emma Keaveny Software Testing Clinic Manchester hosted by Claire Reckless and Richard Bradshaw Software Testing Clinic Cambridge hosted by Karo Stoltzenburg and Dan Ashby We can’t wait to get started on these new Clinics that will begin late 2017 / early 2018. But don’t take our word for it, here by a way of introduction are our new hosts take on their respective clinics: Software Testing Clinic Brighton “Hosting the Software Testing Clinic Brighton! What a daunting and exciting challenge! Personally, I am really excited and honoured to be able to host the Brighton Software Testing Clinic together with Emma. Myself and Emma have been hosting a tester meetup in Brighton for a few years now but the Brighton meet ups have not really attracted many testers. Then while working in London I attended the Software Testing Clinic a couple of times. It was a really inspiring event with student and mentors learning from each other in a safe environment. I had never seen anything likes this for testers before and knew there and then that I wanted to get involved. After taking part in the session on mentoring and coaching, I knew not to be afraid anymore and to go out there and share. Brighton has a vibrant tech community with many established meetups across programming languages and schools of thought, but apart from our tester meet up there isn’t much else in our domain. I am hoping that we can provide a great experience for new testers and people interested in the subject and also create some great relationships.” – Kim Knup Software Testing Clinic Manchester “I’m really excited to be able to give something back to a community I’ve learned so much from by helping to...

Testing Ask Me Anything (AMA) Is Here!

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0000

We like to push the boundaries here at the Ministry of Testing. In order to do this, we do lots of small experiments, so that if we fail we do it fast, learn from it, and try something else. However, I’m excited about this new idea and hope it has a future but, as always, community engagement and your feedback will help us decide that. So with that in mind, get ready to take part in a new experiment! We are going to run an ‘Ask Me Anything’ style webinar series called ‘ Testing Ask Me Anything ' (AMA). What? It’s going to be a 60-minute webinar with a host. Each webinar will have a different guest and a loose theme. Attendees will then be encouraged to post questions to the guest in advance of the live broadcast, as well as during it. Those questions can be anything, but the host will do their best to balance questions between the theme, other testing topics, and the guest themselves. It will be a great opportunity for you to get your questions answered by an experienced tester. Why? Last week, there was a Twitter hashtag generating a lot of traffic, namely #SpeakerConfessions . I shared a tweet as a confession about how much I enjoyed the Q&A after conference talks. I admitted that whilst speaking, I’ve rushed through my talk to increase the time for Q&A. My personal reasons are that I love the challenge of thinking on my feet and I feel it provides delegates with real value; they get to hear about things that are relevant to them. So I thought, we currently have a Q&A at the end of all our online Masterclasses , what if we tried a full 60 minutes of just Q&A? This is the AMA style! I had never heard of AMA style interviews until I shared this idea with some people at MoT. So being the testers that we are, we are going to test it! We are going to trial the AMA format, see how the community feels about it, and go from there. Who? The awesome Mr Simon Tomes has agreed to host the trial, here are his thoughts on the new format: I’m delighted and excited to host the first ever live Ministry of Testing Ask Me Anything. This is a brilliant way for people to learn from amazing people in the testing community. Treating this as an experiment is a great way to see if it’s valuable. We don’t know if it will be but we’re excited to give it a try! Come join us and see what happens! The first guest is going to be me, Richard Bradshaw (aka FriendlyTester ). The theme of the AMA will be Automation . A particularly hot topic at the moment, so I’m...

It’s that TestBash time!

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0000

We have 3 European TestBash events happening in the first half of 2018 and we are looking at you, yes you , to come and be brave to join us on a TestBash stage. We currently operate a continuous call for papers . This means you can submit a talk at any time and we will consider it for our upcoming events. However, there are cut off dates – decisions need to be made and great events needed to be planned for! Our TestBash events are super special! We put a great emphasis on supporting everyone who speaks and attends. It is diverse. Engaging. Inclusive and full of learning opportunities. We are a caring bunch too and like to do what is right for everyone within the community. We do this in many ways, but we need to ensure you are aware of two important things: No Pay To Spea k: we believe financial barriers shouldn’t stop you from speaking at a conference. If you are accepted to speak we will cover your travel costs, no matter how near or far you come from. Scholarship fund : we operate a scholarship fund where all sorts of people from the community contribute so we can give free access to our events. We believe in making attending as accessible as possible too. Please Come and Apply to Participate: We’ve had so many new speakers come through our TestBash events. To advance our industry we believe need more new people stepping up to share their stories. We believe everyone has at least one story to share. Important dates you need to be aware of to apply to participate: TestBash Brighton – Closing date Sunday, August 13th TestBash NL – Closing date Sunday, September 17th TestBash Dublin – Closing date Saturday, September 30th Thanks for listening and we hope to see your submission soon! Regards, Rosie Sherry BossBoss all things Ministry of Testing

Here We Go! TestBash Netherlands 2018

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -0000

Here we go again! We are very excited to announce that TestBash is coming back to the Netherlands next year! Last year was the first time in The Netherlands and we had two awesome days with great workshops, excellent speakers and fun social events in a great atmosphere. Let’s do it again! Let’s get back together! The event will be very much like last year: a day with workshops and a single track conference day with lean coffee/tea and the famous 99-second talks. In the evenings the pre and post-TestBash meetups make TestBash Netherlands a truly full day experience! TestBash Netherlands 2018 is again going to be held at that friendly and cosy 19th-century historic venue, Boothstraat 7 in Utrecht on Thursday and Friday 12th and 13th April 2018 . Come and participate in TestBash Netherlands 2018 A conference on Friday 13th? Will it be a nightmare on Boothstreet? We hope not and we ask you to help us…We need speakers and workshop facilitators. So if you’re interested in presenting at TestBash Netherlands get submitting now. We’re looking for talks of no more than 30-45 minutes, plus full day training courses for the Thursday. You can go ahead and submit your abstracts right away using our continuous call for papers form . The deadline for being considered for TestBash Netherlands 2018 is midnight on Sunday, September 17th . If you’ve already submitted an abstract and selected Netherlands as a location that you’re interested in, your abstract is already in the mix! We Say No To Pay To Speak From the start, we have believed that no one should feel unable to speak at a conference. We have always covered all speakers expenses at all TestBashes, no questions asked. We do go further than that though. We can help and guide accepted speakers through the nerve-racking process of presenting. And if there are any other challenges you may have, just mention it and we will see what we can do to help you. For clarity, we: pay all reasonable travel costs for all speakers, even if you travel from a galaxy far, far away you get free entry to both training and conference day full day training classes on Thursday will be a 50/50 profit share between MoT and the instructor(s). Submit your abstracts here by Sunday, September 17th . We’d appreciate if you could share this, so we have as many abstracts to build a scarily good program.

Rebooting the Ministry of Testing Scholarship

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -0000

The Beginnings If you’ve been part of the Ministry of Testing community for a number of years, it’s highly likely that you’ll have heard about The Ministry of Testing Scholarship . It was the brainchild of Rosie way back in 2013. In 2014, to kickstart the idea, we went BIG and gave away a year’s scholarship . The prize was huge; the offer to attend all of MoT courses and events for free! The scholarship was awarded to Emma Keaveny . You can read about ‘ Emma’s Scholarship Story ‘ on The Dojo. It’s a great read, and what’s even better than this story is where Emma is today. Her career has gone from strength to strength, and to know that MoT played a small part in that, well, that gives us the feels! What Now? But we’re now in 2017. What’s happened to The Scholarship? Well, The Scholarship has continued on, quietly in the background, giving away a TestBash ticket here and course ticket there. It’s helped many fledgeling testers and MoT community members alike to improve their testing craft and community connections. We’ve just not been talking about it… until now. We now realise that we should be talking about it! We should be raising awareness of The Scholarship so that the fund can support more testers than ever before. And so that The Scholarship itself can get more support from the MoT Community, so it can keep on, keepin’ on. Scholarship Heroes The MoT community is incredible; the generosity, inclusivity, and desire to support others are what makes projects like The Scholarship feasible. With that being said, it’s important to bring attention to all the wonderful people and companies who’ve contributed to The Scholarship fund. So, we’d like to introduce you to the Scholarship Heroes . Everyone who contributes to The Scholarship is a hero to us. We want to personally thank each and every person and company for their big-heartedness and generosity. These heroes have donated their fees for their MoT articles, workshops, and masterclasses to the fund. Others have straight-up donated their hard earned cash to The Scholarship. All have donated as a way of giving back to and supporting the testing community. Amazing. Thank you. To add to their generosity, MoT matches all donations to The Scholarship Fund. Future Due to the growth of MoT and the awesome people and companies working with us, the fund has seen substantial growth. So we’re now exploring new and exciting ideas to make maximum impact with the money received. We’ll also be...

TestBash Is Coming To Dublin!!!

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -0000

Ministry of Testing’s now world famous TestBash is finally landing in Dublin. Myself ( @dar_dar ), Gus Evangelisti ( @augeva ), Maria Connor ( @mariaconnor ), and Walter Zimerman ( @codeCotopus ) have been running testing meetups in the Dublin community for some time. The growth has been amazing to watch. We can’t wait to show off the community with this TestBash. The venue is brilliant! We will be running this at the Smock Alley Theatre . The date I hear you ask? It will be all happening on Friday, May 18th, 2018 . So get in early with asking your manager and getting the time free. Maybe you could even prepare a talk, even one of the famous 99-second talks. Want To Speak? Has something interesting happened to you recently? Do you have a fun testing story to share? We want to hear it. Stories, as they happened, are very important to help improve our learning. We love to hear from the community and it encourages learning and conversation. This is all about the Dublin software testing community and our stories. It would be brilliant if you could share yours. We are well known for supporting new speakers too, just email us at dublin@ministryoftesting.com if you would like any kind of support helping you prepare a submission or talk. We have a Continuous Call for Papers – this means you can submit a talk at any time to be considered for conferences you are interested in. To be considered specifically for Dublin then please ensure you select Dublin and submit by September 30th, 2017 . We are very much ALL about the community. This event is for you. If there is anything you would like to see or hear please get in touch via dublin@ministryoftesting.com As per normal, we will be planning socials pre and post TestBash, LeanCoffee, 99 Second talks. If you come, plan to be kept busy and entertained! This is going to be a brilliant day for sharing and really putting Dublin on the wider testing communities map. We hope to see you there, to show Ministry of Testing what Dublin can do. Submit to speak by September 30th, 2017. All the best, Darryn Downey and the TestBash Dublin team

We Want To Hear Your Stories: Call For Writers!

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -0000

Here at Ministry of Testing, we’re looking for writers to write articles for The Dojo . The Joy of Sharing Stories We love to hear from and learn from testers actively working in the field. What difficulties you’re coming up against, what revelations you’re having, how you’re solving problems, what useful tools you’ve built or discovered, what innovations you’ve thought up, and all the interesting stories in between that make being a tester such a challenging and rewarding job. What we love even more than this is to share what we’ve learnt with the testing community. That’s why we invest so much time and effort into publishing open articles for the whole community to learn from, to discuss, and to continue to advance the testing craft. The more perspectives and stories heard and shared, the better. This is where you come in, we want to hear from you! We want to help you get your story heard by the tens of thousands of testers in our community by publishing an article on The Dojo. Even if you’ve never written before, it doesn’t matter, we want to work with you to find your voice and tell your story. We’ve all got something to share. "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." – Maya Angelou Become A MoT Author If you are passionate about testing and have something to say, then come and write with us! We work closely with our authors to co-create original, authentic and relevant software testing articles that the whole testing community can benefit from. All our authors get compensated for their published work. There are 4 standard remuneration options available: MoT Pro Membership to our site (6 months) 50% discount code to TestBash (1 day) £150 payment directly to the author £150 to MoT’s scholarship fund The method of compensation is chosen by our authors before our collaboration begins. If you are interested in writing with us, you can read more about becoming a MoT author in our handbook . "You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say." – F. Scott Fitzgerald The MoT Writer’s Guide The article writing process is not easy. It takes a lot of time, work and commitment to get from a topic idea to an article outline, to a first draft, and finally to the published article. We have developed the MoT Writer’s Guide to help you throughout this process: from finding your topic angle, through submitting your article us. "You can’t wait for inspiration. You...

30 Days of Performance Testing, Are You In?

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:00:00 -0000

We are hosting this in collaboration with PerfGuild . Yay and thanks! Our 30 Days of Testing Challenges have become famous across the world for getting testers to focusing their learning on a specific topic of a period of time…typically 30 days! Often testers need a few pointers to help them explore testing related topics. Our 30 Days of Testing Challenges are perfect for this. They are great starting points to start exploring specific areas within testing. They take the hard work of how to proceed away by tasking you with a bite size challenge. We’ve just released a new challenge (on Performance Testing), and of course, you can do it in your own time, by yourself or with your team. However, if you’d like to join us online and collaboratively then it officially kicks off tomorrow – July 1st. What do you need to know? View the 30 Days of Performance Testing Challenge , there is a downloadable PDF version (login required). Print it out and get your team involved! Participate in the discussions on The Club (or just read to see what others are saying). Follow us and others on Instagram , Twitter , LinkedIn – use the #30daysoftesting hashtag We will also be on Facebook if that’s what you like. We also have a channel on our MoT Slack

TestBash Brighton 2018. Here We Come!

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 -0000

It never ceases to surprise me at how quickly the planning for future TestBashes comes around. It is that time again. We have dates set for TestBash Brighton in 2018 – March 15th and 16th of 201 8. Whether you plan to speak or attend, we ask you to book those dates in your calendar! TestBash Brighton – The Seedling of Where We Are Now TestBash Brighton is a bit special because it is much like the original and leader of all the TestBashes. Our first ever trial TestBash was in Cambridge, though it logically moved to Brighton as I moved back there myself. You can see my business decisions aren’t necessarily full of logic, but they still seem to work! Over the years TestBash Brighton has evolved. We’ve tried things out. Some we didn’t stick with, but some we love and have become a tradition – the 99-second talks, the lean coffee/tea/bacon, the pre-meetups, the crazy early morning runs. For several years TestBash Brighton had time to evolve. There was never any rush to make it into something massive, we wanted to focus on doing good things rather than growth for the sake of growth. And there were definitely no initial plans to create a worldwide series of conferences. The love for TestBash and Brighton grew over the years. Each year we sought to make it into something better. Testers could feel the positivity. The genuine care we had for creating something special and valuable for testers. The respect we gave both attendees and speakers. The focus on creating long lasting value…and friendships. The idea of giving people opportunities, to attend or even to speak. TestBash Brighton – the organisers, the speakers and the attendees have all helped it pave the way for all the other TestBashes that now exist. For that, I thank you all! Come and Participate in TestBash 2018 My role at Ministry of Testing is changing, but TestBash Brighton is still my baby and I’m proud and excited to have it coming back in 2018. So, right now we will be trawling our database of CFP submissions for speakers. We are looking for interesting and exciting topics. We are looking for talks and 1/2 day workshops. We will also host some training days earlier on in the week. Our Continuous Call for Papers means you can submit a talk, workshop or idea at any time. If you want to speak at Brighton you need to make sure you submit something by midnight of Sunday, August 13th. We Say No To Pay To Speak From the start, we have believed that no one should feel unable to...

TestBash Philadelphia 2017 is Live!

Mon, 22 May 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TL: DR Tickets are here . 16 talks, a circus and an awesome party. Limited Super Early Bird tickets available. I’m very excited to launch our final TestBash of 2017, TestBash Philadelphia! The event was a huge success last year, fantastic energy and really good vibes, something we aim to recreate this year. So what do we have lined up for 2017? The event will be two days. 16 talks delivered in our single track format. Topics include DevOps, Pipelines, Security, Performance, Coaching, Testing Leadership, Automation, Emotions, Prototyping, Risks and the hunt for a Sasquatch. We have fantastic experienced speakers and some exciting new first time speakers. We’ll always support new speakers. After the success of the reverse scavenger hunt last year, we’ve been trying to think of something new and unique for this year’s event. Taking on some feedback from last year, we’ve decided on a circus! Sadly not a circus made up of animals and clowns, but an awesome education circus. The TestBash Circus is going to consist of 10-15 mini activities lead by the speakers and invited instructors. Each activity will have its own space in the venue and be run repeatedly in parallel, allowing attendees to rotate around the ones that interest them the most. Each activity will be 10-30 minutes long and also be designed to be doable post the event. Some will be technical and require a laptop, some theory based and some just good fun! A really good opportunity to get hands-on, practice the content of the speaker talks and work alongside other attendees. We’re also repeating the awesome social we had last year on Thursday night. We’ll be having a BBQ, fire pits, s’mores, outside games, and much more. A great opportunity to reflect on the day and meet some new people. So there it is, a short summary of the event, instead of repeating all the details of the talks here, I encourage you to go and read them all over on the events page on The Dojo. The event is also looking for sponsors, so if your company is interested in supporting TestBash Philadelphia through sponsorship, details of all the options can be found here . P.S. the Super Early Bird price is limited, so book fast, and remember last year we came very close to selling out! Richard Bradshaw FriendlyBoss @FriendlyTester

TestBash Manchester 2017 Is Live!

Sun, 21 May 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TL:DR I don’t care what you have to say about it Richard, where are the tickets?! Here . 10 fantastic talks, six half-day workshops, Rapid Software Testing and an Open Space. Limited Super Early Bird tickets available. I’m so excited to be bringing TestBash back to Manchester, the community and industry here is so active right now, it’s a perfect match. Manchester needs an awesome testing event and I believe we’ve got one! So what’s in store this year? As per last year, we have the Rapid Software Testing class the week of TestBash, that is taking place from Monday 23rd to Wednesday 25th October and this year’s class is with testing guru Michael Bolton . Early bird price is £1200 + VAT, then it’s £1400 + VAT. We then have something new for this year… we have a workshop day! We have six fantastic workshops to choose from. Topics include: Web Security, API Testing, What is Quality?, Hiring Testers / Getting Hired, Test Career Mapping and more! We also have an introductory class called Exploratory Testing 101 by the Software Testing Clinic , only 20 spaces available in this class and is priced at £249. Then we have a jam packed conference day, it’s going to be a long day, but it’ll be so worth it! Full of learning and insight, with many opportunities for that all important thing at conferences, conferring! This line up consists of 10 talks, plus the famous 99 second talks that you’re very welcome to take part in. We’ve got talks on Exploratory Testing, Team Quality, Psychology, Education and Learning, Microservices, Accessibility, Automation, Imposter Syndrome and Anxiety . I’m incredibly impressed with the whole line up this year, but I’m going to pick out two talks/speakers to share with you to give you a taste of what to expect. The first being ‘ AUT: Anxiety Under Test ’ by Gem Hill . This is a brave talk from Gem on the incredibly important topic of mental health. Mental health is a tough topic but it’s something that affects many of us, so it’s important for us to discuss it openly and I want to thank Gem for having the courage to bring this talk to a public stage. Ministry of Testing will always have a place for topics like this. The second talk is ‘ The Lost Art of the Journeyman ’ by Martin Hynie . Martin is probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting. He is highly respected in the testing field and appreciated by a whole host of communities, but we especially love this guy here at the Ministry....

Individual Workshop Tickets Now Available for London Tester Gathering Workshops

Tue, 16 May 2017 00:00:00 -0000

You asked and we listened. We’ve received several enquiries about being able to buy individual workshop tickets. Perhaps the whole programme didn’t appeal, but you really wanted to attend one or two of the sessions, but couldn’t justify the full event price. So we’ve now made it possible for you to buy a ticket for each workshop individually, at a cost of £199 per workshop. We hope this helps you attend the workshops you want, and helps persuade your team, boss or company to invest in you to attend these workshops. Perhaps at this price, even your boss may attend one! That’s a single workshop on one of the following topics for £199, with some of most respected instructors around. We have: Traffic, Verbs, Testing, and T-Shirts – Sharath Byregowda & Tony Bruce Feature Mapping – The Fast Track from Stories Executable Specs – John Ferguson Smart Telling the Testing Story – Storytelling for Testers – Huib Schoots Getting Started With Appium – Dan Cuellar Understanding Blockchain and Testing – Rhian Lewis Story Mapping: Slicing Epics into Testable Bites – David Evans An Introduction to Complexity and Cynefin for Software Testers – Martin Hynie & Ben Kelly Security in the Cloud – Abby Bangser Full details of the event are here , and you can buy your individual workshop tickets here . All the best Richard & Tony.

TestBash Germany Tickets Now On Sale

Tue, 02 May 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TL:DR On 6-7th of October 2017 TestBash Germany is happening in Munich. Early bird tickets are now on sale, so register now and save. TestBash Brighton sold out 2 months in advance. TestBash Manchester sold out 3 months in advance. Please bear this in mind when booking! After weeks of reviewing and planning, we are proud to announce the program for our very first TestBash Germany conference. The lineup we have chosen covers a variety of topics. Below is a brief insight into the conference, we hope this inspires you to attend. You’ll hear about agile transformation, risk management and project planning, regression and accessibility testing – important topics for many software projects. One of the godfathers of DevOps – Noah Sussman – will be there talking all things ‘Tentacular’ – will we witness the birth of a new movement? We also have Mr #NoEstimates himself, Vasco Duarte. Don’t be fooled by NoEstimates expression, we have proof that Vasco always delivers on time! The testing troll will make an appearance and hold up a mirror to show us some testing anti-patterns. We’ve selected these topics, and these speakers, as we believe they all have vast amounts of experiences and knowledge to share with us, that will really make us all think. This program is suitable for all levels and backgrounds within testing, be it testers, QA engineers, developers, DevOps, system architects, Scrum Masters, we feel it has something to offer all. We feel everyone will find the content valuable, allowing attending to reflect and learn in the safe environment of a TestBash family event. TestBash is one-day single track conference so you don’t have to choose which talks to attend, you get to sit comfortably and hear them all! The day will also provide several opportunities for networking, allowing you to share stories and ideas, meet old and new friends, and finally meet people you may have only known from social media! They are real! Conference Day (Friday 6th October 2017): #NoEstimates, An Unconventional Approach to Managing Software Deliveries – Vasco Duarte Tentacular Continuity: The Game of Software Agriculture – Noah Sussman Next Stop: FlixBus! A Tester Exploring Developer Land – Lisi Hocke How Industrial Anthropology Influenced My Testing – Christian Kram Dear Future Me… a letter to myself about testing, the universe and everything – Alexandra Schladebeck A Tester Guide To Win Developers Respect! – Carmen Sighiartau ...

The Software Testing Club is Dead, Long Live The Software Testing Club

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 00:00:00 -0000

We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings. The long timers know that Ministry of Testing started out at The Software Testing Club . A humble forum that grew over the years. The original Software Testing Club forum still exists, however, over the coming months, we will be working to switch it off. It’s been a long time coming. The tech we use for it is old and clunky. So we decided to start from a fresh new place. So, we’ve created The Club under our Ministry of Testing brand. We’re investing a lot of our time and resources into building up the best thing possible for the software testing community. The Club has the same login details for The Dojo. The two do and will increasingly interlace nicely. We still feel like it is just the start, but the feedback on both The Dojo and The Club has been really positive. In fact, our company name has recently changed from Software Testing Club to Ministry of Testing. We have a long term vision to host all the things we are doing under the roof of Ministry of Testing. We’re in no rush though. There is 10 years worth of content on the original STC forum. We’re going to figure out what to do with that. Some of it will go. Some may get archived. Some may be transferred over to the new club. We’re working on a slow and steady transition. Join us! Join Us and Meet Software Testers at The Club

Tickets On Sale for London Tester Gathering Workshops!

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00:00 -0000

You may remember our excitement when we announced that London Tester Gathering Workshops had become part of the Ministry of Testing family. In fact, we wrote a post all about it here . Well to add a bit more excitement to it all, the tickets are now on sale for the workshops on 29th and 30th June 2017 at The Wesley , 81-103 Euston Street, London, NW1 2EZ. We have also announced the speakers! I’m sure you’ll recognise the names. Story Mapping: Slicing Epics into Testable Bites with David Evans Understanding Blockchain and Testing with Rhian Lewis Tony Bruce & Sharath Byregowda – Details Coming Soon Abby Bangser – Details Coming Soon John Smart – Details Coming Soon Martin Hyne and Ben Kelly – Details Coming Soon Dan Cuellar – Details Coming Soon Huib Schoots – Details Coming Soon You can read more about the workshop and buy your tickets here .

What is Lego Automation?

Sun, 26 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TL; DR. Solid, valuable, reliable automation requires far more important core set of skills than coding. We can and should practice these skills. LegoAutomation is designed to introduce you to these skills, in a highly unique interactive class. The class has something to offer all roles involved with software development. We do not write any code during the class or use laptops; broadening the scope and application of knowledge gained. We use Lego Duplo, the room, a dose of creativity and your desire to learn. Book Lego Automation with Richard Bradshaw on Wednesday 22nd March 2017 in Brighton. This is a highly interactive class, completely unique, doesn’t involve a laptop, uses Lego to model theory and is entirely focused on automation in the context of testing. I’ve spent years teaching automation, designed and ran several technical workshops. All included writing code and using some specific frameworks. These are great for people interested in those frameworks and wanting to learn those programming languages. That’s what those classes do, they teach people how use a specific framework with a specific language using some pre-designed scenarios. There is nothing wrong with these courses, I still teach them myself, but what about a more holistic approach to automation? Where can we go to learn about this? Where does someone go to improve their automation skills beyond the code itself? Because believe me when I say, there is so much more to automation than code! These are the reasons I designed Lego Automation. I wanted a class that focused on automation but didn’t involve laptops and code. For several reasons: It doesn’t alienate anyone; anyone can attend the class and no previous programming experience is required. I’ve had Testers, Developers, Managers, ScrumMasters and even a CTO attend the class. We can dive straight into active, experiential learning, no laptops to try and tame, no dev environments to configure. This allows us to make the most of our time. Reassure learners that they have far more automation skills than they may realise, a lot tend to just focus on the programming languages and tools they know. Introduce people to some terminology to allow them to talk about their automation, not just the code. The class consists of 4-7 rounds, depending on the time allocated. Each round is designed to build upon the last, allowing us to build upon our knowledge gained from earlier rounds. We use Lego Duplo and the room to design the...

London Tester Gathering Workshops Join The Ministry of Testing Family

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0000

You may have heard the rumours, and those rumours are true. London Tester Gathering Workshops ( #LTGWorkshops ) are now part of the Ministry of Testing family. Following on from our Masters of the Ministry initiative, here at the Ministry we’re dedicated to bringing high calibre workshops to the testing community at affordable prices. When Tony Bruce and I first spoke about the possibility of aligning LTG Workshops and MoT, I was in no doubt that we would be giving this a go. Tony is someone who has built a fantastic community in London, given a huge amount to the wider testing community, and is just a great person; exactly the kind of person we want to be supporting at Ministry of Testing. We feel this partnership will only enhance the LTG Workshops and Ministry of Testing brands over the coming years. I’m personally very excited about this. But let’s see what Tony thinks. "The Ministry of Testing have created a fantastic worldwide community of sharing, supporting and learning. I’m stoked that the #LTGWorkshops is now a part of it. We look forward to discovering where we can take the #LTGWorkshops. And we’ll see you there!" - Tony Bruce The workshops are going to be taking place on the 29th and 30th June 2017 at The Wesley , 81-103 Euston Street, London, NW1 2EZ. We’ll have more information on the workshops, pricing and tickets in the next few weeks. Richard Bradshaw FriendlyBoss

TestBash Is Returning To Philadelphia

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is coming back to Philadelphia! After the roaring success of last year, there was no way we couldn’t. TestBash Philadelphia is returning to The FringeArts on November 9th – 10th , that’s two whole days! We are going to repeat the same format as last year, a two-day event with a mixture of talks and conference wide workshops & activities. More information on speakers and tickets will be available in a few months once we’ve worked out the program. Which is what this post is really about. Run a Workshop or Speak at TestBash Philadelphia We need speakers and conference workshop facilitators. So if you’re interested in presenting at TestBash Philadelphia get submitting now. We’re looking for talks of no more than 30-45 minutes, plus experiential workshops/talks that could cater for 250 attendees! You can go ahead and submit your abstracts now using our continuous call for papers form. The deadline for being considered for TestBash Philadelphia 2017 is April 30th. If you’ve already submitted an abstract and selected Philadelphia as a location that you’re interested in, your abstract is already in the mix! Remember, Ministry of Testing conferences are not PayToSpeak, your travel and accommodation costs are covered from the moment you leave your house, to walking into the conference venue. If you get a speeding ticket on route to speaking at TestBash, we’ve got that covered. It’s probably actually illegal for us to pay it, but you get our point. We’d appreciate if you could share this, so we have as many abstracts to build the greatest program possible. All the best, TestBash Philadelphia Team

TestBash Is Returning To Manchester

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash is coming back to Manchester! After the roaring success of last year, there was no way we couldn’t. TestBash Manchester is returning to The Lowry on October 26th – 27th, two days! You read that correctly, two days! We’re going to run a workshop day on the 26th, then the main conference day is on the 27th. So you have the option to attend just the conference or both days! The Open Space is also returning, which will take place on the Saturday 28th October, more info to follow on that. More information on speakers and tickets will be available in a few months once we’ve worked out the program. Which is what this post is really about. Speak at TestBash Manchester We need speakers and workshop facilitators. So if you’re interested in presenting at TestBash Manchester get submitting now. We’re looking for talks of no more than 30-45 minutes, plus ½ day workshops for the Thursday. You can go ahead and submit your abstracts right away using our continuous call for papers form. The deadline for being considered for TestBash Manchester 2017 is March 31st. If you’ve already submitted an abstract and selected Manchester as a location that you’re interested in, your abstract is already in the mix! Remember, Ministry of Testing conferences are not PayToSpeak, your travel and accommodation costs are covered from the moment you leave your house, to walking into the conference venue. If you get a speeding ticket on route to speaking at TestBash, we’ve got that covered. It’s probably actually illegal for us to pay it, but you get our point. We’d appreciate if you could share this, so we have as many abstracts to build the greatest program possible. All the best, TestBash Manchester Team

TestBash Belfast Tickets Now On Sale!

Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0000

We have some exciting news on TestBash Belfast ! Tickets are now available for TestBash Belfast on 18th May 2017 at The Crescent Art Centre ! We are delighted to have talks from some incredibly inspiring people. All providing great content in what we expect to be a warm, friendly atmosphere. Cynefin for Testers – Liz Keogh Shift Left, Shift Right and improve the Centre – A strategy for testers in continuous delivery context – Augusto “Gus” Evangelisti The Automated Acceptance Testing Paradox – Mark Winteringham The Hypocrisy of Hypotheses (Or, How do we test hypothesis driven acceptance criteria) – Sharon McGeeIs It Too Late To Discover The Value Of Exploratory Testing? A Love Story – Simon Tomes Tested By Monkeys – The End Of Banana Software! – Jeremias Rößler A Test Pyramid Heresy – a fresh look at test automation strategies – John Ferguson Smart Testing So You Can Move On – Nicola Owen A Tale Of Testability – Rob Meaney Testing in Production – dangerous, scary or better? – Jon Hare-Winton There will also be two days of training going on prior to the conference itself. Focusing on Testing Web Services and hosted by Mark Winteringham.

TestBash Is Coming To Germany

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 00:00:00 -0000

The event is now live and on sale, all the details are here . The TestBash fever is spreading and the list is getting longer. Following Brighton, Manchester, the US, Belfast and the Netherlands, TestBash is coming to Germany! Yes, that’s right. TestBash is coming to Munich! After experiencing TestBash in Brighton and Manchester, both on and off stage, our vision was set. We – Kristine ( @e_tester ) and Patrick ( @TestPappy ) – need to bring this awesome experience to Germany! We bring the recipe of amazing speakers, inspiring content, a great atmosphere, and a friendly and engaging community to Munich. The first single track TestBash Germany will take place on Friday, 6th October 2017 in the “Münchner Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz”, followed by an open space session on Saturday. “This house shall be a meeting point for all artists and artisans of Munich, a center for cheerfulness, advice, and first moves” it says in the charter that was read out during the laying of the cornerstone of the “Münchner Künstlerhaus” in 1893. This motto we want to pair with the Ministry of Testing’s “Co-creating smarter testers” and invite all testers and people interested in testing to this amazing and inspiring place in the heart of Munich. Anyone Can Apply To Speak You have stories and ideas you want to share with us or the solution of a tricky problem you solved. We want talks that are highly creative, fun, but still focus on learning. The Ministry of Testing now has a Continuous Call for Papers . This means you can apply to speak at TestBash Germany at the same time as to any of the other TestBashes. We will be reviewing TestBash Germany submissions until 14th February 2017 – this means if you submit before this date then your submission will be considered for Germany. TestBash is a very friendly community conference and the right place to start your speaker career – 99 seconds or 30 minutes – it is up to you! New voices – we want to give you a stage to share your stories and to send sparks of your testing fire to an inflammable and engaged audience. If you have passion and energy for your profession, this is the place to share it! If you need help to prepare your talk, please contact us, we know amazing experienced speakers who love to help new voices. Be courageous and step up! Community This event is for you! Got a speaker who you would love to see at TestBash Germany? Tell us who that is, we will see if we can make it happen. Tell people about this...

What is the Software Testing Clinic, Exactly?

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0000

The Software Testing Clinic is a safe environment for those who are new to software testing to learn and enhance their testing skills whilst enabling senior testers to learn and enhance their mentoring skills. We’re a part of the Ministry of Testing family who are supporting us in offering quality training on key concepts of software testing in a way that is easy to access and isn’t restrictive based upon price. It’s important to us to help testers be the best they can be, which we’ve been doing for a year with great success and awesome feedback. We’ve even had had some of our students credit us with helping them find that first job in software testing. What should I expect from a meetup session ? Our sessions usually consist of a mix of whiteboarding sessions, talks and interactive exercises that will get you thinking about what skills and tools you need to be a great software tester on a specific topic. All the while being supported by a group of great mentors who are there to help answer any questions you may have. In the past year we covered the following topics: What is testing Testing requirements Heuristics and Oracles Test Design Interviews for Testers Communication Agile Testing Exploratory testing Chartering and SBTM Note taking Automation Technical testing We plan to repeat improved versions of these sessions in 2017. What about more in-depth options? Teaming up with Ministry of Testing to run our first full day clinic at TestBash 2017 means we can do some awesome stuff we haven’t been able to do before. We have a full day to delve into some very popular topics for software testers so we’ll be covering: Agile testing – Agile is becoming a ubiquitous word in software development and it’s important as testers we know what it means to us and how we fit into an Agile team. We’ll look at what it means to be ‘agile’ and what that entails when it comes to working as a Tester in an ‘agile’ team. Exploratory Testin g – It’s not new news that working with test cases/scripts can be problematic when it comes to testing. That’s why in our next session we are going to spend some time looking at the benefits of Exploratory testing and how to use the technique in practical scenarios. We’ll also have time to answer any questions you might have along with the support of our talented mentors I’ve never done software testing before but I am interested in becoming a software tester Come along! Our material is put...

Continuous Call For Papers

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0000

TestBash in all the places. This is what’s materialising at the moment. We’ve been approached from over 15 locations, from passionate individuals looking to have a TestBash in their town. We’ve actioned some of these already, with the latest Belfast on the way, and a new destination in Europe to be announced soon. Plus we’re in discussions with ALL the aforementioned individuals to see what is feasible… there are only so many hours in the day after all. With so many TestBash events, we’ve come to realise that we almost always have a Call For Papers (CFP) open. Essentially putting us in a continuous call for papers. So we thought why not just have a Continuous Call for Papers (CCFP)?! Submitting to a conference is time-consuming. It takes time to create and mould a good abstract. It takes time and awareness to notice and respond to all the CFPs of all the conferences out there. Sometimes people just forget, and now they’re not in the running. Sometimes your abstract will be rejected for one TestBash for a whole host of reasons, but this may mean you don’t submit to the next CFP for a TestBash, which your abstract may have been a perfect fit for. We receive a large number of abstracts each time we do a CFP, we pick the best. The best being what fits with what the community is talking about at the time and what we believe to be interesting topics and talks. It doesn’t mean the rest weren’t brilliant abstracts. We’re tired of losing those abstracts. Those abstracts remain in a spreadsheet never to see the light of day again. Unless of course that speaker submits it again for a future TestBash, but this is rarely the case. This is waste in our opinion, and something we believe will be reduced with a CCFP. So that’s what we’re introducing. MoT and our TestBash events are going to move to a continuous call for papers, this is big news, a game changer I feel and I’m sure other events will follow. So how does it work? For now, it’s rather primitive. You complete this form , just like you would for previous TestBash events. However, we will then consider your abstract for all the locations you have selected for the foreseeable future. The Ministry of Testing developers are busy beavering away on a solution to manage the whole CCFP which will be incorporated into The Dojo . More details on this when it gets closer to release. You can do this whenever you wish and as a result not pressured to get something in before the deadline. When inspiration hits,...

TinyTestBash Is Coming To Belfast

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Update: The program and tickets for TestBash Belfast are now available! Yes, TestBash really is coming to Belfast. We still can’t believe it ourselves. The community asked and Ministry of Testing responded. Belfast can sometimes be forgotten about and there really is an amazing community here. Myself ( @heather_reiduff ), Hugh McCamphill ( @hughleo01 ) and Neill Boyd ( @BelfastTester ) have been active members of the Belfast testing community for quite a while now. We have seen how it has grown and strengthened over time. We wanted to bring something to Belfast to showcase that and we think this is it. What makes this Tiny? Brighton is usually in the 300-350 range for attendees, Manchester was 250, TinyTestBash Brighton was around 80 attendees. We’re aiming for 100-120, maybe next time we’ll have a bigger shindig. So, where will it be held? I hear you ask. The Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast has a beautiful space that we thought would be perfect. This will all kick off on Thursday 18th May 2017. Start asking your manager now, booking time off and maybe even planning a talk. We weren’t content with a TinyTestBash though. Aim big. There will be additional training on Tuesday 16th & Wednesday 17th May, also in The Crescent Arts Centre. We are delighted to be charged with making this an event to show just how awesome the testing community here is. We hope that you feel like you can share this event with us and learn with us. Want to speak? Do you have a testing story to tell? Are you working on something that has been interesting to get to the end point? Are you still working on it? What keeps you working on it? These are the things we love to hear about – not a specific theme, but your story as you experienced it. We think it helps us to understand your experiences better. Maybe this is your first conference talk and you’re nervous. We can work through your proposal with you. Or you could do a 99 second talk to help us close off the day. This is all about encouraging the local community. It would be great if some of you wanted to speak too. If you’re not sure, talk to one of us! TestBash events have now moved to a Continuous Call for Papers . We are specifically looking for 30-minute talks for TestBash Belfast. We will stop considering abstracts for TestBash Belfast 2017 from the 1st of January 2017, so get them submitted before then! Community Ministry of Testing is all about the community. It is because of the community that TestBash...

TestBash Brighton Tickets Now On Sale

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 00:00:00 -0000

On 23-24th of March 2017, TestBash Brighton is happening. Last year we sold out 2 months in advance. TestBash Manchester sold out 3 months in advance. Please bear this in mind when booking! The good news is that we have a new bigger venue, so we can cater for more people. And even more good news is that we have new stuff happening. We will start with: Rapid Software Testing with Michael Bolton Lego Automation with Richard Bradshaw A full day Software Testing Clinic **NEW & EXCITING!!!** with Mark Winteringham and Dan Ashby Workshop day: Then there will be a workshop day with a couple of talks sprinkled in. You would need to choose a morning and afternoon workshop to attend after you register. These are the workshops we have lined up: Exploring Test Strategy Workshop – Mike Talks Mentoring Mastery – Passing On Skills You “Just Do” – Nicola Sedgwick & Shey Crompton Story Mapping: Slicing Epics into Testable Bites – David Evans Talk About Testing by NOT Talking about Testing – Keith Klain & Martin Hynie & Vernon Richards Agile Exploration Workshop – Alessandra Moreira Thinking and Working Visually for Software Testers – Huib Schoots An Introduction To Testing Internet of Things – Mark Winteringham & Diogo Nunes Web And Mobile Security – Attack Like A Black-Hat Hacker– Santhosh Tuppad Coaching Skills To Unlock The Potential Tester In Everyone! – Toby Sinclair & Amy Phillips Visual Collaborative Test Strategies – Clem Pickering & Mike Grimwood Critical Thinking for Testers, Programmers, and Managers – Michael Bolton Conference day: Our famous one-day single track conference will be on Friday, these are the talks we have lined up: The Tester’s Survival Guide to Joining a Continuous Delivery Project– Amy Phillips Rediscovering Test Strategy – Mike Talks TBC – Professor Harry Collins Step Back to Move Forwards A Software Testing Career Introspective – Del Dewar Kick-Ass Kick-Offs! – Kevin Harris Let’s Talk About Ethics And Software Testing – Tobias Geyer Heavy Lyfting: Building An Automation and Test Culture at Lyft – Joel Hynoski Finding Testing Allies – Melissa Eaden Growing a Testing – Whole Team Organization The Hard Way – Jim Holmes What I Learned About Testing Software By Becoming A Developer, Then A CEO – David Christiansen TBC – Paul Campbell Open Space: On Saturday we will host an open space/unconference. This will be a much smaller event but full of the opportunities to go deeper into a conversation...

Software Testing Clinic Joins The Ministry of Testing Family

Thu, 25 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0000

There are some fantastic people doing some great things in the testing communities. They’re starting new initiatives using their drive and determination, with the purpose of improving the software testing space. We love these people, and more importantly, we love to support these people. We’ve recently shown this by supporting Maaret Pyhäjärvi with Testing Gems . Now we are really pleased to announce that we’ve found another fantastic initiative to support, and that’s the Software Testing Clinic . The clinic was started, and is still ran by Dan Ashby and Mark Winteringham . Their goal and mission with the clinic is to create a safe environment where people who are new to testing can come along and learn new skills, ask questions and get mentoring from excellent experienced testers. Most importantly of all though, for free . You can find out about and register to attend their next clinic session on September 20th 2016 in London . We can get on board with all these things, and we feel it fits perfectly with our motto of ‘co-creating smarter testers’. We believe the Software Testing Clinic and Ministry of Testing are a perfect match. After talking to Dan and Mark it became clear we shared the same goals and visions for new testers, and importantly the skills needed. The Ministry of Testing is a fantastic community with a wealth of resources, paired with the passion of Mark and Dan, plus the awesome work was already done, we believe we can produce something that will change software testing training forever. In addition to this, we will be looking at how we can utilise the Dojo in a blended learning approach with the face to face clinics, but also to take the work of Dan and Mark to a wider audience. With the goal of having several clinics around the UK. While also bringing this curriculum to a wider, global audience. So that’s our opinion, but what do Dan and Mark think? "The Software Testing Clinic has come a huge way since we formed the idea and ran our first session back in May. We’ve run 10 sessions so with much more to come, and have put together an awesome curriculum that our students have really benefited from (of course with the help of some great mentors too). The success stories make it all worth it – we’ve helped bring new people into the testing world, helped people grasp new knowledge and experience about important aspects of testing, helped people to gain mentoring skills and experience and we have even helped some people get...

Create. Participate. Get Involved. Here is how.

Wed, 20 Jul 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Last week we sold out our TestBash Manchester tickets. I celebrated this with a run and a bit of chalk graffiti! I also thought it would be a good time to jot down some thoughts about it and how we are trying grow and co-create an awesome testing community . We have a big mountain to climb, with a very small core team and always need your help! To give you an idea, this is what we are up to: TestBash Netherlands call for papers is closing shortly. We’ve just quietly launched TestBash Brighton call for papers. Super early bird deadline for TestBash Philadelphia is next week. We’re working on new things for The Dojo . We’re rebuilding The Club forum. We’ve got new Masters of the Ministry courses launched. We’ve got a zillion things we’d love to write about. Here are some ideas on how you can help: read the article about how we are trying to co-create our community participate and share things that we make – like our recent #30daysoftesting help other testers on The Club attend our events , the live online ones are often free sign up to The Dojo , and then ask your boss to go Pro apply to speak at our TestBashes, all are welcome! sponsor our events, anyone can sponsor as micro-sponsorship is super affordable from £200-ish. Manchester and Philadelphia sponsorship is currently available. Netherlands and Brighton coming soon. write an article for us, email me for that – rosie@ministryoftesting.com got knowledge and video skills? Apply to become a trainer on The Dojo . Email mark@ministryoftesting.com for that. give us feedback, we will listen. Tell anyone and everyone (not just testers) that we exist Thank you! Sincerely, Rosie Sherry, FounderBoss @rosiesherry

TestBash Brighton – Call For Papers

Tue, 19 Jul 2016 00:00:00 -0000

There’s lots going down at Ministry of Testing HQ! It seems like there is a TestBash here there and everywhere – Manchester, Philadelphia, Netherlands and next up (again) is Brighton. TestBash Brighton is happening on March 23rd-24th 2017. And we have a new venue! This is partly because we’ve out grown our previous one and whilst the Tour de Brighton Workshops was an interesting challenge – I’d rather not have multiple workshops happening at multiple different locations! We will have 2 days and use of an entire building. More of us can fit, so hopefully, there will be less sad people. And, and, and we’ll have much more flexibility in the things we do. We’re pretty excited at the potential of all the new things we can do! As with all TestBashes – they are nothing without you the community. We encourage you to apply. We welcome all applications, don’t be shy! We would be more than happy to answer any questions or support anyone looking for guidance in submitting, you just need to ask. We’re currently looking for speakers/presenters/workshoppers and all the cool ideas you may want to present.

Moving onwards, together

Mon, 18 Jul 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Last week we sold out our TestBash Manchester tickets. I celebrated this with a run and a bit of chalk graffiti ! Earlier this year we sold out our TestBash Brighton tickets weeks in advance too. This is our 9-year overnight success story, right? Of course, we are celebrating this, but it also sends many different thoughts through my mind. It has been a long journey for me personally. I’ve stuck with things even through the times that have pretty much sucked. I believe I’ve kept true to my heart, ethos and ethics – and this is really most likely the core reason as to why things at the Ministry of Testing are working. The cheesy and unmeasurable things are what matters and help us to continue to grow. However, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Trying to do things differently has its challenges. For me, personally, it’s the never ending challenge of trying to do too much with too little. Having this incredible opportunity to make the software testing community a wonderful place comes with many stresses too. I simply can’t look at this ‘thing’ as purely a business, maybe other people could, but not me. We are not numbers. We are people that need to grow, together. We’ve Co-Created Awesome-ness, Version 1.0 It feels a bit awkward for me to say this, as I’m actually quite a quiet and humble person. It doesn’t sit well with me to brag or be overly confident about things. However, what you have helped us build is so, so, so amazing. I believe we are building the best thing out there for software testers. AND! I don’t see how anyone else could ever match the vibe we’ve managed to co-create. So, I thank you all for helping us be awesome. But I still feel, despite being 9 years in, we are just beginning. There is so much more to come! I started this thing first as a fun side project then committed myself to making it into a business on a bootstrapper's budget. i.e. – no money. No investment or loans. Just my time and the continued reinvestment of the money we have made back into the community. Soon I will start blogging openly and properly about our business and financial journey. Earlier this year we realised we had made our first million in sales. It took us 5 years to get there. And until 6 months ago it was mostly me and my husband working full time on it. We’ve mostly worked in partnership with others and with freelancers. We will continue to do that whilst growing our team. In August Richard Bradshaw will be joining us full...

Testbash Netherlands 2017

Fri, 01 Jul 2016 00:00:00 -0000

A very important announcement from our good friend Huib Schoots. Do you know what the UK, USA and the Netherlands have in common? TestBash! I am very excited to announce that TestBash is coming to Utrecht next year! After being at TestBash for five times already, I know what a great conference TestBash is. Awesome speakers, great atmosphere, fun social events and the great community made me come back year after year. That’s why I am very excited to bring this awesomeness to my own country! TestBash Netherlands 2017 is going to be held at a friendly and cosy 19th century historic venue, Boothstraat 7 in Utrecht on Thursday and Friday 26th and 27th January 2017. Oh yes, TestBash is coming to the Netherlands! Land of tulips, wooden shoes, cheese, pancakes and windmills! So it’s me, with the help of many friends who are going to create the best testing conference ever in the Netherlands! It’s a blast to be bringing TestBash to the European continent. I will give this event all I can, aiming to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and able to learn. I have many ideas I intend to put into action. But my ideas are useless without you. So please help me. All of you! Speakers! This conference will have no specific theme. The first day will be filled with 6 half-day and 3 full-day workshops. The second day will be a single track with 30-minute talks. So please send me abstracts telling me what you want to talk about: your experiences, your stories and stuff you want to teach others. Have you had some interesting experiences recently that others can learn from? Tell us about them. Have you solved difficult problems? How did you solve those problems? How did you know they were solved? Why did those problems get your focus? Tell us all about them. Your workshops, experience talks and stories can be on any topic that relates to testing. I just want honest, experience based, congruent sessions filled with passion and energy. Community: this event is for you! First of all: this event will be surrounded by social events TestBash style! Food, drinks and games at pubs nearby the venue, before and after each of the conference days. So it might be a good idea to book a hotel or come by train. If you do not have a talk to propose, but would really like to hear someone present on a given topic, let us know. We will see if we can find someone capable of delivering it. Or maybe you know a speaker who you really would love to see at TestBash...

Are You Coming To TestBash Philadelphia?

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 00:00:00 -0000

In the Masterclasses we host on The Dojo , Richard often says that we follow the energy of the community. This phrase has stuck with me simply because it is so true! We are built from the ground up, with the help from the community. We listen carefully and try our best to create things that you need. TestBash Philadelphia is one of them. Last year we were in NYC. This year we are going to be hosting TestBash Philadelphia. We are doing it because YOU asked for it (too many times for us to ignore it!). I still personally feel terrified to be doing this, in an exciting kind of way. What we have built up in the UK has been amazing. We have so much love and support from the community and we feel that we need to continue to grow that in the US of A. So, come along. It’s your event! The speakers are from the community. They were chosen by selected active members in the community. The people are attending are people like you. People interested in learning about their software testing craft. Wanting to improve themselves and feel the need to connect with others on their journey. This is not your standard software testing conference. You will meet new people. You will make new friends. You will learn and be inspired by all those around you. You will leave feeling sad, yet motivated to make some changes when you go back to testing! It will be 2 days of talks and activities. No workshops this year, we’re experimenting on a 2 day single track conference with plenty of things happening in between. Join us! Important Info! Conference details: you can find the main conference page with full details here . Registration: – Register now – (If you are a member of The Dojo then you get $50 off!) Date: Thursday 10th November – Friday 11th November 2016 (be prepared and schedule time for social meet ups before during and after). Location: FringeArts Theatre Registration The Speakers. The Very Awesome Speakers. Gaining Consciousness – Fiona Charles Testing without Testers (and other dumb ideas that sometimes work) – Alan Page A Mob Testing Experience – Maaret Pyhäjärvi Episode VII: A Tester Training Program Awakens – Megan Studzenski & Cheri Kure What the Hell Kind of Testing is That? – Nancy Kelln The road to enlightenment: How we learned to stop worrying and start treating infrastructure like any other feature – Abby Bangser and James Spargo Succeeding as an Introvert – Elizabeth Zagroba Giving Something Back - Testing In The Pub...

Masterclass: How to Identify Risk in a Large Code Base with Noah Sussman

Tue, 10 May 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Once or twice a month, courtesy of The Dojo , we host an online Masterclass. These are usually one hour long and driven by the energy of the Ministry of Testing community. These Masterclasses are free to attend live and recordings are made available to all Pro Members of The Dojo . Our next Masterclass with Noah Sussman on Wednesday 18th of May Identifying risk in software and code is a relatively young science. In 25 years, we’ve moved from using naïve metrics (like bugs-per-line-of-code) to using nuanced models like those applied by automated testing practitioners at Etsy, Google, Facebook and other successful continuous delivery organizations. In these organizations, many people are responsible for understanding and identifying risk in the code base, which is often large and ever changing in these large applications. In this Masterclass, you will learn: your role as a tester in becoming aware of the code base you are working with look at the source code through the lens of a software architect examine sources of risk in software so they become more clear identify major sources of risk and communicate, with evidence from the code, how and where quality goals are being pursued

What We’ve Been Sharing This Week

Tue, 03 May 2016 00:00:00 -0000

We love to gather and share. Every week (for 135 weeks so far) we’ve been gathering the latest information from the community sharing it via email and social media. We thought it was about time to share it on the web. You can subscribe to the email version here . The abysmal state of ‘testing’ in 2016 – and what can we do about it? I’m sure you’ve all heard it before, but I thought for a bit of fun and serious discussion I would bring up the topic of what can we do to help change the perception of software testing? So to give an example, there have been a couple of blog posts in the past week talking about testing: One from the angle of ‘aarggh, testing is not all about automation’. The other on ‘aargh, of course, manual testing still exists’ Read full post… Practical Tips on How to Transition from Traditional to Modern Testing Practices Understanding the value of the modern software delivery chain is easy, but how to execute it in real life is not always as simple. It is difficult to argue against the obvious benefits of automated testing — accelerated delivery, improved quality, and reduced costs — yet a transformation is required of all organizations moving from manual testing to automated testing. Register for the webinar… Writing Tests Doesn’t Have to Be Extra Work Writing automated tests is sort of like the kale of the software development community. With the exception of a few outlying “get off my lawn” types, there’s near-universal agreement that it’s “the right thing.” And that leaves a few different camps of people…. Why I still like pyramids The testing pyramid is widely used approach towards testing in agile projects, yet it starts to get a bad reputation with testers like Richard Bradshaw, who according to John Stevenson proclaimed the pyramid is dead on MEWT [1], or James Bach, who states “it has little to do with testing” [2]. So why is that? Grading Proposals: My Experience After writing a few of my own proposals to attend conferences I was asked to participate in grading proposals for Test Bash Philadelphia. This is my experience. Nonjudgmental Feedback People are not like dogs. How often have you seen someone recommending the giving of praise as a way of raising morale, increasing engagement, making folks happier, and so on? The thing is, giving praise has a significant downside. Present Moment Coaching On Thursday 21st April I attended a “Life Coaching” Meet Up called “Present Moment Coaching” hosted above...

Announcing Masters of the Ministry

Thu, 21 Apr 2016 00:00:00 -0000

At The Ministry of Testing, we are constantly experimenting and evolving. We fail. We succeed. And then along the way we discover new things and ideas that we feel compelled to do. At the heart of the Ministry of Testing, is the saying that we are ‘co-creating smarter testers’. The key part of this for me is the ‘co-creation’. We believe we need to do this together in a way that we will all win. So with that in mind, we are creating Masters of the Ministry . The idea behind this is that very awesome, knowledgeable people we have within the community want to share their wisdom with others. And at the Ministry of Testing, we want to enable them to do so in a positive, open and lean way. Initially, we are going to be partnering up with some very awesome testers that want to organise and deliver some training courses. They will be making the courses happen. Choosing the locations and all the finer details. We will facilitate them on this journey, allowing them to use our existing infrastructure and presence in the testing community. First up we have Mark Winteringham organising a course on Testing Web Services . Mark presented a version of this course at TestBash Brighton. Now he will be presenting a one-day version in September in Manchester (UK). All our events with Masters of the Ministry will be promoted via our normal channels and be listed on our events page . In the coming weeks and months, we plan to have more ‘Masters’ joining us on this initiative. We can’t say whom yet, but we think you will like them and what they have to offer! And of course, if you think someone should be on our list or would like to get involved yourself then please get in touch.

Are Test Cases Dead (Yet)?

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 00:00:00 -0000

This is partially inspired by this post on WatirMelon , but am also raising this as the software testing industry continues to evolve into a different beast! This is not news to many! However, I definitely feel there is a trend that test cases are no longer as relevant as what they used to be. The idea of writing test cases manually and trying to keep them up to date is increasingly just not the done thing. Of course, I am sure there are many projects out there that still take the test case approach. However, for the newer projects (agile, continuous delivery, etc) the maintaining of a set of manual test cases appears to be frowned upon. What Do Testers Do Instead? Can you leave a comment below with feedback about how you go about managing your tests? It would be great if you could briefly explain what and how you are managing your tests and how you feel it is going for you and your team. Some ideas of what you may be doing instead: You’ve adopted Session Based Test Management (but how do you practically manage the process?) You’ve created a number of automated checks, that are documented and updated continuously. You have some kind of documentation area that is kept up to date with communications. A wiki perhaps. Or a blog. Or a spreadsheet. You use mind maps instead. You use checklists. You still write test cases? How and why? You don’t write any kind of tests! Can you share how you manage your tests and inspire your fellow software testers to improve their processes?

Open Space at TestBash Manchester

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00:00 -0000

So hopefully by now, you would have seen the conference line up for the Friday at TestBash Manchester and perhaps noticed that in the ticket options, there is one for TestBash + Open Space. So what is this Open Space? This will be the first TestBash Open Space and we’re seeing it as an initiative to get people talking more, and perhaps go a bit deeper on some topics. Those topics could be anything, even what you may have heard at the conference. By deeper, we mean many things, such as discussions and debates. Plus more hands on things such as tool demos, coding and some actual testing. It could be anything. So the TestBash open space will essentially take the form of an unscheduled conference. There will be no schedule. Instead we, and I really do mean we, all attendees, will create the schedule in the morning. Everyone will have the ability to propose a session, in doing so though, you take ownership of facilitating said session. Once everyone has pitched their session ideas, we will bring them all together on a big planner and create our very own conference. Depending on the number of attendees we expect to have 4-5 tracks, so lots of variety. Now we like to do things a little differently at the Ministry of Testing, so the TestBash Open Space won’t be completely unscheduled. We’ve invited some awesome people to talk and host sessions. These include Gem Hill, Amy Philips and Simon Bennetts. We will probably add one or two more people in due course. We’ve also had several of the conference speakers confirm they will be attending, including James Bach, Huib Schoots and Helena Jeret-Mäe. The Open Space event has awesomely been sponsored by LateRooms, and it will be hosted at their office which is right next to Victoria station in Manchester city centre. The event will take place on Saturday, 22nd October 2016. I genuinely believe this will be a fantastic day of learning, discussing and learning about topics that you want to hear about. I hope to see you there. Richard Bradshaw FriendlyBoss @FriendlyTester

TestBash in the USA Is Back!

Thu, 17 Mar 2016 00:00:00 -0000

U.S.A! U.S.A! No, I’m not at a presidential rally, I’m chanting about the fact that TestBash is returning to the US of A! U.S.A! After the great success of TestBashNY 2015, we are returning to America with TestBash in 2016. This years conference will be a two day single track with a variety of activities thrown in to keep you on your toes. “Yes, sure… but where? When?” Good question: Thursday and Friday, November 10 and 11, 2016 at the FringeArts Theater in Philadelphia. That’s right, we are going to the home of the cheesesteak, the steps Rocky ascended, the birthplace of the Fresh Prince, it’s Phillllllllly! So it’s me, Richard Bradshaw ( @FriendlyTester ) and with the help of many friends who is going to lead the making of an awesome TestBashUSA. It’s an absolute honour to be asked to work on TestBashUSA. I will give this event all that I can. I’m aiming to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and able to learn. I have many ideas I intend to put into action. More of those as we get closer to the event, but my ideas are useless without you. I need you… All of you. Speakers We’re going to experiment with a two day event with a single track, so we’re looking for variety in the talk submissions. We need the sit down and listen talks. We need the high level of attendee interaction talks. We need get up and move around talks. We need highly creative, fun, but focused on learning talks. We are looking to form a programme with a combination of all these things. Do you have something different, crazy if you dare, never been done before ideas, let us know about them, let’s see if we can turn them into the “been done”. Theme The topics or themes of these talks can be on whatever you think we want to hear about, but more importantly the community would like to hear about. As mentioned, the conference will be a single track, but that doesn’t stop us doing a conference wide workshop if you can come up with a compelling one, and that works for 200+ people! Be creative. Let’s be experimental, experiential, let’s push some boundaries. Community: This event is for you! Request For Requests For Proposals (RFRFP). If you do not have a talk to propose, but would really like to hear someone present on a given topic, let us know. We will see if we can find someone capable of delivering it. Got a speaker who you would love to see at TestBash Philly? Tell us who that is, we will see if we can make it happen. At the last Testbash in Brighton,...

TestBash Manchester Is Coming!

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 00:00:00 -0000

I’m so pleased to announce that TestBash is coming to Manchester . I’m excited about this on so many levels, the most important being, I’m a northern boy, Manchester born and bred. Also, Manchester and the North are thriving at the moment, and it deserves a TestBash, so I’m bringing one. It isn’t going to be as big as the main TestBash, or a small as a TinyTestBash, it’s going to be TestBash Manchester! TestBash Manchester is going to be held at The Lowry Theatre on Friday 21st October 2016. So it’s me, Richard Bradshaw ( @FriendlyTester ) who is going to be in charge of making TestBash Manchester awesome. It’s an absolute honour to be bringing TestBash up north. I will give this event all I can, aiming to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and able to learn. I have many ideas I intend to put into action, more of those closer to the event, but my ideas are useless without you, I need you, all of you. Speakers! I struggle with conference themes, I often find myself re-writing my stories/messages with different words to try and please the committee. I’ve reviewed many abstracts from speakers who have done the same. It can lead to a confusing abstract, unnecessary waffle and distract from what should be the core, your story. So we have no theme. But I do have some requests. Send me abstracts that are filled with what you want to talk about, your experiences, your stories. Have you had some interesting experiences recently that others can learn from? Tell us about them. Have you solved difficult problems? How did you solve those problems? How did you know they were solved? Why did those problems get your focus? Tell us all about them. Your experiences and stories can be on any topic that relates to testing. I just want honest, experience based, congruent stories filled with passion and energy. Community! This event is for you. Tell people about it, encourage people that you believe have a great story to share it. Reach out to me, tell me what you want to see at the event. So there it is, I really hope you can all be a part of TestBash Manchester with me in some form or another, and help me rock the first TestBash Manchester. [Submissions are now closed]. Submissions close Friday 18th March

7 Practical Software Testing Tips from TestBash Presenters

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 00:00:00 -0000

We gathered some practical software testing tips for you from presenters of TestBash Brighton, the most awesome software testing conference out there! Dancing a New JIG! – Mark Tomlinson At the last TestBash 2015, Simon Knight guided the class through the essentials of using JMeter to get started with performance testing. Most of the class jumped and started dancing to the beat with one of the most complex open source performance testing tool you can find. Recently I’ve been taking time to learn a few new dances with JMeter, namely a new JIG (Jmeter + InfluxDB + Grafana). Jmeter gives you a tremendously powerful load testing engine, but it gives oodles of output that’s hard to manage and especially hard to visualize to the non-performance tester world. InfluxDB is a time-series database written in GO that is really easy to install and performs quite well to receive all the data from JMeter. It forms the data repository for all your testing and monitoring results, giving you a “SQL-ish” query language for a non-sql data store. Grafana is a great server for taking the JMeter data from InfluxDB and visualizing it over-time. It also installs in just a few seconds and gives you really nice tools and plugins for visualizing all that crazy sampler data. If you’re looking to take your JMeter talent to the next level, get up and dance a new JIG today! Mind mapping FTW – even if you’re distributed! – Lisa Crispin Got a problem to solve? Get your teammates involved and get your creative juices flowing with mind mapping. If you’re co-located, pick up some markers and paper or a whiteboard. If you’re distributed, fire up one of the many online mind mapping tools that support real-time collaboration. My current favorite free tool is MindMup 2.0 . Here’s an example . Me and the other tester on our team are in different states. She was in our office last week. We wanted to brainstorm about our team’s current testing approach and what we want to do for 2016. We mind mapped on our whiteboard and came up with so many ideas! Then we put the mind map into MindMup 2.0 and are continuing to work on it together now that we’re in different locations. It’s helping me write a blog post explaining how we do testing, in hopes of attracting a new tester candidate. Meanwhile, our original mind map is up on the board for the rest of the team to peruse. Creative spaces for creative thinking! – Christina Ohanian Build creative spaces to support your team’s creative...

Preparing for Building Quality In with Distributed Teams

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Since early November, Abby Bangser and I (Lisa Crispin) have been collaborating to put together our TestBash workshop . We made our “release plan” with milestones and a schedule of Skype meetings (we’re a distributed team too Abby is in London and I’m in Colorado!) We created a shared mind map in MindMup 2.0 to brainstorm ideas. We thought about the different types of distributed teams. For example, some teams are distributed by work responsibility or functionality. Some teams are made up of all remote workers. Some are mostly colocated with a few remote workers. Lots of flavors. Then we listed distributed team issues that impact quality. These include technical difficulties of communicating, trust, and sharing work and outputs. We also listed the solutions that have worked for our own teams to overcome some of these problems. On our mind map, we worked out the flow of our workshop. Abby and I want to tell our stories of working in distributed teams, and also have participants share theirs. We want to give participants the experience of working remotely so they can feel the pain in real time, then come up with ideas for overcoming issues. We set a goal that everyone should leave with potential experiments they can try with their own teams to overcome the downsides of distribution, take advantage of the upsides, and build a better quality product together. Next, Abby and I refined our handson simulation. We’ve done a couple of “dry runs” with our respective teammates. Our “testers” had a lot of fun, and found the simulation is realistic, providing lots of learning opportunities. We’re finishing up our slide deck, gathering our simulation materials, and look forward to practicing together with our material. The TestBash staff is making sure we have the infrastructure we need so that participants can make the most of it. We’re looking forward to helping people learn good ways to build quality in even if their team is distributed. I think that together with participants, we will forge some new frontiers in testing on distributed teams. Register for Lisa and Abby’s Building Quality in with Distributed Teams Workshop .

A Present From Jokin To All The Spanish Speaking Software Testers

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0000

The following are some words from Jokin Aspiazu . We hope to expand on this initiative, if you appreciate this then let us know! Now that we are a team of testers in flywire, we started to run a testing event, The Testnight, a humble event where we would invite fellow testers to talk and debate about matters that are interesting for us. The first event was quite good, with +10 assistants and Tomislav Delalic delivering a talk about training options for testers . We found out that we liked producing something we could share after the event, for those who could not attend. For the second event, while we were planning it, we had a funny idea, let’s invite James Bach or Michael Bolton, we had some laughs and continued working.But hey, maybe we don’t have to get them all the way to Valencia, maybe we can play a recorded talk, after all, there is plenty of good stuff recorded up there. Yes, but all these talks are in English, and for Non-native English speakers sometimes it’s hard to follow. Well, we can try to add Close Captions to the talk and see how it goes. So, it happens that Youtube has built a tool to write your Close Captions as you play the video. The tool is free and it kind of meets the expectations, so all I did was replay the talk and write the content in Spanish. This is a slow process, (depending on what you consider fast or slow) but 5 minutes of talk would take me about 40 minutes of work. Once you are done, you can share the video or you can export the file with the Closed Captions, I sent this file to Rosie, so she could add it to the original Dojo talk , and it worked just fine, now we can share the same video, for two different audiences. What do you get from it? Well, you get a good understanding of the talk and also you create some content that is easy to share with fellow Spanish speaking testers, and maybe you help them a bit in getting better with their English. It’s a win, if you are not a native English speaker, you should give it a try Go watch Michael Bolton’s – The Rapid Software Testing Guide To What You Meant To Say with Spanish subtitles !

Now Is The TestBash Time!

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Right! You. Read this now. I’m going to tell you as it is! TestBash is the place to be! Get booking your tickets! Stop faffing about. 2016 is not the year for excuses. If it were my boys speaking, they would call this a beastly event to attend! I can tell you the early bird is ending at the end of this month. Save money by booking before the end of the month. Plus, there’s a good chance there won’t be any tickets left after that JUST SAYING! However, what is way more fun and exciting is that we have are probably the only testing conference that will have a Grammy Award Winning Singerspeaking. Michael Wansley (aka TeeWanz ) just happens to be a tester too. Woah! Testers can be cool too! Of course, TeeWanz is cool. But so are all the other testers coming along – to attend and speak! So come along. (If you are one of the clever and cool testers that has already booked your tickets, then you can probably skip the rest. Or perhaps forward it over to some sad testers in need. Go on. Really. Let's eradicate sad testers. Sad testers are bad to have around.) Really, come along. Here’s a run down of what is happening during TestBash week. There’s a real nice mixture of training courses, 1/2 day workshops and conference talks! Pre Conference Training Courses Rapid Software Testing – 3 Day Course with Michael Bolton – March 7th-9th Exploring Mobile and API (In)Security – 1 Day Training Course with Bill Matthews – Monday 7th March 2016 Test Automation and Continous Integration at Scale – 1 day – Tuesday March 8th Collaborative Exploratory and Unit Testing – 1 day training course with Maaret Pyhäjärvi & Llewellyn Falco. Wednesday March 9th 2016. TestBash Workshop Day – 1/2 Day Workshops Morning Workshops Lego Automation – with Richard Bradshaw. Morning (9am – 12:30) workshop. TestOps 101 – Become The Master of Your Domain – with Martin Hynie & Ioana Serban. Connecting the Dots – Empowering People Through Play – Christina Ohanian & Nicola Sedgwick. Testing the Bigger Picture – System Architectures – Ash Winter. Building Quality in With Distributed Teams – Lisa Crispin & Abby Bangser. Test Strategy in 10 Minutes – Bill Matthews & Pekka Marjamaki. Afternoon Workshops You Love Load Testing? So, what’s next? – with Mark Tomlinson. The Test Doctor’s Proxy Surgery with Dan Billing. Make Testing Visible: Developers Produce Code and Testers Produce… – Emma Armstrong. Agile Testing Strategy – Responding to Change – Richard...

Perhaps The Best Bug Ever?

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Unicorns and Ukuleles Now Have Something In Common. I came across this on my Facebook timeline. What a wonderful bug find it is! I am not sure what is the best thing about it! The randomness of it. The fact that someone thinks that unicorns are jerks. Or perhaps a bug, in this case, seems to be a positive thing, at least for those who made Unicorns are Jerks! Either way, don’t we love seeing bugs in the wild? Especially when we can be lighthearted about it!

I Need Your Help

Tue, 05 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0000

I have this amazing thing in my hands and I need your help taking it forward. I’ve struggled the last year. I had too much on my plate. I tried to take some of it off, but it didn’t pan out. So I’m now working on a new plan. You could call it Plan B, but really it’s more like plan x, y and z. Things are always changing as I seek what feels like the right and best way of doing things. I fail often and it hurts. I hide the hurt. I’d like to hurt less whilst achieving more for the community. I want to help others grow. Testers and our community deserves to grow. This mammoth that we’ve created is here to stay. It is not for me. It is for the software testing community. It makes me uncomfortable to ask sometimes, but I feel I should because we should be doing so much more. Here’s the thing. We are growing. I expect this year to be super busy. There will be many challenges ahead. I seem to have finally got some help to whip some things into super organised action. The Dojo is growing. People are signing up daily. Content is constantly being added. All The TestBashes are growing. Some require more work than others. Our engagement and traffic is going up and up. Working With The Community Every time I try to decide how to best to grow this thing, I can’t help but go back to how I need to work with the community. However, now I need to do it in a more intense and focused way. So, I’m on the hunt for Creators. If you have projects, ideas, articles, meetups, events, videos or any other stuff that you would like to see happen then I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. Also, we have lots of things that we’d like to see happen so we’ll constantly be pitching ideas and opportunities. We are building a small team to help make these creations happen. You can start by requesting to join our MoT Slack . Then you can message me on Slack and tell me how you think you’d like to get involved. If I think your ideas are good and we can work together, then I’ll add you to our private ‘Creators’ channel. In there we will talk about how we are trying to do things, there are no set rules. We want to see things happen and if we can see value in them happening then we will do what we can to help do that. We can compensate in various ways. Credits towards our events. Support (financial or in kind) for something you are working on. We could invest some money. Or pay you an agreed fee. Whatever works for you (and us). Over the next year we will develop a...

The TinyTestBash That Was

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0000

Good times were had at our TinyTestBash software testing conference! I’m not really quite sure how the time has passed. It’s now been 2 months since TinyTestBash happened! I have had time to reflect after a hectic and much needed rest towards the end of the year. How Did TinyTestBash Go? From my perspective I found it to be a pleasurable, enlightening and (more) relaxing experience than the more ‘normal and bigger’ annual TestBash we have. I definitely think there is room for more TinyTestBash-es. The things that I and others seemed to love were: a smaller event made it easier to talk to people it was really nice to hear new voices the new voices actually performed really well and put so much effort into their talks the topics seemed more relevant to testers on a day to day basis We continue investing in The Dojo with the aim to creating the best software testing resource possible. TinyTestBash videos are available here . We hope you will consider going Pro, every subscriber helps us continue creating awesome-ness for you. You can view photos from the day here . The future of TinyTestBashes We do plan on hosting at least one TinyTestBash in 2016. Our idea at the moment is to work closely with some members of the community to help us host them in different locations each time. The idea I currently have is to have someone I trust (!) run the next one with the intention of creating a model on how future TinyTestBashes should be run. We welcome ideas from the community on how to run TinyTestBashes, my current thinking would seek to get advice on: how to choose organisers how to choose locations how to select speakers how to decide the format of the day how to openly and ethically share the income of TinyTestBash All of the above would need to be in line with our goals of: we believe the (testing) world needs more voices and ideas we want to facilitate more local events… …so we can create an even stronger community. If you are interested in talking about the future of TinyTestBash (and all things Ministry of Testing) then email rosie@softwaretestingclub.com to request access to our Ministry of Testing Slack where we are trying to keep these conversations in one place.

Announcing Performance Testing 101

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0000

It has been quite a year for us. One where we’ve been laying some nice foundations for the future to come. One of them has been The Dojo and the increasingly growing catalogue of software testing content . As with everything we do, we love to team up with the experts. And on this occasion, Simon Knight has expertly created a complete video series to get you started doing performance testing with free and open source tools. There are a whopping 24 videos to teach you all the things you should know! Imagine how clever your boss will think you are once you’ve consumed all the knowledge! The Performance Testing 101 series is part of The Dojo . About Performance Testing 101 If you want to performance test but don’t know where to start, this course is for you. If you’ve been put off by the cost of tooling or complexity of enterprise solutions, delay no more! Performance Testing 101 will show you how to use free and open source tools to kick-start your performance testing efforts. The course videos will provide you with all the information you need to get started performance testing your application including details on how to setup your testing environment, how to script and run your tests and most importantly – how to analyse, interpret and present the results to people who care. If you or your team have been looking for an easy to follow, step by step guide to delivering a performance testing solution, look no further. Start watching the videos now! Introduction – Why Performance Test? Fundamentals – It’s All About the Bottlenecks Variations on a Theme – Performance Testing Patterns Questions to Ask – What You Need to Know to Get Started Simon discusses some heuristics that can be used to inform a performance testing project. Users – Who Are They and What Are They All Doing??!! Getting Setup With JMeter Getting Started with Scripting – JMeter Basics Getting Started with Scripting – Using the HTTP(S) Recorder Correlation Reliable Test Scripts Using Assertions Parameterisation & Data Crafting your load – Basic and Ultimate Threading Setting Up Your Performance Test Environment Server Monitoring in JMeter More Monitoring Tuning The Environment Loadasophia Importing Results Into Excel Reporting Your Findings Conclusion Generating Users With JMeter API Testing With JMeter Veryfing Downloads Using JMeter Go Pro on The Dojo!

Giving the Gift of TestBash

Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0000

A couple of years ago we gave away a scholarship to someone special . Last year we gave the option for people to fund a ticket for someone else. The act of giving and paying forward remains huge in my heart and everything we do. We are actively seeking people who would benefit from attending our events in March (please apply at the bottom of this page) and also people who may want to contribute to the fund. The following is an overview of how it is working for this coming March. I will also keep this page up to date regularly with figures of how much we have raised. The Workshoppers Approach We are paying a £500 fee to people who are doing 1/2 day workshops (on top of their expenses). Two workshop-ers originally voluntarily came forward to donate their workshop fee towards a scholarship fund as a way of paying things forward. It was not my idea! It made sense to open up the option to anyone else in this situation. Workshoppers current fund: £1000 Contribute to the Scholarship Fund On the ticket page (at the bottom) there is an option to donate any amount above £5 towards the scholarship fund. We figured some people may like to contribute in smaller ways. Scholarship current fund: £188 + matching funding from Ministry of Testing = £376 Custom Support Get in touch if you have an idea to support someone. We’ve had some people come forward with individual ideas and contributions. If we like the idea we will support it. Please get in contact if you would like to support us. Custom Support fund: £249 + matching funding from Ministry of Testing = £498 Apply for Scholarships

The Ministry of Testing Podcast

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0000

This year has been a very busy one for us! We’ve kick started a number of things, one of them being The Ministry of Testing Podcast. You can find it hosted over at The Dojo or on iTunes . We’re taking a well earned and holiday break from it, but we shall be back in the new year with some more! Learn The Tactics That Amy Phillips Used To Help Get A Startup Testing How To Get Started With Automation in Testing with Richard Bradshaw How Kristel Viidik Went From Tester to a Founder of a Funded Startup Isn’t everyone a mobile tester now? Mark Tomlinson talks to JeanAnn Harrison about mobile testing. What Is This Inspired Change Leadership Selena Delesie Speaks Of? The Problems In Testing! Mark Tomlinson talks to Kate Falanga Swimming with Anna Royzman! What’s In A Martin Hynie? A Story Of A Story Of A Seed with Helena Jeret-Mae Tanya Kravstov Talks About Test Automation

New Testing Micro-Services Masterclass! Podcasts! 99 Second Talks! Oh my.

Wed, 07 Oct 2015 00:00:00 -0000

We’re always working hard to bring you new things on The Dojo ! In addition to the upcoming 3 events we have, yes, that’s 3 ( TinyTestBash . TestBashNY . And TestBash ), we have some new things we are producing over at The Dojo. Normally we are adding to it at least once a week, usually more. We don’t blog about every update we do, so I thought it would be worth while to summarise what’s been happening in the past couple of weeks. First up – there’s a new Masterclass next week with one of the most awesome testers around. On Thursday October the 15th Anne-Marie Charrett will be talking about ‘ Testing micro-services when the stakes are high ‘. We hosted a ‘Become the Sherlock Holmes of Software Testing’ last week and the recorded version will be appearing here soon for Pro subscribers . Then there’s the continuation of our mobile testing series with Stephen Janaway. This includes iOS Testing Using XCode and iOS Testing Using the iOS Simulator . We’ve also been working with Mark Tomlinson who is really in the mood for celebrating TestBashNY and giving our podcasts some oomph. We’ve published a few podcasts recently and there are some more coming! We’ve also started experimenting with recording meetups. We recorded a recent ‘ Non Terrible UI Tests with Selenium ‘ at a Brighton Meetup. We are currently exploring how to do more whilst maintaining a reasonable quality of video and audio. And last, but by no means least, we have a new 99 Second talk by the lovely Kim Knup – Using the word “Agile” to describe a methodology . We would love to have more people coming forward for these, details of how can be found here .

TestBashNY Hotel Tips

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0000

So we’ve been hunting down deals for hotels for TestBashNY and thought that getting a group deal would end up being more cost effective. Apparently, it’s not and it’s cheaper to just book direct! For quick reference below are the addresses of the venues for our workshop and conference days along with some recommendations for hotels close by. The pre-conference tutorials are on November 5th at Baruch College:14th Floor, 55 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010 Baruch College occupies two blocks on East 24 Street – East 26 Street, it’s between Lexington and 3rd Ave in Manhattan. TestBash New York conference is on November 6th at Gramercy Theatre: 127 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010 Gramercy Theatre is on 23rd Street between Park Ave South and Lexington Ave in Manhattan. Nearest NYC Subway Stops: 23rd street (Yellow line: N,R), 23rd Street (Green line: 4,6). 23 Street Subway Stop on Yellow line is one-two stops distance from 34 Street station (Madison Square Garden/Penn Station) and 14 Street station (Union Square). There are many hotels in both of these areas. The hotels under $200 within 10-12 min walking distance or a short subway ride: Ramada New York/Eastside 161 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016 ramada.com (212) 545-1800 Chelsea Savoy Hotel 204 W 23rd Street New York, NY 10011 chelseasavoy.com (212) 929-9353 Chelsea Inn 46 W 17th Street New York, NY 10011 chelseainn.com (212) 645-8989 La Quinta Inn & Suites Manhattan 17 W 32nd Street New York, NY 10001 laquintamanhattanny.com (212) 736-1600

Creating A Consciously Meaningful Workplace

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0000

Some may call it democratic. I currently prefer the term ‘meaningful’. I will probably come up with a better name and description over the coming months, or years. What I’m talking about is creating a workplace with a different focus and value than a more traditional business. Some people call this a ‘democratic workplace‘ – operating a business democratically through things like transparency, listening, fairness and dignity, power sharing, employee choice and accountability. Whilst I share this vision, I’m personally reluctant to use the ‘democratic’ name as it makes me think and feel about politics. Politics is supposed to be democratic, but to me, it currently feels anything but that. (However, let’s not go down that rabbit hole, this post shall not be about politics!). I don’t wish to get hung up on names or labels. For me, it’s about creating a work culture with meaning and jam packed with common sense, where the people who work for us come first. I currently have the opportunity to create this culture as my team is starting to grow. Many of the thoughts and ideas come not only from my research over the past few years, but also from how I have been personally (trying to approach) working for the past 3 years or so. There is nothing set in stone, but I have certain beliefs that would probably be core to our work culture. Practically these will involve things like: We will not monitor work hours, or holidays, or sickness… Though we will strive for a 20 hour work week Everyone can choose their pay and terms of work Everyone can see any and all of our company finances at the click of a button We will put our health before wealth We will be family friendly We will be friends first We will respect each other, at every level We will focus on work that we love and brings us joy We will experiment We will embrace and learn from failure We will have fun We are all believers in what our company is trying to achieve…. We will define together what we are trying to achieve… We believe in great ideas, but they are nothing without hard action from us We will strive for a sustainable and profitable business We will create awesome products/services that we are proud of This is my first blog post on this topic. I plan to openly blog about the things we do and achievements we make (or not!) Stay tuned!