Agile Testing Days - Vote for Ramit's talk - "Just Pass is not Quality"

One of our friends - Ramit Kaul needs our help to get his talk selected for Agile Testing Days 2018.

https://agiletestingdays.com/community-talk-vote/

Please vote for him along with five other good speakers.
I have heard him speak and he is a knowledgable and entertaining speaker!

All the best to Ramit. 

Leia Mais…

STeP-IN to STeP-IN SUMMIT 2018 (Audience perspective)

When I started my testing career, I used to think that what my company followed was THE process to follow. To be honest, I had no idea of why would someone even deviate from THE process. Then, I went to a meetup and there were questions. Those questions led me to more questions and my journey of learning began aggressively. I started hunting for those answers which led to more questions and the cycle has helped me grow as a person.

Then I went to a conference. I was blown away by the problems faced by people. I was silently happy that I was not alone who was facing such problems. I hesitated first but seeing others discuss, I also jumped in and asked questions. To my surprise, the speakers responded happily! And they are now my good friends. Imagine a good meet-up which usually lasts half a day with ~10 participants. Now, think of an event where participants from 20-30 meet-ups come under a single roof for 2-3 days. That's what is a conference. There will be people who have just joined the industry, veterans of the industry, some who are facing problems and want solutions, some who have tried few approaches and some others who have eliminated that problem long back. You will also meet people whom you might have seen online as an avatar(their twitter/blog/Skype id). If you think you can arrange for a quick chat with so many professionals without attending a conference, good luck!

So, talking about conferences - today I saw this post by STeP-IN Forum on my LinkedIn feed:

Call for Papers

The Call for Speakers/Papers is on. Few typical thoughts that come to our mind on seeing this:

I have never presented in any conference. There is a first time for everything. This could definitely be your first conference as a speaker.

I am not an expert in any topic. What will I present on?
No one is an expert. The more one learns, the more they get to know how less they know about the subject. So, jump in and present about your perspective of the topic. Everyone is unique and many will benefit from your experience.

I was rejected last time when I applied. Why should I try this time?
You were not rejected. Your proposal did not fit in the final scheme of things. Imagine - on a given day only 11 players can represent a team. You will get your chance soon if you are really good. You should never stop trying. Even after being an invited speaker for many conferences, my proposals get rejected. That doesn't stop me from trying.

What topics should I present on? 

Understand the theme, relate it to your experience, learning, problems, experiments and create a good proposal beneficial to your friends. Neither be too specific nor too generic. There are definitely reviewers who will help you if you let them know that you need help in polishing your topic.

I want to learn. I don't want to present. Can I attend?
Of course, you can. What better place and mindset to be in than be a active learner. There is no pressure of preparing for the talk. Though you might miss out on the excitement of presenting, interacting with the larger audience about your topic, you can learn by listening to others too!

The cost is too high for me. Should I...You must be joking. Did you see that it is roughly 5k if you register before Feb 28th.

Think about the value. I would like to quote Robin Sharma here:
"If you want to double your income, triple your learning" and if you don't invest in your learning, then don't cry when your income doesn't increase. 

I attended one conference before. It was not by STeP-IN but it was also a conference and there were only sales pitches. How is this different?

Good that you asked this question. You know what? I will be honest with you. There will be some sales pitches here as well. But the quality of the overall conference and the content of the speakers will outweigh one sales session.

How much do you get paid for this blog post?Zero money, lots of love.

Ok, I am now convinced. Where should I register?
Here - https://www.townscript.com/e/stepin-summit-2018/booking

Ajay, I want to take it one step ahead! I want to present. What will be my next step?
Submit your paper at this link - https://stepinsummit.stepinforum.org/call-for-speakers/

See you in the conference then.

Leia Mais…

Quarterly Update: Conferences, Workshops, Meetups and Learning

This post is a quick update about the past few months.

Test With Ajay website was launched

Launched www.TestWithAjay.com as a one stop source to capture my blog posts, tweets, articles, books and workshop announcements. This will be my online portfolio going forward.
Upcoming workshops include

April 15 (Bangalore)
Web Performance Engineering | Test With Ajay 
More Details 

April 28 (Bangalore)
Mobile Application Testing | Agile Testing Alliance 
More Details 

April 29 (Bangalore)
50+ Tools: Know, Learn and Apply in your testing’ | STeP-IN Forum
More Details 

I also conduct online workshops over Skype chat. Deepan Kumar recently took my online workshop.
If you are interested, you can ping me on Skype (ajay184f is my Skype id)

Deepan Kumar

Conducted Exploratory Testing workshop for Agile Testing Days Asia audience

At the last minute, there were multiple registrations and there were around 40 testers in my Exploratory Testing workshop. The workshop was a success for me as it was quite an interactive workshop and I managed to squeeze in most of the concepts in an eight hour window. The true success of any workshop is when the participants go back to their organization and implement some of the learnings. I have not heard back from any of those testers which bothers me to some extent. 

A one day workshop is not a magic pill to solve all your problems. It needs continuous effort from the testers and the management across few pilot projects to see the expected end results. And I am always ready to help people who are struggling to implement the learnings from my workshop.

Attended Agile Testing Days Asia and Agile India 2017 conferences
As part of the sponsor booth, I spent most of my time at these conferences at the sponsor stall. There were many interesting conversations and how people have assumptions which is very hard to dislodge or alter.

Agile Testing Days came to Asia for the first time and it was a success considering the enthusiasm shown by participants in Agile Games and also the fully packed sessions.

This was my first time at Agile India conference and I was blown away by the sheer number of participants every day. With so many well known speakers spread over 5-7 days, they had all the bases covered.

Presented at Global Testing Retreat, Pune
The topic was: "Agile Teams: The Best Test of a Tester's Skills". The talk was for 25 mins instead of the usual 45 minutes. It is a good idea too as one need not wait the whole 45 mins for the next talk.

There were a lot of new faces and talks which fascinated me. Looking forward to the next year's conference.
                                      
 
Exploratory Testing workshop for Global Testing Retreat audience
This was a three day course and we had good discussions on various aspects of testing. There were lots of hands-on exercises and each concept was followed by an exercise.

Started using Encode app
I am not sure how I stumbled on this app but I am happy that I did. I am loving the lessons and the exercises for JavaScript in this app.

Started learning Java from 'Java for Testers' book
Alan Richardson has done a great job explaining every concept in detail. Though I am finding it hard to understand few concepts, I WANT to learn Java and I am on it.

Agile Testing Alliance Meetup 
I presented at the meetup organized by Agile Testing Alliance on "Problem Solving Techniques". I am planning to create a workshop out of it soon.

And I need to get ready to office. Till next time, enjoy testing.

Leia Mais…

Aug-Oct: Bugathon, Bug-A-Sur, Workshops, Courses and Conferences

This post is an update of what kept me busy for the last two months. More for me as a log file :) Do read on if it interests you.

It started with BugATAhon contest conducted by Agile Testing Alliance at Compassites Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd at Bangalore on August 6th, 2016.

BugATAhon Winners (Bangalore)

Previous experience with Zappers contests and Weekend Testing time boxed sessions seems to have helped me win the contest :) This was the first time I and Sundar were in different teams since we got to know each other in 2012.

After BugATAhon, it was time for Mobile Testing and Mobile Security Testing workshop at ET Marlabs, Bangalore. I loved the energy of the group and how quickly Surbhi organized the whole workshop. Everything about the workshop right from the first email to final payment was finalized in a week's time. 

The Team at ET Marlabs, Bangalore

It was time for Mobile Testing workshop at Test Maniac on Aug 13.

Mobile Testing - Test Maniac (Bangalore)

Then Sep, I went to Noida to conduct Android Security Testing and API Testing workshop for Times Internet. This was the first time I conducted workshop on Android Security Testing. The practice with Test Manic testers helped to a great extent. I also thank my new friend who taught me the basics of Android Security Testing. 

Times Internet Team, Noida

This was followed by Exploratory Testing workshop at OpenText in Sep.

The Team at OpenText, Bangalore 

Then, I presented in Agile Testing and Test Automation Summit on the topic - "Automation in Testing". How could we incorporate automation in testing is the main theme of the talk.  

This was on Oct 21 and Oct 22, I and Sundar formed a team to participate in Bug-a-sur conducted by Venturesity.

And we won again. Santhosh Tuppad and Pranav K S also won some cool prizes. What made me even more happy was that the same team from ET Marlabs also won a prize in the contest.

Bug-A-Sur - Venturesity (Bangalore)

Each event can be a blog post on its own but due to the time constraints and other priorities, I am stopping here. I have not mentioned about the STWC judging (completed), Machine Learning course (in progress), Sahi Pro Meetup (completed) and LinkedIn Learning course which I plan to enroll before Oct 30th to take advantage of the free courses they are offering.

Till next time, happy testing. 

Leia Mais…