That was my response when the organisers for TMF Summit accepted my request to facilitate a session this April (www.uktmf.com).
At the beginning of this year, I had set out a few goals for myself which I wanted to achieve by year end. One of them was to speak at a testing related event. I imagined that I will perhaps speak at one of the local testing meetup. I realistically did not think that I will be speaking at a big event. Thus when the opportunity to facilitate a session at TMF summit came along, I couldn't believe my luck! TMF Summit is run by some of our industry leaders such as Paul Gerrard (@paul_gerrard) who is the Chair of EuroStar this year. This event is attended by some very talented and passionate test leaders and managers. It was a little daunting to be speaking in front of such a crowd but all my fears proved to be misplaced by the end of the day. The attendees in my session made me feel very comfortable and we had some very insightful discussions.
My second biggest achievement (also shock in equal parts) in terms of public speaking came when my proposal to run a workshop at Nordic Testing Days was accepted. I still feel surprised as it all seems a bit surreal. Nordic Testing Days is an amazing yet very much affordable conference packed with interesting & relevant tracks and workshops. If you haven't been to Nordic Testing Days before, I would very much encourage you to make it this time. Ok, you can skip my workshop, but attend some of the other woskshops and tracks. Just look at the line up!
More details can be found here: http://nordictestingdays.eu/. The event runs between 4th - 6th of June 2014.
This goes to prove that the testing community very much encourages first time speakers to come forward. If it were not the support of the testing community, my colleagues and my family, I would not be able to do something of this kind. So, here are my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped me along this path. There are just too many names that I can mention here but hey, you know who you are!
See you at Nordic Testing Days!
Friday, 16 May 2014
Thursday, 20 February 2014
I need more hours in the day!!
We had a sprint retrospective last week and our PO added a note to the 'Things I would like to have' category. He wanted more hours in the day! It probably reflected the amount of work that he had to do. As a team we laughed at his note and asked if he would like us to slow down the speed of Earth's rotation. In retrospective (ironic, yes I know) I probably should have asked for an explanation on his note. I should have tried to find out if there was something that we could do to reduce his work load. I will remember to raise this in the next retrospective.
Of late I have been having the same feeling. I have so many things that I want to do that I just cant find time to finish all of them. The list of things to do keeps getting longer and longer. Of course the list includes work related stuff as well as professional development stuff. To try and manage my list better I have started to add post its on my wall under different columns for different kinds of work. I have even used different coloured post its for different columns.
This is helping me identify what is important and what needs to be done first. This in effect is my personal Kanban board. By the way, the above pic was taken after I removed a lot of post its simply because the columns were getting too long!
However it is not lack of organisation that is the problem here. The problem is that I simply want to do too many things in a short span of time. Its time to slow down and identify what I really want to do, not forgetting that I have family to take care of too. This obviously means that I cannot complete all tasks on my lists but on the bright side I will complete some of the tasks that have been ongoing for some time.
I wonder how everyone else manages their work life balance? Don't forget to add the element of self improvement to this equation. Be it professional improvement or personal improvement.
The reason I am writing this post is that no matter how much I try to organise my time efficiently, there will always be something that has to take precedence and something that has to be taken off the list. This is not necessarily a bad thing but something to be aware of. If there are others out there who have the same problem as me, have solace in the fact that you are not alone.
I am rambling as usual.....time to get back to work as lunch break is now officially over!
Of late I have been having the same feeling. I have so many things that I want to do that I just cant find time to finish all of them. The list of things to do keeps getting longer and longer. Of course the list includes work related stuff as well as professional development stuff. To try and manage my list better I have started to add post its on my wall under different columns for different kinds of work. I have even used different coloured post its for different columns.
However it is not lack of organisation that is the problem here. The problem is that I simply want to do too many things in a short span of time. Its time to slow down and identify what I really want to do, not forgetting that I have family to take care of too. This obviously means that I cannot complete all tasks on my lists but on the bright side I will complete some of the tasks that have been ongoing for some time.
I wonder how everyone else manages their work life balance? Don't forget to add the element of self improvement to this equation. Be it professional improvement or personal improvement.
The reason I am writing this post is that no matter how much I try to organise my time efficiently, there will always be something that has to take precedence and something that has to be taken off the list. This is not necessarily a bad thing but something to be aware of. If there are others out there who have the same problem as me, have solace in the fact that you are not alone.
I am rambling as usual.....time to get back to work as lunch break is now officially over!
Friday, 7 February 2014
My first attendance at UKTMF
This week I attended UKTMF for the first time. I was accompanied by my colleagues Andrew (@CoyleTester) and Rob (@Rob_Lambert). In this post I am going to pen down my experience of attending the event. I will not bother describing the agenda, speakers etc as all this can be found from the link above. Instead, I am going to focus on what I took away from attending.
As it was the first time I was attending, I was not too sure of what to expect. I was informed beforehand that it is not a standard 'Speaker will present - you sit and listen' kind of an event. It is an event where a facilitator introduces a topic for the first 15 mins and for the next hour everyone in the audience is expected to take part in an active discussion on the topic. It sounded like a good format but without witnessing it I was not sure if everyone does participate.
The event on the 5th of February was organised by Paul Gerrard and Susan Windsor. Getting to the event seemed a little difficult when I set off from home due to train cancellations owning to bad weather and of course the tube strike in London. Thankfully I managed to make it and it was well worth the effort!
The afternoon kicked off with a welcome note from Paul where he stressed that if the attendees were not prepared to be involved in discussions then this was probably not an event for them. Each attendee could attend 2 sessions and there were 3 tracks to choose from for each session.
I chose the 'Step up your career!' track by Susan Windsor for my first session. Susan had come very well prepared with a power point that had 86 slides!! Of course we didn't go through all of them, Susan gave a quick overview of what she intended to cover and the audience chose a couple of topics that we would like to discuss further. When the session started I was a little unsure of how involved the audience were going to be. However it didn't take long to see that there were a few very passionate people in the crowd who were more than happy to discuss the various topics. This session gave me a lot to think about and also a few tips/suggestions that I could well use.
The second session that I sat through was 'Addressing the apparent under-supply of SDETs: Take two' by Richard Neeve. You can find his blog and full slide deck here. I did not know much about the under-supply of SDETs (Software Development Engineer in Test) and this was real eye opener. Richard had presented the current situation, reasons that are likely to be behind this and his ideas on how this can be rectified. Again, the attendees took an active part in discussions. It was very interesting to see how people reacted to the topic based on their experiences of recruiting, level of management etc. What hit me more than anything else was that everyone seemed to agree that this situation was indeed very true, however there was an assumption that 'manual' testers do not like to code and hence the prospect of training manual testers to be able to take on these roles was being ignored. I personally feel that there are many testers out there who will happily learn to code such that they can fill these roles (including myself). What do you think?
As it was the first time I was attending, I was not too sure of what to expect. I was informed beforehand that it is not a standard 'Speaker will present - you sit and listen' kind of an event. It is an event where a facilitator introduces a topic for the first 15 mins and for the next hour everyone in the audience is expected to take part in an active discussion on the topic. It sounded like a good format but without witnessing it I was not sure if everyone does participate.
The event on the 5th of February was organised by Paul Gerrard and Susan Windsor. Getting to the event seemed a little difficult when I set off from home due to train cancellations owning to bad weather and of course the tube strike in London. Thankfully I managed to make it and it was well worth the effort!
The afternoon kicked off with a welcome note from Paul where he stressed that if the attendees were not prepared to be involved in discussions then this was probably not an event for them. Each attendee could attend 2 sessions and there were 3 tracks to choose from for each session.
I chose the 'Step up your career!' track by Susan Windsor for my first session. Susan had come very well prepared with a power point that had 86 slides!! Of course we didn't go through all of them, Susan gave a quick overview of what she intended to cover and the audience chose a couple of topics that we would like to discuss further. When the session started I was a little unsure of how involved the audience were going to be. However it didn't take long to see that there were a few very passionate people in the crowd who were more than happy to discuss the various topics. This session gave me a lot to think about and also a few tips/suggestions that I could well use.
The second session that I sat through was 'Addressing the apparent under-supply of SDETs: Take two' by Richard Neeve. You can find his blog and full slide deck here. I did not know much about the under-supply of SDETs (Software Development Engineer in Test) and this was real eye opener. Richard had presented the current situation, reasons that are likely to be behind this and his ideas on how this can be rectified. Again, the attendees took an active part in discussions. It was very interesting to see how people reacted to the topic based on their experiences of recruiting, level of management etc. What hit me more than anything else was that everyone seemed to agree that this situation was indeed very true, however there was an assumption that 'manual' testers do not like to code and hence the prospect of training manual testers to be able to take on these roles was being ignored. I personally feel that there are many testers out there who will happily learn to code such that they can fill these roles (including myself). What do you think?
Friday, 10 January 2014
Exciting times ahead
Many of the peeps whose blogs I follow have written about New Year Resolutions, changes they are going to make in 2014, what they have achieved in 2013 etc. Hats off to all of you who have done this including those who may not have written a blog but have these stored in their minds.
I personally find it difficult to write such resolutions or make lists of things that I would like to achieve. Maybe it has something to with my fear of failure. I have instead decided that 2014 is going to be an amazing year and that I will do some wonderful stuff! I will write blogs each time I think that I have done something to make the year amazing.
To get things started, I have submitted a proposal for CAST2014. I hope to submit another one tonight before the deadline. There a few more conferences which I would just love to attend let alone talk at! I have never spoken at a peer conference before and by the end of this year, hope to have done so at-least once. Keeping my fingers crossed! (so tight that I hope it doesn't stop circulation).
Another initiative that I am very much honoured to be a part of is the STEP program from Per Scholas.
This is what they say about the program:
The global software testing market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 21.15 percent over the period 2012 – 2016. The STEP curriculum is tailored to prepare students to compete for these entry-level software testing roles that are in high demand. The intensive course is lab-based, instructor-led training supported by exercises, field studies, industry experts, and exposure to leading edge software testing tools.
By the end Per Scholas participants will have acquired industry leading testing skills and techniques, be given access to real life projects, and participate in field studies to learn alongside working professionals and be given the opportunity to interview for jobs for openings with our corporate partners. Get started by applying now!
Now, who wouldn't want to be a part of that! At the risk of repeating myself, I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to give something back to the community. Software testing is not just a career for me, it is my passion. If I can share this passion and hopefully inspire others out there, what more can I want? Its a win win. The kick off meetings start next week and I simply cannot wait to get started!
Thats all I have to say for now folks. Hope to write many more such posts during the year :)
I personally find it difficult to write such resolutions or make lists of things that I would like to achieve. Maybe it has something to with my fear of failure. I have instead decided that 2014 is going to be an amazing year and that I will do some wonderful stuff! I will write blogs each time I think that I have done something to make the year amazing.
To get things started, I have submitted a proposal for CAST2014. I hope to submit another one tonight before the deadline. There a few more conferences which I would just love to attend let alone talk at! I have never spoken at a peer conference before and by the end of this year, hope to have done so at-least once. Keeping my fingers crossed! (so tight that I hope it doesn't stop circulation).
Another initiative that I am very much honoured to be a part of is the STEP program from Per Scholas.
This is what they say about the program:
The global software testing market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 21.15 percent over the period 2012 – 2016. The STEP curriculum is tailored to prepare students to compete for these entry-level software testing roles that are in high demand. The intensive course is lab-based, instructor-led training supported by exercises, field studies, industry experts, and exposure to leading edge software testing tools.
By the end Per Scholas participants will have acquired industry leading testing skills and techniques, be given access to real life projects, and participate in field studies to learn alongside working professionals and be given the opportunity to interview for jobs for openings with our corporate partners. Get started by applying now!
Now, who wouldn't want to be a part of that! At the risk of repeating myself, I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to give something back to the community. Software testing is not just a career for me, it is my passion. If I can share this passion and hopefully inspire others out there, what more can I want? Its a win win. The kick off meetings start next week and I simply cannot wait to get started!
Thats all I have to say for now folks. Hope to write many more such posts during the year :)
Thursday, 9 January 2014
My current situation
"So, you want to speak at a peer conference?"
"Yes yes yes I do! Very much so!"
"Have you ever spoken at a peer conference before?"
"No, I haven't. I would like to start soon though."
"Thats very good. All you have to do is submit proposals for upcoming conferences. Easy Peasy."
"But..."
"You have just keep on trying and your proposals will eventually get accepted."
"Urm..."
"It is a learning process, if your proposals get rejected you will learn how to write proposals which will be accepted."
"Yeah.....but......"
"There is nothing to fear. We have all gone through it. You will do it!"
"Thanks, thats very kind of you to say. However...."
"There are a lot of people who can help you with your proposals. Come and ask me whenever you need help."
"Thats great.....only one problem though, I have no (insert profanity if you wish) idea what to talk about!!!!!"
"Yes yes yes I do! Very much so!"
"Have you ever spoken at a peer conference before?"
"No, I haven't. I would like to start soon though."
"Thats very good. All you have to do is submit proposals for upcoming conferences. Easy Peasy."
"But..."
"You have just keep on trying and your proposals will eventually get accepted."
"Urm..."
"It is a learning process, if your proposals get rejected you will learn how to write proposals which will be accepted."
"Yeah.....but......"
"There is nothing to fear. We have all gone through it. You will do it!"
"Thanks, thats very kind of you to say. However...."
"There are a lot of people who can help you with your proposals. Come and ask me whenever you need help."
"Thats great.....only one problem though, I have no (insert profanity if you wish) idea what to talk about!!!!!"
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