I have done this presentation a couple of times recently. People who have attended have asked for the information so here I have made it public.
I will be happy to answer any questions about the slide. My email address is: testerswain(at)gmail.com
2. @testerswain
Is there anyone out there?
• Online searches
• Online communities
• Using social networking sites
• Voluntary community testing
• Tester blogs
• Tester gatherings
• What can I get out of it?
5. @testerswain
online communities
Software Testing Club
Test Republic
Quality Testing
QAForums Tea Time with Testers
LinkedIn: Software Testing & Quality Assurance
UK Test Management Forum
LinkedIn: Methods & Tools
Yahoo Groups: SQAtester
Yahoo Groups: Agile Software Testing
Yahoo Groups: The Software Quality Engineers' Forum!
Facebook: Software Testing Club
XING: Software Testing
6. @testerswain
• QAForums
– “The most popular Software Testing and
Quality Assurance discussions site” with
180,000+ members
• Software Testing Club
– “A global and professional community for
software testers that apply a seriously fun
approach to our industry”
– 8,868 members (at 14:00 23/06/2011)
@rosiesherry, @rob_lambert, @pkirkham,
@stephen_j_hill, @AGareev
8. @testerswain
shared learning experience
• Weekend Testing (Bangalore)
• Weeknight Testing (London)
• Zappers (Bristol, London, Zurich & Bangalore)
“…just the bringing together of the community for a shared
learning experience was the most valuable part of it for
me. Who would have thought so many people would turn
out to test and learn…in their own spare time.”
[Rob Lambert, aka The Social Tester]
9. @testerswain
tester gathering network
• London Tester Gathering
– London Tester Gathering: Lessons Learned
12/11/2010
– By Darren McMillan (http://www.bettertesting.co.uk)
http://www.bettertesting.co.uk/content/?p=389
• Leeds Tester Gathering
• STC Meetup’s:
– Nottingham, Oxford, Bristol, Cambridge
– http://www.meetup.com/SoftwareTestingClub/
• UK – Test Automation
• Agile Testing (London)
10. @testerswain
Other bits and bobs
• Talks from the skillsmatter events:
– http://skillsmatter.com/event/agile-testing/london-tester-
gathering-2011
• EuroSTAR 2011 (21 – 24 November)
– “The most successful and widely acknowledged gathering of
European Software Testing Professionals.“
– http://www.eurostarconferences.com/blog-posts.aspx
• CAST 2011 “Context-Driven Testing” ( 8 – 10 August)
– Seattle, WA, USA
– This year will be the “first Context-Driven Testing conference to
ever be held”.
11. @testerswain
More bits
• The IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification
and Validation (ICST)
• TestExpo (22 September) hosted by Sogeti
• SIGiST Conference
• UNICOM Next Generation Software Testing Conference
• SQS/ignite conferences
12. @testerswain
More bob‟s?
• Mind Mapping 101
– 20 June 2011 by Darren McMillan
@darren_mcmillan http://www.bettertesting.co.uk
– http://www.eurostarconferences.com/blog-
posts/2011/6/20/mind-mapping-101.aspx
• Manual Testers Don't Grow on Trees
– Tulin Pledger (Original Software) @TulinPledger
– Webinar: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 (4 to 5pm BST)
Remove Your Manual Testing Bottlenecks
Increase Test Coverage
Capture Business Knowledge During Exploratory Testing
“Manual testing is here to stay and this webinar will explore how you
can ensure your manual test processes are as efficient and
productive as possible.”
http://www.origsoft.com/webinars/manual-testing-webinar.php
13. @testerswain
what‟s in it for me?
• For sharing ideas, innovations and develop
new opportunities between members
• New/Familiar Faces
• Speeches and Tales
• Contractors/Consultants „nd Permies
• Chat (work and non-work)
• Beer!
• The learning experience
• Get things out of it by putting things into it
14. @testerswain
About Us
• Ash Gaming is a leader in its field, focusing solely on
providing innovative, best-of-breed games to the
betting and gambling sector. Our customers are large
operators, bookmakers and platform providers.
• You can view our games on our YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/ashgaming.
email: chris.swain@ashgaming.com
web: http://www.ashgaming.com
skype: cjswain
15. @testerswain
Example
http://www.youtube.com/ashgaming#p/u/37/kTSkNC5DhDY
Typed in “Social Networking For Software Testers” in Google.Mmmmm not a lot here.Test Republic = “Community of Software Testing Professionals”. Test Republic is a "Not For Profit" community building initiative from Edista Testing Institute - a venture of QAI Global Institute. Bangalore, India
ArhhhhSIGIST – “environment to network with the best-known community of fellow testers as well as to meet old friends.” I was recently told that it is common to see 60% of attendees at each conference as new comers.Software Testing Club: “The Software Testing Club is a global and professional community for software testers. We like to do great things for our community and we hope you can get involved.” Lead by: Rosie Sherry,Rob Lambert,Phil Kirkham,Stephen Hill,Albert Gareev.Projects include: The Testing Planet. Via the site you can get to know like minded testers, see interesting blogs and find out about forthcoming events.testingReflections.com: Created and maintained by Antony Marcano (of London), testingReflections.com is an online knowledge-base about all things 'Software Testing' related, that you maintain... A hub for Software Testing knowledge and information... A mind-share blog for the Software Development and Testing community... you get the picture! NOT FREQUENTLY UPDATEDAssociation for Software Testing is a professional non-profit association headed by CemKaner, Douglas Hoffman, Scott Barber, Jon Bach and James Bach amongst others who generally subscribe to the Context Driven Testing (see Lessons Learned In Software Testing, a context driven approach). Conference in Seattle.
Weekend Testing (formerly known as Bangalore Weekend Testers)http://weekendtesting.comWeeknight Testing (at Skills Matter office, London)“…just the bringing together of the community for a shared learning experience was the most valuable part of it for me. Who would have thought so many people would turn out to test and learn…in their own spare time.” [Rob Lambert, aka The Social Tester]Zappers (Bristol, London, Zurich & Bangalore: Sponsors and perks from TCL & uTest)peer sharing (software testing) community designed for those who believe in learning from each other and sharing testing knowledgeWhat happens in a typical Weekend Testing sessionTesters register for the coming weekend testing session at least a day in advance, by sending an email. A facilitator for the session provides a link to the product to be tested ( typically open source ), creates a group chat and a mission to achieve by the end of one hour testing session. The mission could vary from finding functional issues to exploring testability to writing automated tests to investigating bug reports and so on …At the end of one hour ( or the decided session end time ) testers start sharing their experiences, bugs, learning, challenges, questions, and so on for about an hour. The facilitator then takes a day or two to prepare an experience report and publishes on this portal for the public to view it and also sends it to the open source developers or project owners for their perusal.2 hours in total – that’s it. Every minute – worth it.What surprised us with our experience so far ?We were surprised that testers started to seek mentorship and guidance from others and also started to blog. Wow. We had little clue that this could do all that. We might be discovering more in future. So watch this space for updates.Who initiated the concept of Weekend Testing?ParimalaShankariah (curious tester)SharathByregowdaManoj NairAjay Balamurugadas
Ash Gaming is a leader in its field, focusing solely on providing innovative, best-of-breed games to the betting and gambling sector. Our customers are large operators, bookmakers and platform providers.The company began life in 2002 delivering specific custom projects for customers in the early online gaming market. It has rapidly evolved delivering an extensive portfolio of products across the industry sectors in multiple languages. Ash Gaming’s fundamental approach is to deliver the highest quality gaming experience for the player whilst delivering a profitable game for our customers. Our teams achieve this using tried and tested approaches balanced with creativity and innovation, adding the magic that keeps players returning time and time again.Quality is key and the company is structured around a strict level of quality assurance. We hold a Gambling Software License issued by the UK Gambling Commission.Employees are our most important asset; we nurture our staff and provide a workplace that encourages ideas and innovation. As a result we enjoy an incredibly low staff turnover rate and hold the Investors in People award. Based at Southwark, London, our team of over 30 people pride themselves on delivering world-class games.
