Quality Events: QA or the Highway

In June, I had the pleasure of packing my bags and traveling to my first-ever QA-centric conference: QA or the Highway, the Midwest’s largest software quality conference. The event did not disappoint. This is my experience.

Consider the following your TL;DR…

Stats

• 33 Speakers

• Columbus, OH

• Focused solely on Quality Assurance Practices

Themes

While these were not (to my knowledge) intentional, I noted a few themes scattered emerging from the sessions:

• The importance of pairing/The Three Amigos

• Using your voice

• Non-violent communication

• Becoming and encouraging champions of quality

Speakers

Keynote - Leading Quality: Ronald Cummings-John kicked off the event. He emphasized that to build a culture of quality, we must understand the narrative that exists around quality in our organizations. The story that we tell about what we do matters. Helping others to get on the same page with us, and becoming champions of quality is a process. We need to ensure we are using the same definitions for the language we use around quality. And, to create understanding, we must build a bridge through story - taking someone on a journey of a time when we were confused about something and how we transitioned into our current understanding.

Shift Left - From Start Up to SAFe: The second session I attended was Brian Hamilton’s talk about Shifting Left. “Shift Left” is a term I’d heard before but hadn’t thoroughly researched. He defined shifting left as pushing quality into the process as early as possible. This means asking questions in backlog refinement meetings, pair testing - even before a dev has pushed their work up for code review, and utilizing different types of testing. Shifting left saves the company money AND keeps the company out of the news.

Component Testing: Sometimes, I need to see what someone else is doing before I build it myself. Component testing with Cypress, thus far, has been a little confusing for me. This is why I was thrilled with Zachary Hamm’s talk on Component Testing. He clearly defined what Component testing is and its value in the automation eco-system. His slides provide great examples for someone needing a more detailed understanding of how to set up component testing. By the end, I walked away with far more confidence in how to set up component testing in my current test suite.

Back to Basics: Newton Olivieri introduced a new (to me) phrase called Non-Violent Communication. He emphasized that by forgetting the basics, people will continue to falter. One of my favorite takeaways was the importance of integrity in communication and that:

We Need to Talk: In my role, I try to speak openly about mental health. Attending Veronica Betzel’s talk only strengthened my resolve to speak without reserve about mental health and work to create psychological safety in the workplace. Her openness about ADHD, how organization helps structure her day, and how Boreout can be just as damaging as Burnout was incredibly insightful. Her words were honest and needed in a time when we might feel we can’t be open about mental issues we’re experiencing daily.

Truthfully, I missed part of the next session due to catching up with one of the speakers to ask additional questions. Still, Lee Barnes's discussion on the Path to Becoming a Test Automation Engineer was incredibly helpful. As a two-time Boot Camp grad, I feel the gaps that exist in my education by not going the traditional route (gaining a CS degree). His breakdown of what an Effective Test Automation Engineer is was insightful. He focused on finding your starting point and learning how to add value as your north star, while also recommending crucial resources for learning and next steps.

Fixing a Bug: The Automation Panda Goes Manual: At the end of the day, it was time to focus on a bug; Andrew Knight’s Volkswagon Beetle. His process of purchasing and bringing back to life a 1970 Volkswagon Beetle relates to testing in so many ways. From embracing the challenges of new things, and expecting explosions, to the importance of turning to your community, Andrew walked us through his buggy adventures and how we can embrace the trials and the joys of the work we put our hearts into.

The day was done! I’d made friends, stepped out of my shell, learned so much, and walked away encouraged to try many new things. I left knowing there were people that had my back, even though I’d only spoken to some of them for a few moments.

If you get the chance, I highly recommend QA or the Highway to further your testing career. And, if you’re going next year, send me a message! I’d love to sit beside you.

Till next time…

Written with F L O W II - Spiritual Meditation Ambience - Deep Relaxation Music playing in the background