Pete Walen is not going to tell you how to be a good test manager. Instead, Pete shares ideas on becoming a true leader. While some managers certainly are leaders, testers of all varieties and experience levels can become leaders. Developing technical leadership skills, regardless of job title, involves overcoming our own uncertainties, self-doubts, and perceptions. Learning to foster relationships while perfecting our craft is a challenge for everyone, particularly when others look to us to be an expert—even when we don’t feel like one. Pete presents choices, options, and paths available to software professionals, including opportunities for self-education, networking, and other professional and technical development. He describes how he learned to apply these lessons in day-to-day work situations, building skills for himself and his co-workers. In this interactive discussion, Pete shares his mistakes and successes, what he learned from each, and what opportunities there are for you to grow as a leader in your own right.
Peter Walen
Gordon Food Service
Pete Walen has been involved in software development for more than twenty-five years. Today, Pete is a Senior Software tester with Gordon Food Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan, working with the company’s quality groups and test teams to help them with testing and coaching them to improve their testing techniques and practices. He describes himself as a Software Anthropologist and Tester, examining how software and people relate and react to each other. Pete is a signer of the Agile Manifesto, a member of the American Society for Quality and The Association for Software Testing, and an active blogger on software testing at rhythmoftesting.blogspot.com. Follow Pete on Twitter @PeteWalen.
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