STARWEST 2017 - Personal Excellence
Thursday, October 5
Social Skills: The Softer Side of Software Testing
PreviewCommunication breakdowns are a primary cause of IT project failure. Marcia Buzzella believes increasing the success rate of IT projects across waterfall, Agile, and DevOps methods requires a balance of social (soft) and technical (hard) capabilities to improve team performance. Social interactions among team members facilitate knowledge sharing, build relationships, promote trust, and—perhaps most importantly—align expectations. Unfortunately, the fast pace of technological change prompts many software test professionals to prioritize the improvement of technical capabilities over...
How Do I Get a Cool Job Like Yours? A Career Map for Testers
PreviewWhen people hear about my past jobs, my career, and the many places I “work” (at foreign conferences and even on ski lifts), I often get the question “How do I get your job?” However, when people hear some of the details of my career, their reaction is “Gee, that’s a lot of work!” Well, yes, but that does not mean that hard work is not fun. Jon Hagar presents a career map that contains his secrets to getting, keeping, and growing in the fun and exciting career of software testing. These include getting started with learning, seeking challenges, sustaining passion, finding...
On Becoming a Tester Who Codes
PreviewTo be a well-rounded and analytical tester, Adam Satterfield says you should learn to code. Learning to code empowers a tester to be more self-reliant and less dependent on someone else to write their test scripts, which can take valuable time from the critical and time-crunched testing process. Learning to code positions a tester for long-term career growth, opens up new professional opportunities, and gives them the perspective to be a better tester with a deeper understanding of what questions to ask and how to approach a meaningful testing plan to gain better insights. However...