Geekly Articles each Day
📜 ⬆️ ⬇️

Overview of the best European and not only QA conferences of this year


Hi, Habr! My name is Vlad Romanenko. I work as a testing engineer at Badoo, on the iOS team.

Do you like making new acquaintances, sharing knowledge and experience and being in trend? Then I suggest you make a couple of upcoming events on your calendar.

I started attending various conferences and meetings a few years ago, while I was still studying at the university. Of course, they were very different from those I go to now. But even then I realized that it was difficult to keep abreast of current trends, without participating in specialized events.
')
There are about 20 conferences on my list. Among them are the International GIS Day at the Belarusian State University, the Conference for users and developers of open source GIS in Moscow and many testing conferences (for example, this and this ).

I noticed that many testers and QA engineers for some reason avoid conferences. And in vain. On the one hand, there are you with your questions to the community, on the other - there is a community that is interested in your experience. And why not combine the two sides? That is why I decided to share my opinion on the upcoming events and inspire you to attend them.

First of all, at the conference you will:


Your behavior and choice of activities will be determined by the purpose of your visit to the event. There are several options for participation:


I tried three of them (the organizer was not able to stay yet) and I should note that each has its own pros and cons.

Speaker


So, you decided to make a report (by the way, find out what type of speakers you are). In this case, you have to spend a lot of time preparing and "polishing" your presentation. However, in return, you will receive not only valuable feedback and the opportunity to share your ideas, but, as a rule, free attendance at the conference, as well as the opportunity to decorate your resume with a report.

Pay attention to the topic with the discussion of the first experience of public speaking.


Mitap eyes of the speaker (Minsk, Republic of Belarus)

Visitor


Another option is to come to the event as a visitor or guest. Everything here seems clear: you just need to buy a ticket and come. What can prevent? Probably, the price: tickets, road and accommodation will be expensive. So it would not be superfluous to clarify whether your company can help with covering expenses.

In general, I am convinced that if you are going to the conference only to attend presentations and master classes, without seeking to actively participate in them, then you should not go at all. The organizers of most major events spread on the Internet presentations / video presentations in a few weeks or months - a good option for fans not to spend too much, is not it?


Evening after the conference

Volunteer


And finally, the third option is a volunteer. I like this role, and, among other things, I actively participate in volunteer environmental events (but this is a topic for a separate article).

Not all conference organizers announce the search for volunteers. Be prepared for self-presentation and multiple bounce before you are accepted. It is equally important to remember that you are at the conference to help the organizers, so be active, and if something goes wrong, offer your help.

Last year I volunteered at the European Testing Conference in Helsinki, and it was an incredibly rewarding, full of work and entertainment for three days.


Nice review about my volunteer activities

What events to visit


You can select interesting international testing conferences to attend using this updated list . To search for local events, I recommend meetup.com - here you can find information about a large number of events in different countries and cities, for every taste. Finally, I highly recommend joining the Slack-community of testers and subscribing to its #events channel. It was through this group that I learned about the Romanian Testing conference, which will be held May 9-11, 2018. You can also subscribe to profile podcasts to listen to announcements and reviews about events: for example, there is a good automation podcast by Joe Kolantonio and the Russian-language Radio QA, which recently discussed the Selenium Conf conference .

Regardless of your current location, you can find an event that is convenient for you to get to. I am currently working in London, so I will look for conferences in Western Europe. But on my list there is also one event in St. Petersburg.

And now let's move on to some interesting events of 2018.

What? European Testing Conference
Where? Amsterdam, Netherlands)
When? February 19–20
Link: europeantestingconference.eu/2018
And although this conference has just ended, I cannot overlook it.


During the performance

I admit, I like her the most. Last time in Helsinki, I was impressed with how informal communication combines with performances and practical sessions. I mean that you are not just listening to the speakers, but at the same time you are actively participating in different sessions. The conference was best described by Maaret Pyarvi, so I’ll just share a link to her post “ How is European Testing Conference Different? ”. By the way, in her blog you will find a lot of useful tips on conferences and testing in general, so bookmark and gradually learn.

Keep up to date: twitter.com/EuroTestingConf

What? UKSTAR
Where? London, Great Britain)
When? March 12—13
Link: ukstar.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com


Lean coffee. Photo @UKSTARconf

This conference is required to attend, you will not regret a single penny spent. Last year I was not able to come, but I met with the organizers and heard the feedback from the participants.

I am attracted to the opportunity to attend a two-day event filled with communication and performances. Why do not I prepare and discuss the material that is really interesting to me? A few days after I found out about the conference, I clicked on the “Send” button and within a couple of weeks I received a welcome letter.

We will assume that you are already booking tickets, so do not miss my report on in-depth testing and analysis of iOS applications, I will speak on the second day of the conference. Natalie van Delft of the UKSTAR committee noted: “I think it’s a perfect combination of keynote speeches, workshops and courses from which each tester will learn something useful.” I have nothing to add: come and see for yourself.

Keep up to date: twitter.com/UKSTARconf

What? Testbash
Where and when?


Link: dojo.ministryoftesting.com/events


Waiting for dinner. Photo by @perze

These are well-known conferences held under the auspices of the Ministry of Testing. They are held regularly in different countries. Depending on the venue, conference formats may vary, but in general these are one-day / two-day events, including the conference itself and preliminary courses. In short, TestBash is a lot of speeches for every taste, free communication sessions and wonderful people, including the recognized “stars” of the European and global testers community.

Keep up to date: twitter.com/ministryoftest

What? Heisenbug
Where? Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
When? May 17-18
Link: heisenbug-piter.ru/en

In December, at Heisenbug, there were two excellent presentations about testing in Badoo: “ Expanding the automation capabilities of Calabash-Android ” by Rajdip Warma and “ Testing geolocation in Badoo. Cones, stones, crutches and a selfie stick "by Alexander Khozi and Nikolay Kozlov.

The next conference will be held in May, many technical and practical reports are expected to help you increase your productivity. Get ready for a meeting with sophisticated colleagues who are not afraid to go into the code, use non-trivial tools and develop your own frameworks.

Keep up to date: twitter.com/HeisenbugConf

What? Nordic Testing Days
Where? Tallinn (Estonia)
When? June 6—8
Reference: nordictestingdays.eu


Presentation karaoke

Last year I was amazed not only by the presentations on the topic of testing (I even tried to speak in the format of a brief report ). By the way, see the post " A Chase of Incremental Improvement ". I also really liked the “presentation karaoke” (this is when random images are displayed on the screen, and you need to tell a connected story about them) and other informal events on the evening of the first day of the official program.

I will also mention (almost in the topic) that just in the messenger of the official conference application I saw the announcement of opening a QA position in Badoo, which completely changed my life.

Keep up to date: twitter.com/nordictestdays


Ambiguous slide from the report about robots (Tallinn, Estonia)

What? EuroSTAR
Where? The Hague (Netherlands)
When? November 12—15
Link: conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com

In my opinion, this is a cherry on the cake. EuroSTAR is one of the largest and most diverse conferences on topics that has a long history. Its name speaks for itself, so I have nothing to add. Unless, I would be happy to speak at this conference.


At the EuroSTAR-2017 conference (Copenhagen, Denmark). Photo by Anna Hilyuk

What? SQA Days EU
Where? Riga, Latvia)
When? March 22—23, 2019
Link: www.sqadays.eu/en/index


SQA Days-21. Photos BySTQB

And the last event, an experimental one. This will be the first European conference at Software Quality Assurance Days . It is nice that the organizers keep the history of past events, and you can watch not only the programs, but also almost all the presentations and recordings of speeches (the overwhelming majority in Russian). I spoke at these conferences three times and now I look forward to the English-language event that I recently announced. I invite everyone to visit it!

As you can see, conferences, cities and dates are the most different. Choose the right event - and start preparing for it! Personally, I periodically look through news feeds and announcements in order to understand which events are suitable for me, and I prefer to plan trips in advance in order to save on tickets. I try to attend local conferences because it’s cheaper, I’ll select several events and then edit the list depending on the situation.

I also recommend to prepare an action plan at the conference in advance. Check the program, choose topics of interest or speakers and try to correctly plan your route between rooms. By the way, participation in master classes and training sessions may require the fulfillment of certain conditions, such as having a laptop with additional software or some kind of knowledge that you will need to share with others.

Some people at events are very shy and refuse to communicate and ask questions. And recently I got into my own hands, let's say, a “tool” that allows me to melt the ice of such participants - TestSphere , a deck of cards with notes about testing. You can read more here . And I want to tell only about one of the ways to use these cards: to start a dialogue. You only need to find a person during the break, pull out a random card - and voila, you already have a topic for conversation. Here you can learn more ideas on the use of TestSphere.

Feel free to tell in the comments about your favorite conferences and do not forget to mention exactly what they liked you. See you at upcoming events!

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/349672/

More articles:


All Articles