This is the latest update from the 2018 RisingSTAR Award Winner, Sanne Visser;
Exponential contact list
This is one of the main benefits arising from the RisingSTAR Award, it’s not just that the Supporters are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, they also have wide networks and kindly introduce me to other helpful and wonderful people. This happens every time I reach out to one of the Supporters! I usually come away from each conversation with a list of excellent resources as well as people to seek out and be introduced to. This has meant that the list of people that I can connect with and who can help me grow my idea has increased exponentially with every meeting I’ve had. So, while there are many Supporters, there is only one of me and bit by bit, I’m engaging with and acting on all the support available to me as winner of the RisingSTAR Award.
What am I currently working on?
I am currently working on a blockchain project, that would help improve safety in conflicted areas like Syria and Yemen, called WhiteFlag. Also, I am continuing to work on the first publication about blockchain testing, I want to get that written and released in the next few months. And finally, the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences has launched a Blockchain minor and a project-group of third-year students are starting as my interns per September. They will be researching blockchain bugs and building the first taxonomy models with me. I am also looking into becoming a guest lecturer for the University.
What I did this summer: My first workshop
This past summer I gave my first workshop! It was ‘Testing and debugging blockchain applications’ at the Romania Testing Conference this past June. To understand how this happened I need to back up to my first google search when I was just getting into blockchain testing back in 2017. As you do, I entered the keywords ‘blockchain’ and ‘testing’ into my search engine and one of the very first hits were the articles by Rhian Lewis. I started following everything Rhian did from that moment onwards. So when James Lyndsay, one of the RisingSTAR Award Supporters, offered to introduce us, this was a no-brainer.
Meeting Rhian Lewis
The day I was to skype with Rhian, I couldn’t focus on much else, there were some serious fangirl vibes going around. As has happened every time I am connected with new people through the RisingSTAR Supporters, Rhian was friendly and supportive. I mentioned to her that we were attending the same conference and that I had signed up for her workshop and was quite excited to meet in person. I remember her first reaction was ‘Oh no… that’s not right…’.
I was immediately worried. Why would she say that? Should I not attend? And why not? Then she explained, ‘That’s not right because you should workshop with me.”. I squeaked out a “Sure.”, hung up and wondered what I had gotten myself into. Give a workshop? I had never done this, wasn’t sure I could, and now I had volunteered to do so with someone I had some serious hero-worship for?!
Meetup Blockchain Testing Community
In the following weeks, we started to prepare for the workshop and we wanted to set up a meeting before the conference to meet and spend a day, physically, in the same room. I was also keen to connect Rhian to my Meetup attendees, as I manage the Blockchain Testing Community in the Netherlands. I arranged a Meetup to coincide with Rhian’s visit, with Rhian as a speaker about and got the local community involved, one of my own Meetup members, Veerle Verhagen chaired the event, Hybrix was invited to speak, Lisk Center hosted and Capgemini sponsored the event. We ended up with roughly 40 people in attendance and of course ended the evening with drinks and great conversations. The next day, slightly bleary-eyed, we went to work preparing for the workshop.
Romania and my first workshop
Fast-forward two months and here we were giving our workshop at the Romania Testing Conference 2019 in Cluj Napoca. It was Rhian’s first-time co-presenting and my first workshop, so there were plenty of nerves, butterflies and worries beforehand. However, it went stunningly well. The workshop highlighted the differences between private and public blockchains and gave the group the opportunity to do hands-on exploratory testing, some test-automation and we dug deep into the knowledge and tools needed to test blockchain applications.
I also gave a talk at the same conference about the beasts of blockchain implementation, with Rhian in the front row. It felt wonderful.
Until next time!
Sanne Visser
RisingSTAR Award Winner 2018
