As a first-timer at the EuroSTAR Conference, we really enjoyed our three days. It was a big experience for all of us. We loved listening to presentations and participating in mind games as well as testing robots in Test Lab which expanded our horizons.
We learned a lot of new things which are applicable to our daily work. Some of them have pointed us in the direction our personal development should go. Our group regularly organises meetups and now we have plenty of ideas for the next few ones. We are planning to organise a December PowerPoint Karaoke meetup. Is there a better way to finish a year than to meet new people, practice on giving lectures, public speeches and improvisations and generally speaking having fun!? Yeah, we hope we’re not the funniest ones 🙂
One thing that really means to us is the recognition of our work. We met and talked to a bunch of people that have also congratulated us. It was really special feeling attending a conference just knowing that every extra effort that we put into this competition was worth it. We were absolutely delighted when we saw our names on screen in closing session, and not to mention our special TeamSTAR competition hoodies!
After a few days after we got back, we talked and summarised our visit to EuroSTAR. Here are the principal ideas that we will keep in mind:
- The testing community is changing, a new kind of tester is coming soon. There are more and more companies with hybrid project management. These mixed teams are reinventing their daily work by looking for creative adjustments. Speakers brought us new perspectives, presented some new workflows, documentation structure, new communication methods and highlighted new skills needed for testing.
- An excellent idea was presented, which is already partially implemented in one company. The idea is about having Quality Azimuth instead of Quality Assurance, where the quality is the ‘polar star’ for the whole development process. The principles of Quality Azimuth are really something that is worth thinking about and should be spread through the IT world.
- Security testing is something we should all think about, not just security experts. We heard a few presentations about transformation of performance and security testing that we will definitely follow up on.
- As testers we should embrace scepticism and question everything. It is OK to say “I don’t know yet”, to ask for more clarity, to say that you don’t understand and to ask for help.
This was really a unique experience. We would kindly like to encourage everyone to apply to this competition. Not only because it’s a learning journey, but it is also a journey full of fun! If there is any way for you to visit the EuroSTAR Conference 2017, don’t hesitate! It seems like there is a lot of time ahead us until next year. Let’s see what a year can mean in the life of testing quality engineer. Stay tuned on our activities and see you in 2017.
Blog post by our awesome TeamSTAR team 2016 – Nadžida Koljenović, Darko Nikolić, Adisa Sinanović, Amela Teftedarija
