Two MoTacon attendees are on the left. The MoTaacon logo is in the center, and to the right a prompt to Get Your Ticket.

Community Star

Gary Hawkes profile image
Gary Hawkes
Head of Engineering
He/Him
Award Star

Head of Engineering who came from QE. Admirer of all humans (with a special affinity for testers). I love to bring out the best in people and help them grow. I have a very tactical view of delivery and love working to find the sweet spot so that processes are balance between effort and value,

1,597
stars
58
badges
1
cert
69
followers
181
following
Open To
Write
Mentor
Podcasting
CV Reviews
Attending MoTaCon 🤝
Ambassador
April 2026
It was good to talk
Great to speak with you on a Call for Insights. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, experience and advice for hiring managers.
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Unlocking the World through Inclusive Design
System
Completed a lesson
1.2.0 of Quality Coaching essentials
System
Attended an event
Evals in practice for an AI coding agent
System
Completed a lesson
1.1.0 of Quality Coaching essentials
System
Completed a lesson
1.0.0 of Quality Coaching essentials
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Performance reviews are like marmite Ep 98
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Curiosity killed the chat - Ep 109
Learner listened to your podcast episode
TWIQ or treat: Ghostly bug stories - Ep 110
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Quality Coaching: Fizzy minds and quality problems - Ep 115
Learner listened to your podcast episode
What is the AI–quality–human loop? - Ep 118
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Small posts, big learnings: Why sharing matters more than ever - Ep 120
Learner listened to your podcast episode
The curse of the live demo… and other testing superstitions - Ep 123
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Eggs, toilet seats and fundamental quality career advice - Ep 125
Learner listened to your podcast episode
It depends - Ask MoTaverse Anything - Ep 128
Learner read your Insights article
The transition from specialist to generalist
Thanks for your contribution
The transition from specialist to generalist
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 The hidden leadership of Quality Professionals: skills you only earn when everything goes to hell
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Small posts, big learnings: Why sharing matters more than ever - Ep 120
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
System
Thanking contributors
My AI tool stack
System
Thanking contributors
My AI tool stack
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 When systems stop behaving: controlled chaos in practice
System
Visited an Observatory link
The AI Collaboration Paradox - Robert Herbig
System
Visited an Observatory link
Prompt engineering isn't the bottleneck anymore. Observability is.
Learner listened to your podcast episode
The curse of the live demo… and other testing superstitions - Ep 123
Learner listened to your podcast episode
Eggs, toilet seats and fundamental quality career advice - Ep 125
Learner listened to your podcast episode
It depends - Ask MoTaverse Anything - Ep 128
Learner completed your lesson
4.2.0 of MoT Software Quality Engineering Certificate
Learner completed your lesson
4.1.0 of MoT Software Quality Engineering Certificate
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
Learner listened to your podcast episode
It depends - Ask MoTaverse Anything - Ep 128
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
System
Thanking contributors
The power of proactive patience
System
Visited an Observatory link
Stop trying to engineer your way out of listening to people
System
Visited an Observatory link
We’ll soon find out what is truly special about human writing
System
Visited an Observatory link
Do I belong in tech anymore?
System
Registered for an event
Evals in practice for an AI coding agent
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Build your own Quality Management System
System
Thanking contributors
The forgotten part of quality: paying attention to production
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
Thanks for your contribution
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
System
Added a moment
TWiQ Episode 132 - AI debate extended version
System
Registered for an event
This Week in Quality
System
Thanking contributors
I love hate AI: It will replace all human creativity, but...
System
Thanking contributors
I love hate AI: It makes me feel like I'll never keep up, but...
System
Thanking contributors
Hot take testers love and feel guilty about "I told you so" moments
System
Thanking contributors
Write about something that worries you
System
Thanking contributors
The goldilocks of chaos
Participated in This Week in Quality (TWiQ)
Really enjoyed listening to your insights (especially talking about AI) on this weeks episode.
System
Thanking contributors
The forgotten part of quality: paying attention to production
Participated in This Week in Quality (TWiQ)
Thank you for your great insights at the weeks TWiQ
Talking on stage
Thank you for bringing your hot take today!! 
Participated in This Week in Quality (TWiQ)
Great to hear your hot take during TWiQ. Thanks for taking to the stage!
System
Attended an event
This Week in Quality
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Stability is a system, not a metric: lessons from scaling mobile test automation
System
Visited an Observatory link
What I think about when I edit
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Beyond the exception with Root Cause Analysis
System
Thanking contributors
Make a list of what you are good at
System
Thanking contributors
Software Testing Live: Episode 06 - Don't automate everything, review everything
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Stop guessing, start seeing: the rise of Observability-Driven Testing
System
Visited an Observatory link
Thoughts from a woman in tech on Dunelm’s Women In Tech Week
System
Thanking contributors
Does Soft skills can be the turning point?
System
Thanking contributors
Write about something you’re enjoying right now
System
Thanking contributors
MoTaverse Match
System
Thanking contributors
How would someone deal with a developer who was reluctant to take testing lessons from a tester/quality person?
System
Thanking contributors
How do we balance championing the Quality Assistance model with the reality that many early‑career quality engineers haven’t yet experienced working this way?
System
Joined a Chapter
Joined Software Testing Live chapter
System
Registered for an event
The product-led approach to Quality: What I learnt working side-by-side with testers and engineers
System
Thanking contributors
Book author and big fan reader to meet for the first time at MoTaCon '26
System
Thanking contributors
AOREN is a five-part framework for talks, meetings and presentations
System
Thanking contributors
All it takes are a few words
System
Visited an Observatory link
Thousands of CEOs admit AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago
System
Visited an Observatory link
Big spike or small hike
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Testing as a Party: Inclusive ensemble testing for the whole team
System
Thanking contributors
Testing with feature flags: what we expected and what actually happened
System
Registered for an event
This Week in Quality
System
Registered for an event
A tester’s guide to AI guardrails
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Make it joyful: How to build products that make people smile
System
Thanking contributors
Stop shaming yourself into doing more—it won't work
System
Visited an Observatory link
Color Memory Game
System
Thanking contributors
The ultimate hosting duo returns!
System
Thanking contributors
Ready to Go PRO
System
Added a definition
Bugnetism
System
Attended an event
This Week in Quality
System
Joined a Chapter
Joined TWiQ — This Week in Quality chapter
System
Visited an Observatory link
Test Impact Analysis Explained
System
Visited an Observatory link
AI Testing: How Solo Testers Stay Confident in Releases with Christine Pinto
Thanks for your contribution
My blog therapy
Thanks for your contribution
If your exploratory testing uncovers an area that may be an ideal candidate for automation, what steps would you go about communicating that to the developers/automators to get it done?
System
Thanking contributors
The Beginnings of The Ahh Test
System
Thanking contributors
What is The Ahh Test?
Thanks for your contribution
My blog therapy
System
Thanking contributors
🖖 Rahul is he’s in the top 1% of the world...
System
Thanking contributors
We can probably do better on social media - Hashtags
Thanks for your contribution
My blog therapy
Thanks for your contribution
My blog therapy
System
Registered for an event
Ship with confidence: Agentic AI-Driven Quality with Rovo Dev and Xray
System
Added a moment
My blog therapy
System
Registered for an event
This Week in Quality
System
Thanking contributors
Come for the knowledge, stay for the career growth
Learner completed your lesson
4.2.0 of MoT Software Quality Engineering Certificate
Learner completed your lesson
4.1.0 of MoT Software Quality Engineering Certificate
System
Credited with an item for the MoT Observatory
Why Quality Engineers Matter in the AI Era
System
Recommend an item for the MoT Observatory
Why Quality Engineers Matter in the AI Era
System
Thanking contributors
Software Quality Engineering Certificate - Check!
System
Thanking contributors
From knowing manual testing to learning automation, what have you learned that can be sone to bridge the gap between manual testing and automated testing being separate jobs done by separate people? ...
System
Added to a Moment, expanded the MoTaverse
From knowing manual testing to learning automation, what have you learned that can be sone to bridge the gap between manual testing and automated testing being separate jobs done by separate people? ...
Thanks for your contribution
What are your do's and don'ts to producing a quality podcast?
System
Thanking contributors
I am a good tester but a bad developer
System
Thanking contributors
Celebrating 313 community stars!
System
Thanking contributors
STEC and SQEC certified baby!!!! woooooow
System
Thanking contributors
My biggest issue is, unfortunately, time. Do you have any advice on finding the time to learn when all the work still needs doing and there isn't really room in your working day to focus on automation?
System
Thanking contributors
It's official, I'm competent!
System
Thanking contributors
Finding joy in your role
System
Thanking contributors
From manual to automated: a tester’s journey into AI
System
Thanking contributors
System design interview for test engineers
System
Watched a talk
System design interview for test engineers
System
Thanking contributors
Small group, big ideas: MoT Berlin April 2026
System
Attended an event
This Week in Quality
System
Visited an Observatory link
The demise of software engineering jobs has been greatly exaggerated
System
Visited an Observatory link
Autocomplete is enough of a miracle
System
Visited an Observatory link
Insights from the MoT London Chapter: Advancing quality engineering
System
Thanking contributors
Human skills matter more in the age of AI noise
Learner watched your talk
99 Second Talks – Day 1 – TestBash Brighton / MoTaCon 2025
System
Visited an Observatory link
From The Royal Air Force to Leading Quality with Stephen Platten
System
Thanking contributors
Two ways to use the “5 whys” method: Root cause of bugs and identifying continuous improvements
System
Visited an Observatory link
The Sisyphean Tragedy of Planning
System
Visited an Observatory link
Absolutely Fit to Lead
System
Thanking contributors
Stories that sound true, but (probably) aren't.
System
Visited an Observatory link
JUnit Tutorial: Setting Up, Writing, and Running Java Unit Tests
System
Visited an Observatory link
Bug Hunter Game - Testing Titbits
System
Thanking contributors
The true impact
System
Thanking contributors
When you receive glowing feedback for glue work
System
Thanking contributors
When you know how to cheat at browser game
System
Thanking contributors
The book that doesn't overwhelm nor bore me
View Member Stars
All Community Stars
Subscribe to our newsletter