Setting Sail into the Great Unknown: How I Got Started in Testing from a Non-technical Background - Mike Clarke

In a dark, windowless room hidden in a top-secret facility in the middle of a military compound, I was faced with two choices – stay where I was and risk missing out on key moments in my children’s lives, or leave the safety and security of the job I knew and leap into the unknown, risking everything.

Well, that all sounds a bit dramatic!

My talk is about how I went from being a Communications Warfare Specialist for the Royal New Zealand Navy (with no experience in software, let alone testing), to launching into a career in testing and becoming an active member of the software testing community in Auckland.

I’ll tell tales of uncertainty and success, then leave you with some tips on how to make progress in your testing career.

Takeaways:

• How to take steps to grow your testing career
• How to get started in a field you don't know much about
• Where to find the people who can support your testing journey