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What's been happening in the testing, QA and quality engineering community? Let's go! 🛫
I hope you have a good week.
— Simon Tomes, Community Lead at Ministry of Testing
Community
🏆 Bug congrats to Jenna Charlton, Lisa Crispin, Mirza Sisic and Petros Plakogiannis for earning an MoT Community Certificate! Your contributions to this software testing community matter.
"I got hooked on the idea of community whilst also continuing my career as a tester." Rosie Sherry joins Eden Full Goh to discuss the evolution of testing, the value beyond technical skills, and quality’s impact across teams.
Mariem SAFI celebrates her community star badge! Thank you, Mariem, for being part of the community. ⭐️
New MoT Meetup: Cambridge, 3rd of December, Ask Me Anything sessions with Mark Winteringham and Vernon Richards. Nice one Teresa Reynolds for setting this up.
🎧 This Week in Testing Episode 61 features a lively 99-second talk segment, where testers share quick insights, personal stories, and useful advice. It's a great way to connect with community members.
Beanie, toque, mütze, gorro, muts, hue and gorros. Get yours today!
Career Growth
Job Moves
- Adrià Sánchez Alonso starts a new position as QA Engineer at WebCargo by Freightos.
Now hiring
- Gathered & Found are hiring a Test Engineering Coach.
- Testlio is hiring for various quality engineering roles.
Open to work
- We're polling the testing community to gain an understanding of the current job market. Open to Work: October 2024 and check out the new Open to Work Database.
🥞 Curious and Courageous Career Paths for Testing Professionals. Be inspired by multiple stories of testing, QA, quality engineering, SDET, test leader career paths plus many more.
Tester Obsolescence: How to Compete in a Modern QA Job Market with TestRail.
Show us your MoT Profile!
"In my recent interview, I was asked this scenario-based question." by Iziren Chima.
Essentials
📚 N is for […], O is for [...] and P is for [...].
🥞 Software Testing and QA Skills. An exploration of the skills required by software testing and quality professionals.
Expert Testing Advice: 10 Industry Leaders Share Their Top Tips. Thanks to Nicola Lindgren for collating all these. Learn more about Nicola's collaborative book: How Can I Test This?
How is 2016 different from 2024? What Do Software Testers Do?
Interesting results! How many years of experience define a junior tester?
What’s a QA myth that really chaps your hide? Jason Franklin shares.
Daniel Knott explores 15 Playgrounds For Software Tester.
Quality Engineering
"I have the honour of an article I wrote for Ministry of Testing being published! You can read my take on what Quality Engineering is, and how adopting a quality engineering approach enables teams to solve complex problems, improve processes across the SDLC, and enhance the experience for everyone involved with the product." – Stuart Thomas. Read: Quality engineer: What’s in a job title?
How does a user’s budget, use and experience influence how they interpret quality?
Avoid These QA Mistakes That Jeopardize Software Quality by Cotopaxi Lyon.
AI
AI-assisted accessibility tools: pros and cons by Ady Stokes. Discover how AI tools support accessibility testing and why human expertise remains essential for inclusive outcomes.
"Every time one explores under a constraint, it has an impact on thinking and resulting intent on action". Maaret Pyhäjärvi discusses Cost-Constrained Exploratory Testing.
The MoT hybrid Cork talk recording is now available. AI & Testing - A Synergy for Success with Rahul Parwal.
Exploring AI Tools and their Applications by Beth Marshall.
Systems Thinking
When and where have you used systems thinking?
🤝 The certification that gives junior testers confidence, community and connections.
Explore MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate
Risks
Reporting and measuring
🥞 Software Testing and QA Reporting. Test reporting, planning, and documentation.
Does anyone here have benchmarks or industry standards for QA KPIs? asks Cloudie Nguyen.
Do you measure/assess the maturity of test process? And what tools do you use to do it? asks Mariem.
User acceptance tests
Supriya Lal shares why user acceptance tests are such a hassle.
Strategy
Building product-specific test strategies that go beyond “best practices” with Qase.
What approach does your team practice?
"By choosing truth over fallacy and focusing on building comfort in the unknown, we create systems and teams that are not only resilient but also capable of delivering exceptional value in the face of uncertainty." – Chris Armstrong. Read more.
Mike Harris argues, to copy a testing process “is to invite disaster”.
Jo Reeves and Stu Day delve into the complexities of navigating change.
Automation
Bug congrats to Anita Pritchard and Marek Wietecha for earning MoT Certificates in Test Automation. 🏆
Coding
Node.js: using fs.watch to re-import CommonJS modules by Gemma Black.
Tooling
Old Tools, new tricks - how to choose tools by Benjamin Bischoff.
Tool of the Week: Xray 🛠️
Sprint planning
Marijana Rukavina would like to know how you set up a workflow for sprint planning.
Regression testing
🥞 The Community's Guide to Regression Testing. Creating a regression testing strategy, manual, visual or automated.
Just for fun
Share your memories with the community
🗓️ Events
New events are always added, so keep checking the events page for up-to-date info.
- Myths, cognitive biases and mental sets in QA Mon 25 Nov
- Episode Seven: The community's guide to Continuous Quality Wed 27 Nov
- Athens Meetup Thu 28 Nov 🇬🇷
- Leeds Meetup Thu 28 Nov 🇬🇧
- This Week in Testing Fri 29 Nov
- Cambridge Meetup Tue 3 Dec 🇬🇧
- York Meetup Thu 5 Dec 🇬🇧
- Coventry Meetup Thu 5 Dec 🇬🇧
- TestBash Brighton 2025 Wed 1–Thu 2 Oct 2025 🤩
🗞️ Industry News
- A beginner's guide to ad hoc testing by Sam Hollis
- How to Implement Test-Driven Development (TDD): A Practical Guide by Hannah Son
💡 Continuous Call for Contributions
We are now accepting abstracts for talks and workshops for TestBash Brighton 2025. Go for it! Submit an idea. ⚡️
Contributing to the testing community is a positive way to support your career. Unsure how? There are many ways for you to contribute and be rewarded. The bonus: Sharing your knowledge supports everyone's career growth!
Look out for specific requests in the "Help MoT" channel on the MoT Slack. ✨
Poll of the Week (with commentary)
