Your Quality Engineer role: Is it too big to handle?

Quality Engineers could be biting off more than they can chew. Plus, highlights of the previous week in the MoTaverse.

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Happy times gathering again at MoT London with these quality people.

 

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Orchestrate Your Entire QA Process

Get total control over your testing and build repeatable, scalable workflows that work for your team. Try for free.

 

Look, a TestBash MoTebook

We've pulled together a TestBash MoTebook (with Google Docs) to help you understand what you can expect to learn from each session at TestBash, but it's more than that!

It's a tool to take notes as you go. To document your learning and to help you take ideas back to your team. Create your own copy today.

 

Is role scope ready to burst?

Susanne Abdelrahman reality checks the growth in responsibility for QA/quality folks. She also shares a helpful car analogy during her conversation with Rosie Sherry.

Learn from two leaders in quality

 

The image shows a dark purple, space-themed background with a moon in the bottom right corner and several small, bug-like alien creatures floating around. The moon has craters and a small red flag planted on its surface. White text in the center of the image asks: "ARE FORMAL TEST PLANS IN NON-REGULATED ENVIRONMENTS A RED FLAG?"

Are formal test plans in non-regulated environments a red flag? Does emphasis on formal test planning imply a lack of Continuous Delivery? Important questions from Cassandra H. Leung.

 

Lewis Prescott recording a lesson on Pact contract testing for his Ministry of Testing course, Modern Integration Testing.

In this lesson, Lewis walks you through a Pact contract test. Recording in action: Lewis Prescott on Contract Testing – Coming soon!

 

An image with the title "JOB HUNTING IN 2025? ATTEND TESTBASH FOR FREE!" is prominently displayed in large white text on a purple background. In the top right corner, a green, cartoon-style UFO with two small black squares representing eyes is flying. Below the main title, there are eleven smaller, distinct images arranged in two rows. These are photographs from Testbash 2024. In the bottom left corner, there is a circular logo that says "TESTBASH BRIGHTON" with a stylised Ministry of Testing planet logo.

We understand that finding work can be tough, and we want to help you stay connected and up-to-date with the latest in testing and quality engineering. If you've been unemployed at any point in 2025 and would love to attend TestBash, this is your chance.

 

A cute, friendly white robot with blue eyes and antennae holds a purple and orange data visualization dashboard. It is surrounded by three floating browser-like windows displaying different types of data or interfaces: a yellow one with text and image placeholders, a blue one with a line and bar graph, and a pink one with text placeholders. The background is a dark purple with subtle dashed lines and dots connecting the elements, suggesting data flow or connectivity.

Low-code test automation tools: First impressions and recommendations for beginners by Mirza Sisic. Evaluate the pros and cons of low-code automation tools through a tester’s hands-on experience selecting a solution.

 

The image shows a promotional graphic for "Qt Quality Assurance" and "Squish". The left side of the graphic has large white text on a dark purple background that reads "Reliable, scriptable & fully automated. Try Squish for free." The right side of the graphic displays a user interface for "Squish". It shows "Test Suites" with three checkboxes: "tst_general" (checked, with a red "REC" icon next to it and a green circle), "tst_adding" (checked), and "tst_adding_data" (checked). Below "Test Suites" is "Test Results" with "Test case" showing "Pass" and "Fail" options. There are also columns for "Result" and "Message", with some entries visible, including "tst_adding" and "Detail". Further to the right, a code editor or script view is partially visible, showing Python-like code with import statements and function definitions.

Reduce flakiness. Try Squish for free.

Enhance test coverage, and streamline automation. Take a tour!

 

Boost your star count, get noticed

You can now earn a star for starting a Club topic post and, coming soon, when you reply to a post.

And when people are tagged in memories, they can earn stars too.

 

The image shows a dark purple background with a network of interconnected gears on the left and the text "PRODUCT UNDER TEST (PUT)" in white on the right. The gears are of various colors including yellow, light blue, purple, red, and green. Some of the gears have what appear to be insect-like figures inside them. The gears are connected by lines, forming a complex, somewhat organic-looking structure with smaller clusters branching off. There are also faint sparkling elements scattered across the background.

The Product Under Test, or PUT, refers to the complete, entire piece of software or the whole system that is being delivered for testing. Product is broader than "system" and might refer to the entire deliverable, including documentation, services, etc.

 

A two-panel meme featuring a woman making contrasting facial expressions. In the left panel, she looks disgusted or confused, with the caption “FULL STACK SOFTWARE TESTER.” In the right panel, she appears intrigued or impressed, with the caption “FULL-STEC SOFTWARE TESTER,” playing on a humorous typo or pun of “stack.” The meme humorously contrasts the standard term with a quirky variation of STEC which stands for Software Testing Essentials Certification

Are you a full-stec software testing professional.

Channeling side quest energy to stay connected to the community.

Important busy things.

 

The view from The Observatory

How do you want your career to finish?

Facilitation Guide: Mapping Quality Together

The EU Cyber Resilience Act - Are You Prepared?

Testing LLMs for Prompt Injection Vulnerabilities

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A collection of cheat sheets to help you with testing

How Developers at PayPal & Zoom Use Postman Flows

TestRail 9.3 Is Here: Secure Jira Integration & Smart Test Case Labeling

View more from The Observatory. 🛰️

 

A blue brick wall with neon-style graphics. In the center is a microphone icon, glowing in blue and magenta. Above, below, and to the sides of the microphone are several stylized planet icons with rings, some glowing in white, some in magenta, and some in light blue. Below the microphone, in white neon letters, are the words "THIS WEEK IN" stacked above "TESTING".

🎧 Top tips for TestBash: How to explore the happy path Ep 97. Plan your TestBash goals, celebrate fresh Community Stars, and spark new connections across the testing world.

 

A slide from a "Leading with Quality" presentation features two speakers, Rosie Sherry and Kat Obring, in separate video call frames. The title of the slide asks, "What information is valuable to help people create change?" Below the speaker frames, the website "MINISTRYOFTESTING.COM" is displayed.

Kat Obring: Scaling change, one iteration at a time. Learn how to influence, advocate, and create change when you’re struggling to get buy-in.

 

The image shows a graphic stating "In June 2025, the MoTaverse awarded 934 community stars to 171 members" It features a purple background with stylized mountains or hills in the foreground and stars scattered around. In the bottom right corner, there's a small cartoon figure holding a flag with "MoT" on it and a gift card that says "BUG CONGRATS." Below the main text, the website "ministryoftesting.com/community-stars" is displayed.

MoTaverse shines bright: Another record-breaking month for community stars. The MoTaverse awarded 934 community stars in June. That's up nearly 21% from May!

 

Gift the joy

MoT Professional Members can now award community stars to fellow community members. We noticed an improvement in our well-being since dishing out community stars. Turns out giving stars makes you feel good! We want to spread that joy. What note of gratitude could you share with a fellow community member?

+ Award a Community Star

 

A group of seven people smiling and standing in front of two SIBB Startup Incubator banners. They are posing casually indoors on a dark floor with a small green rug at their feet. The group includes men and women, dressed casually in jeans, sneakers, dresses, and hoodies, showing a friendly and relaxed vibe from a community event.

Berlin made it count

See the full list of our events, including in-person meetups. online get-togethers, a Leading with Quality day and the most exciting testing conference on the planet, TestBash.

 

Essential career growth-inducing links

Events | Certifications | Articles | Software Testing Live | Talks | Collections | Memes | Memories | Observatory | Glossary | The Club | Members | Store | TestBash

👤 How to get the most out of your MoT profile: Top tips for maximising value.

Simon Tomes
Simon Tomes
Community Lead at Ministry of Testing
he/him
Hello, I'm Simon. Since 2003 I've had various roles in testing, tech leadership and coaching. I believe in the power of collaboration, creativity and community.
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