European Testing Conference 2018 is now behind us, except for the closing activities. And it was the best of three we’ve done so far. We closed the 2018 edition saying thank you and guiding people forward. Forward in this case was a call for action to look into TestBash Netherlands, which is in just two months in Utrecht. I will personally attend as a speaker, and having been to various TestBashes, I’m excited about the opportunity to share and learn with fellow test enthusiasts.
In TestBash New York, Helena Jeret-Mae delivered a brilliant talk about career growth, with one powerful and sticky message: in her career, while she stayed in the office and focused on excellence at work, nothing special happened. But when she went for conferences, met people and networked, things started happening. She summed it up as “Nothing happens when nothing happens”. There’s side effects to growing yourself in conferences, learning and networking, that create a network impact of making a change relevant in advancing your personal career. This resonated.
At European Testing Conference 2018, there was a group of people in different roles in a company. There was the manager, and there was the person the manager would manage. Telling the person to do something differently had not resulted in a change. Sending the person to a place where people enthusiastically talked about doing the thing differently made the person come to manager with a great idea: there’s this thing I’m not doing now, I want to do more of it. Ownership shifted. A change started. The threshold of thinking “all cool kids are doing this” was exceeded. Power of the crowds made a difference.
While we would love to see you at European Testing Conference 2019, the software industry is growing at a pace where we are realistically seeing that the need of awesome testing and programming education (tech excellence) is needed. We need to grow as professional ourselves, but also make sure our colleagues get to grow. We all do better when we all do better. We suggest you find a local meetup, learn and network. Go to any conferences, go to great conferences. Go and be inspired. The talks can give you nudges with ideas, the skills you acquire by practice. Sample over time, always look for new ideas.
The short list of conferences I pay attention to mentioning are ones I recognize for being inclusive and welcoming, and treating the speakers right (paying their expenses and including new voices amongst seasoned ones). I want to share my love and appreciation for TestBashes (all of them, they are all around), Agile Testing Days (in USA and Germany), CAST (USA, since latest editions) and Nordic Testing Days. The last one is a fairly recent addition to my list now that they’ve grown into a solid success that can treat the speakers right.
I enjoy most of the conferences I’ve been to, and would recommend you to go to any of them. I have a list of my speaking engagements in http://maaretp.com and the places I’ve experienced is growing.
What’s the conference you will be at this year? Make sure there is one. Nothing happens when nothing happens. Make things happen for you.
