My second Lean Coffee in a week, this one online with the Association for Software Testing. Here's a few aggregated notes from the conversation.
Why do people want to speak at conferences, and can we support them to get what they need in other ways?
- Lots of noise recently on Twitter about people being rejected, and discussion of tactics for getting in.
- So why do people want to speak at conferences?
- Increase their brand.
- Be more employable.
- Be better known.
- Go to the conference for free.
- Company will only pay if they are speaking.
- Share what I've learned.
- Share my story.
- Challenge yourself.
- Because they see others doing it
- Personal access to "big names."
- Conferences always have the same speakers.
- Do people need better access to conferences?
- Can be a vicious cycle: accepted because we know you; we know you because you speak.
- Perhaps the return to in-person conferences has increased the demand for speaking slots.
- People don't know how to sell their talk to conferences
- Lots of people stick the same proposal into multiple conferences, not tailored
- I get inspiration from conferences: testing is a lot bigger than I remember day-to-day.
- If you want to get known, other platforms might not be so good.
- Conference talks are often amplified widely on social media.
- What else can we do to boost signal?
- Magazines, Podcasts, Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Peer Conference, YouTube, ...
What one thing would you prefer never to have to do again (as a tester)
- Repeatedly explaining something to someone who is lazy or doesn't want to open their mind.
- Justifying why it's useful having a tester on a team or doing testing.
- ... One of the best things is explaining to people who want to learn (teaching vs justifying).
- ... Many different people in project teams think they can tell testers how to work.
- ... I'm happy to question my own practices for improvemen.
- ... Providing good feedback and constructive criticism is positive
- Explaining why you can't automate all the testing.
- ... Software development has an undercurrent that is trying to destroy good work by testers.
- Being in a conference where some smartass explains why everyone can be as successful as them.
- Sitting with a developer while they fix a bug I reported (because they feel they need that reassurance).
- ... or working with developers that think testing is someone else's job.
Working conditions for testers
- Inspired by a Twitter thread.
- The reputation of the gaming industry is dire.
- Why are big-name companies apparently abusing game testers?
- What is the culture like?
- How can we change it?
- What other industries are bad?
- Outsourcing companies have been known to abuse juniors particularly.
- I have worked with people who tell all sorts of tales about game testing.
- ... a culture of short-term contracts.
- ... a funding model that means they need to be able to drop people after product release.
- Tech has a weird relationship to unions.
- Reasonable pay in tech makes people think we don't need unions.
- Geography is important, e.g. China and India have a reputation for poor worker conditions.
- ... e.g. 40 hour week contract but employers expect 996 work.
- Is it worse for testers than other software professionals?
- But some people have no choice.
Tactics for learning while testing
- You have work to do and it has a deadline
- But you also want to learn new tools, new approaches, new things about your domain
- Be prepared to gamble some specific time on trying things.
- ... but abandon it if it's not working out in the time.
- ... and come back to it on another occasion.
- Give yourself permission to learn
- Developers give themselves time and spike tickets.
- People with seniority need to get better at giving time to their staff.
- Senior testers tend to be better at making time for learning.
- Discipline is needed.
- I only do it when the situation forces it because of time pressure.
- Look for an opportunity to do something new.
- You need to practice a thing to get deep with it.
- Perhaps analyse tasks before jumping into them, for learning opportunities.
- Ask "can I try this experiment in a different way?"
- We have a Community Day at work.
- If you don't have that, then use stealth approaches!
- Unionise!
Image: https://flic.kr/p/63wFf7
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