Testival Meetup #64, Zagreb, Croatia

tags: event · image · testing · testival

Estimated reading time is 2 minutes.

Introduction

It was a very long time since the last in-person Testival meetup. Just before the COVID pandemic, we had meetup #58, in March 2020. Before that, we’ve been meeting regularly every month for years. We also had a conference every year. It feels really strange that there was no in-person meetup or a conference in over two years.

There were a few online-only meetups in 2020 and 2021. Even online meetups have stopped since Karlo and I have stepped down as organizers.

Niko Mađar has decided to organize the Testival conference this year. In addition to that, he decided to organize the Testival meetup. I wish him all the luck.

Testival Meetup #64

Finally, this month we had Testival Meetup #64. About 30 people came. A nice number considering the meetup was on a break for a couple of years.

The meetup used the usual format that I really like. Nike gave a short introduction. Then everybody shortly introduced themselves. I think this is such a critical part of the meetup. It’s really important to get to know the people. It’s really rare that somebody doesn’t want to introduce themselves. During the introduction Iva Čičin-Šain said she was the one that came up with the name Testival. (I couldn’t remember that when I wrote Stepping down as Testival Organizer.)

Talks

There were two talks. I have a few notes.

• Vesna Bilić - Excel in your QA career!
• Niko Mađar - How programs test programs

From Vesna’s talk:

• You can manage your career proactive or reactive.
• To advance your career you have to step out of your comfort zone.
• Life is long. There is time.
• Besides technical knowledge, life experience is required.
• Book recommendation - Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais.

From Niko’s talk:

• Photomath Engineering blog.

There was interesting discussion during and after each talk.

The only complaint I have is that it was hard to hear the speakers. For the first talk I was sitting at the back and I was struggling to hear. I’ve moved to the first row during the break between the talks, so I could hear better. A sound system is required for such a big room.

Niko announced lightning talks at the beginning, but forgot about them at the end. I think it’s perfectly normal to forget something the first time you’re organizing a meetup.

After the Talks

After the talks the majority of the people stayed to chat. The reason I don’t like online meetups is that this social component is missing. Online, you can’t easily form small groups that split and merge chaotically.

Conclusion

It was great to see, after a very long time, Testival organizers and regular attendees. Niko said the plan is to continue with meetups every month. I’m looking forward to more meetups.

Feedback

Thank you for reading. If you want to stay in touch please use the feed or send me an email.