One of the key takeaways was the recognition that AI isn’t about replacing testers, but rather about increasing their abilities. While 1 or 2 people were concerned about job security, the consensus was that upskilling is crucial.
That’s why I always recommend people to follow emergent technologies. My first interaction with AI was 7 years ago, when I posted about machine learning in 2018 and also on this AI chatbot project that I joined just after.
Focus, learn, practice and stay calm, you are not going to be replaced by AI, maybe for people who use AI 🤷♀️
The future of testing lies in leveraging AI tools effectively, and those who adapt will thrive. The discussion highlighted core skills that will remain essential for long-term careers:
Clear Thinking: AI can analyse code, but human critical thinking and problem-solving are still key.
Passion for Quality: A genuine commitment to quality remains a uniquely human trait.
Adaptability: The tech landscape is constantly shifting. Embracing change and learning new technologies, like AI, is essential.
The meetup also talked about the limitations of current AI models. Bias in data sets, as highlighted by the Global Data Quality Report, remains a significant concern. We discussed how even sophisticated simulations, like a “simulated CEO,” struggle to replicate human personality and decision-making.
Testing AI: Challenges and Approaches
Testing AI itself has unique challenges, primarily due to the sheer volume of data involved. Some organisations are using automation with massive datasets, but careful scoping is essential. The human element remains crucial, especially at key decision points. It’s also important to remember that AI can still be “delusional” – producing unexpected or incorrect results.
Practical Advice and Considerations:
Some practical advices:
Don’t follow blindly: AI is powerful, but it’s not a silver bullet. Understand the value proposition before implementing it.
Be aware of the limitations: AI can slow you down and requires careful planning. Define clear objectives before you start.
Embrace thought leadership: Explore AI’s potential for strategic growth and innovation.
Research and be cautious: Don’t rely on a single model. Test with different datasets and diverse groups to ensure robustness.
Data and Privacy:
A crucial point raised was data privacy. Concerns were expressed about data being stored in the cloud without proper security measures. The importance of encryption and secure data handling was emphasised, with some companies exploring blockchain technology for data storage ❤️
The meetup reinforced my what I have being saying about: the future of testing lies in the synergy between human intelligence and AI tools. By effectively integrating human expertise with the capabilities of AI, we can achieve higher levels of quality and efficiency in software development. It’s about “mix brain and tool” – leveraging the best of both worlds.
This talk was especially important to me, even though it was the one I practiced the least. My mom was there for the first time to support me! After spending a month with me, she has already gone back to Brazil 🇧🇷 🙏
She also gave me feedback that I should look around the room more instead of focusing on just one side! 😄
She probably didn’t understand anything, but she was there 😊
But this time I missed all the other talks 😔 I have been working on my startup: The Chaincademy most of my days I am going to sleep around 3am and on the day before my talk I went to sleep at 1am 🙏 . Gladly, nobody noticed that I was a corpse mopping the floor on that day.
Back to what matters! Unfortunately, I don’t have much to share about the other talks this time. However, at the speakers’ dinner, I had the pleasure of chatting with some amazing speakers: René Rohner (robot framework and playwright), Mazin Inaad (food and rock bands), Jonathon Wright(the AI guy) , Ana Duarte(why Porto is the best city in Portugal) and Gerard van Engelen (a variety of topics)
This time, I also decided to start a bit differently by being honest about my habit of talking fast at the beginning of sessions. I asked everyone to help pace me if I started speaking too quickly—sorry in advance! 😬
Everyone stayed engaged, even during a 1-hour-and-30-minute session. I felt the hands-on part was a bit rushed and could have been extended, so I’ll keep that in mind for next time.
Just sharing some additional content after my talk: I’ve updated the resources to include some Web3 hackathons and a Web3 Test Mindmap.
Here’s the feedback from this session—apparently, I did well, but not quite well enough to win the award! Maybe that’s why I left right after my talk 😂
It’s okay, though—my mom got emotional and teared up when I started reading the positive feedback, so I’ll count that as a win, even if it’s a bit biased!
Apart from my talk, I also joined Señor Performo in his AutomationStar interview sessions!
Finally met Leandro Melendez.
I’ve known his work for ages, and I also use Grafana a lot at work these days. It was great to exchange tips on public speaking and chat about mutual friends. During the interview, I shared what we’re doing at The Chaincademy, my journey in tech, and how I ended up where I am today.
“As usual, the best part of my talk is testing whether people were really paying attention or if ADHD is getting the best of the crowd. It’s also my favorite part—I love a good competition! 🥋
And that’s a wrap! See you at the next conference or meetup! I’m actually planning to host a webinar on my own soon, so hopefully, you’ll be able to join from anywhere in the world!
Hello, hello! A bit late as usual, but I’m here to share my experience at the Eurostar Conference this year. My talk was scheduled for 15:15 on Thursday, June 13th. Despite my initial anxiety, I managed to not only deliver my talk but also had time to attend other sessions and join two tutorials. Apparently, joining two tutorials was against the rules (shh 🤫)
Finding basis path: Ensure effective control flow testing by identifying the basis path.
Draw diagram flow: Create a detailed flowchart diagram to visualize the process.
Flipping decisions on baseline: Adjust decisions based on the established baseline to improve accuracy.
Flow chart: Use flowcharts to map out the process and identify key decision points.
Control flow testing: Test the control flow of the application to ensure all paths are exercised.
Code exercise: Focus on exercising the code you wrote, not the code that wasn’t written.
Business path analysis with JPath: Tools like JPath may not suffice for business path analysis; use domain analysis and equivalence class partitioning instead.
Pairwise workflow: Employ pairwise testing to handle millions of possible tests, as it’s impossible to test everything.
User behavior focus: Ask what the user does to the application, not what the application does to the user.
Vilfredo Pareto principle: Apply the Pareto principle, noting that 20% of transaction types happen 80% of the time, and start with transaction history analysis.
Pairwise tools: Use tools like Allpairs and PICT for pairwise testing, they are quite old school tho. No mention on AI tools to help creating the data, found a bit weird ?!?
Data variation: Ensure multiple variations of data and a reasonable amount of data for thorough testing.
My favorite part was discussing the things we’ve heard throughout the years in the QA and testing industry. Some of them include:
Automate everything: Avoid unrealistic expectations like “automate everything” and ensure thorough testing to prevent missing bugs.
More test cases mean better testing: Quantity over quality in test cases can result in redundant tests that don’t effectively cover critical scenarios.
Just test it at the end: Believing that testing can be left until the final stages of development leads to overlooked defects and rushed fixes.
Quality is the tester’s job: Assuming that only testers are responsible for quality undermines the collective responsibility of the entire team.
We can catch all bugs with testing: Expecting testing to catch every possible defect overlooks the importance of good design and development practices.
This was the big one of the entire conference, largely due to the drama that unfolded at the end of the talk 🎭
I missed the point where the title resonated with the entire talk, and it was my fault for not reading the description and going just because of the title.
They compared the time it takes to build cars from ages ago to now (Ford and Tesla) and showed that it only saved 3 minutes. I’m not sure if they did this on purpose just to prove their point, but the comparison missed the complexity and features that have been added in the new cars, like the entire software and electric systems behind Tesla that didn’t exist before. These aspects weren’t considered in their comparison.
They also presented interesting analysis about when AI will catch up with human intelligence, as well as the gap that AI is creating between junior and senior developers. Not many people talk about this, but indeed, AI is a tool that can help us while also potentially making us lazy, similar to how calculators did; we still need to learn the basics
Active listening: It involves fully concentrating, understanding, responding, and remembering what’s being said.
Train yourself and learn: Continuously improving active listening skills through practice and feedback helps in understanding others better.
Circle of control: Focus on what you can control in conversations—your responses, understanding, and actions.
Feedback: Provide constructive feedback that helps the person improve without making them feel punished. Talk about the behaviour not the identity, don’t use BUT, use AND.
Keep questions simple: Use straightforward questions that facilitate understanding and encourage deeper thought.
Be present: Engage fully in the conversation, maintaining focus and showing genuine interest.
11k impressions: Recognize that perspectives can vary based on personal factors like fatigue and biases
Keep questions simple: Frame questions clearly to facilitate understanding and encourage exploration of solutions.
Acceptance: Reality gap ! Facts on the table. Easy ? No, necessary: yes
You have the questions not necessarily know the answers. Help them to figure out how to find a solution.
What are your three top values? Rank 1 to 10. This will help you and your mentee to connect.
Here I am again, checking the feedback. As expected, the audience was quite different from the one I usually engage with. Since this conference is a bit more corporate, I didn’t anticipate too much variation in the audience. I was also extra nervous for this one, so instead of 45 minutes, I sped up and went into the fast lane, finishing the talk in just 30 minutes. I just gave you all some extra time for coffee! 😆
As always, I needed to gauge the Web3 knowledge level of the majority, and unsurprisingly, there is still a massive gap in education about what Web3 and Blockchain are. Thus, I spent a significant portion of my talk explaining these concepts.
The feedback is quite contradictory. Some people said it was hard to follow because no background was provided, while others mentioned they didn’t know the talk would focus solely on Blockchain (which it did not). 🤷♀️
So, if I give more background, people complain. If I reduce the background, people will still complain. My take on that is it’s really hard to please everyone; sometimes I can’t even make my own dog happy! 😄
I still try, though. So, thanks to those who gave constructive feedback ❤️!
I’ll work on improving for the next one 🚀
More random pictures with these great speakers whom I had the pleasure to meet, the cubic challenge, and also random exotic food talks on the boat party.
When it comes to load testing tools, there is a recent tool called PFLB which I received a comparison with the most popular one: JMeter. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, making them suitable for different scenarios. Let’s delve into a comparison between the two.
– Limited Support – Scripting – Control Version – CI/CD Integration – Reusability
– GUI oriented – Possibility to create scripts, but too complex and lack of documentation – Weak (Java) – Hard to maintain
Ramp-up Flexibility
User-Friendly through GUI
Plugins available to be able to configure flexible load
Test Result Analyzing
Yes
Yes
Resource Consumption
Optimizing resource usage involves properly configuring test scenarios and monitoring performance to adjust as needed.
Heavy to run tests with multiple users on a single machine, more memory consumption
Easy to use with Version Control Systems
Yes
No
Recording Functionality
Yes
Yes
Distributed Execution
Yes
Yes
Load Test Monitoring
It reduces memory consumption through asynchronous logging, cloud-based infrastructure, and integration with specialized monitoring tools.
Ability to monitor a basic load
PFLB is most used when you need:
Scalability: PFLB tool offers cloud-based load testing, allowing users to scale tests to simulate millions of users without worrying about local resource limitations.
Integration: It integrates seamlessly with other monitoring and APM tools (e.g., New Relic, Dynatrace, Datadog), providing comprehensive performance insights and real-time analytics.
Ease of Use: PFLB tools are easy to use, with intuitive interfaces and detailed reports, making it easy for teams to set up, run, and analyze load tests.
Enterprise-Level Support: PFLB provides robust support and customization options for enterprise clients, ensuring that specific performance testing needs and requirements are met effectively.
JMeter solves some specific problems:
Identifying Performance Bottlenecks: JMeter helps detect slow or underperforming parts of an application by simulating various load conditions and monitoring response times.
Scalability Testing: It evaluates how an application scales with increased load, ensuring that the system can handle expected traffic and identifying any points of failure.
Concurrent User Simulation: JMeter can simulate multiple users accessing the application simultaneously, allowing testers to observe how the application behaves under concurrent usage.
Regression Testing: It can automate performance tests as part of a continuous integration process, ensuring that new code changes do not degrade application performance.
Thanks to Victoria from pflb for sending me this comparison !
By far, it was the best meetup I’ve ever been to. The energy, the people, and the place were already amazing, but then adding the food, the weather, and obviously the quality of the talks and discussions just made it the icing on the cake! I don’t think they advertise how good it is 😂
Finding Your Voice – How to stop worrying and give the talk
Sophie Küster was fantastic! She was very direct to the point and delivered simple messages that motivated people to give talks more often. Her tips were great, and they definitely resonated with me. Public speaking makes me really anxious too, and it took me a long time to gain the courage to go from blogging to speaking in public.
The tips:
Prepare yourself – Lots of practice, rehearsals and research
Be yourself and show your passion
Structure your presentation
No spelling mistakes 😬
Wear comfortable shoes 👠
Put some red lipstick on, joking this is just a reference for something Sophie often puts on to feel stronger when presenting, but you can find your own power move, like wearing a cowboy hat🤠
Thanks Sophie, hopefully see you again soon !
APIs for Browser Automation (Selenium, Cypress, Puppeteer, or Playwright)
The talk compared these four different tools for browser automation: Selenium, Cypress, Puppeteer, and Playwright. Selenium is the grandpa and senior in this space, but Cypress and Playwright are gaining more and more traction. Not surprised as they are easier to use and when working across different browsers, also the fact you don’t need to have waiting workarounds 😫
Boni Garcia even showed demos and the code comparing these tools for the same scenario ! Unfortunately my phone was taking horrible pictures, so I am sharing the slides here, much better !
Finally my Talk: A Tester’s Guide to Navigating the Wild West of Web3 Testing
As always I start first checking the level of the audience on Web3 knowledge and majority still has no idea what is Web3 or is a beginner, which makes me focus a lot in the beginning where I go through what is Web3 and Blockchain.
I always feel like I should give more examples, but then time is always something that holds me back a bit – Maybe I should remove the infrastructure part of the Blockchain and just focus on use cases ?
Then after going through the concepts, we talked about some extra resources, challenges and tools you can use when doing Web3 Tests:
Check this Blockchain Developer Roadmap for a comprehensive learning path (I only offered a brief overview during the talk).
Completely anonymous feedback at the end of the talk summarized that people loved the quiz at the end where we gave away some The Chaincademy swags for the top 3 places.
A good, friendly competition is always a good thing!
The feedback also shows that time was an issue. It seems like didn’t need that much time to discuss the infrastructure and more time was needed for use cases and explanations. Let’s see what I can do to improve for my next talk at Eurostar Conference next week !
The results can be seen here:
Who voted not sure ?
Big shout out to Angelos Mitsios for coming to me afterwards and making me think about a really good point about Blockchain Decentralisation:
While removing the middleman like banks for financial transactions with cryptocurrency is a big step, complete decentralization is difficult. We still need Internet providers and Electricity providers. Electricity can potentially be self-generated with solar panels, but internet access relies on complex infrastructure across vast distances.
And even with encryption tools like VPNs, governments can still disrupt internet access, highlighting the ongoing tension between technological freedom and government control. Ultimately, the focus should be on the practical applications of cryptocurrency (Long distance fast transactionswithout middleman: bank – wallet to wallet) while acknowledging the limitations of true decentralization in today’s world (Still depend on middleman: Internet and Electricity Providers)
The Speakers !
Finally met these two after seeing them talking in so many events:
Boni Garcia is an Associate Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain. He is an official committer at the Selenium project and the creator and maintainer of several projects, such as WebDriverManager or Selenium-Jupiter. He wrote the books Mastering Software Testing with JUnit 5 and Hands-On Selenium WebDriver with Java.
Sophie is a test automation engineer at cronn GmbH, a Bonn based IT company. No stranger to the universe’s gut punches, she is passionate about improving awareness and communication about mental health and self-care.
That’s all 👋 Meet you next week at Eurostar in Stockholm and Geek 2024 – EE Conference in London and my last conference of the year Automationstar in Vienna !
You asked you got it !! JK 😂 , this was in my backlog for a long time and finally had time to write something about it. This literally summarises my life:
Not many people out there talking about Blockchain Tests, maybe Oleksandr Romanov and Rhian Lewis, so I usually resource to communities (Web3Tests, Synpress…) to see what others are doing.
It is a bit shocking as there are many well-known attacks in this technology and on top of that after deploying something to the Blockchain you can’t go back (immutability feature), so how come this phase is so neglected as making sure everything is alright is so crucial ?
I am doing a quick benchmark about the End-to-End Tests Web3 Frameworks that are out there, and yes you can always mock the Web3 and then you don’t rely on third party integrations, which you would do any Web2 application already. But hey, this is one option to use when you need it !
Here it is what I got from the two major and most popular tools to test Web3 Apps (DApps):
I have been a bit of a workaholic lately, but all for a good cause 😊
Not sure if you know already, but I started to work on a project The Chaincademy helping Developers (SDETs, Engineers, Coders, Programmers, Test Automation Engineers…), especially the junior ones that are coming to Tech to find their first job 💻
We have launched our MVP before Xmas, and we are testing it with our audience (Junior Developers). So, in case you want to accelerate your career (for now, only web3) and get your first experience as a developer, sign up for our Newsletter to get access 🎉
First time I actually adventured myself with AI and Machine Learning was back in 2018 in a Machine Learning Workshop. I had to create this iOS app where AI was replacing my face with an emoji based on my expressions 😆 Really simple, but back in that time, AI was not so good as it is right now (As we say in Brazil: Na minha época isso aqui era tudo mato – Back in my day, this place was all woods)
And since the launch of chatGPT to speed up all my work, I have been using AI on a daily basis, more Bard actually (Think it is much better than ChatGpt nowadays), so here I am going to give some tips on how I have been using it in test automation:
Test Automation
1. Test Case Generation:
Scenarios: You need to pass user stories and acceptance criteria, to generate corresponding test cases with detailed steps and expected outcomes.
Prompt Example: Given a user tries to register with an invalid email address, describe the steps they would take and verify that the system displays an appropriate error message.
Edge Cases: Ask to suggest potential edge cases or corner scenarios to test, ensuring comprehensive coverage of your application’s functionality.
Prompt Example:For the checkout process, what happens if the user's internet connection drops while entering their payment information? List potential scenarios and expected outcomes.
Data-Driven Testing: Generate test data sets based on specific criteria.
Prompt Example:Generate 10 test cases for the login feature, covering cases with valid and invalid username/password combinations and different user types (admin, regular user).
2. Coding:
Test Script Automation: Describe the test actions:
Prompt Example:I want to test clicking the 'Submit Order' button and verifying the order confirmation page appears. Write a Cypress with javascript script for this scenario.
Code Completion: Get test assertions, locator identification, and handling complex interactions.
Prompt Example:In my Cypress test, I'm trying to assert that the element contains the text 'Welcome back'. Please suggest the next line of code with assertion syntax.
Refactoring: Analyze your existing test scripts and suggest improvements like removing redundancy, increasing reusability, or optimizing execution time.
Prompt Example: Analyze my Pull request for the search functionality. Can you add comments and suggest ways to improve readability, reduce redundancy, and speed up execution?
3. Test Planning and Management:
Prioritization and Risk Assessment: Provide the test case details and application knowledge, so it can help prioritize tests based on risk or impact.
Prompt Example:Given these 20 test cases for the new feature, rank them based on potential impact, speed of delivery and risk of failure. Explain your reasoning for each.
Maintenance: Identify outdated or irrelevant test cases and suggest updates or new tests to maintain coverage.
Prompt Example:The application updated its login page layout. Identify test cases needing modification and suggest relevant updates based on the new UI.
4. Environment Management:
Mocks: Describe data needs for specific tests, and generate mock data or API responses, reducing reliance on real environments and dependencies. Remember you can also use contract tests (with Pact for example) and this can be done automatically from the code.
Prompt Example:Generate mock API responses for the payment gateway integration test, simulating successful and failed scenarios based on test case requirements
Environment Configuration: Configurations for different test environments based on your application and testing requirements.
Prompt Example:Suggest configurations for a staging environment replicating the production database but with limited user access. Include details for network settings and resource allocation.
Thanks to Abel from Graph Protocol 👏 to send over these great resources that I have been using to learn about how to better prompt for Software Development are:
Hey guys, 4 months ago I had a 5 minutes lightning talk about How the QA will look like in the future at the Equal Experts Conference.
We went through the evolution of the role and how it is right now, then we quickly talk about the trends that are coming so you can already prepare yourself to be up to date 🙂
In this 5-minute talk, we will quickly talk about the future of Quality Assurance (QA) position and discuss the evolution of the QA role in response to emerging trends.
The QA role has come a long way from its traditional focus on manual testing and bug detection. As technology advances, QA professionals are adapting to new demands and becoming integral contributors to the software development process.
The future of QA position will be marked by AI Tests, Tests in the Cloud, Web3 Tests, Alerting and Monitoring, along with strong soft skills. By embracing these trends and developing the necessary skills, QA professionals will be well-equipped to drive quality and innovation in the ever-changing software development industry.
Julio de Lima is a Principal QA Engineer with 14 years of experience in software testing. He has worked in all levels of testing. He has implemented functional software testing automation process in 18 companies using tools like Selenium Webdriver and TestComplete also non-functional automation testing using JMeter. He has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computing with a focus on AI and some software testing certifications: CTFL, CTFL Agile Tester, CTAL Test Manager, CTAL Test Automation Engineer, CBTS (Brazilian Certification), and SoapUI Pro. Sporadically he also works as a guest post-graduate professor at: CESAR School (Recife and Manaus) and Unicesumar (Paraná). He is also a well-known speaker at Brazilian conferences such as iMasters PHP Experience, The Developers Conference, BRATESTE, É dia de Java, PHPConference, TICNOVA, TestTalk, GURU-SP, ScrumDay Brazil, Jornada Colaborativa, and also two International conferences: STAREast 2020, Selenium Day North America, and QA Global Summit.
TL;DR; Julio de Lima immigrated to the USA for better quality of life and bilingual opportunities for daughter. Pursued career growth, adapting to cultural shifts. He noted flexibility in work schedule and emphasis on delivery over seniority in the US workplace. Julio adapted QA practices from holistic to specialized approach. Embraced QA’s established importance in the US compared to Brazil. Learned to identify business opportunities through software quality. Brazilian lessons of dedication and positivity proved valuable. Noticed differences in lunch culture and work-life balance, with more relaxed hours in the US.
What were your reasons for choosing to immigrate to the USA? How did you prepare for finding a job and planning your move?
I would say that the main reasons were the possibility of having a better quality of life and also the possibility of giving my daughter the possibility of growing up fluent in a second language. The climate in the region where we live is similar to Brazil, which is our country of origin, and that made all the difference in the choice.
I saw in the company I currently work at, the opportunity to one day live and work in the United States of America 🇺🇸, so the path I planned and followed involved establishing myself as a consultant who delivers with quality, is reliable and who manages to work in multicultural teams. I needed to build this reputation so that I could one day achieve my goal, that’s how I got the international company transference 🙌
What are some of the cultural differences you’ve encountered in the new workplace ?
The biggest difference I notice is related to the flexibility of the schedule when I have really satisfactory deliveries. In my home country, it is part of the culture for a senior manager to work late to demonstrate commitment. In my current context, regardless of your seniority, the commitment is with your delivery. I can’t say that this is a common factor in all organizations in the US, but it is definitely something that I found in the company where I work and that contributes a lot to my quality of life.
Are there any specific challenges you faced when adapting to the QA practices and standards in the USA ? How did you overcome them?
Yes, there is. In Brazil 🇧🇷 I always had a more holistic position as a QA Engineer, but in the US what I found was a more segmented culture. A good example is the fact that in many of the clients I worked with, non-functional tests are performed by specialized companies instead of having the QA Engineer as the influencer and facilitator of such practices. Therefore, my first test strategy, which involved such practices, sounded strange when I said that I, QA Engineer, would be responsible for organizing the way in which these tests would be carried out.
My way of overcoming differences has been to adapt, learn the common format of the country or organizations, become an expert on the subject, earn the respect of clients and then propose changes that can really optimize the way we work in tests and quality of software. This positioning helps not to sound like just someone disgruntled or parochial, but rather, a real connoisseur of the pros and cons of whatever approach is used.
Have you noticed any variations in the perception or importance placed on quality assurance compared to Brazil? If so, in what ways?
Yes, I noticed that here in the US the role of the test and software quality analyst has been considered important for years. I mean, there’s no need to convince leaders that software testing is important, they already know. Compared to Brazil, this is definitely a great advance, after all, there are still many companies that do not formally have software testing and quality professionals due to the simple fact that the leaders “do not understand the benefit” 😬.
Are there any new unique methodologies or tools that you’ve come across that have improved your QA processes?
Not exactly. What I learned here so far was more related to how to identify business opportunities through software quality, that is, thinking about the issue of the positive impact on costs, effort and time through changes or implementation of certain approaches to testing and software quality. This has taught me to look at my work as something even more valuable than I thought 💪, that is, using testing and software quality as something to reduce the organization’s expenses or even increase its profit.
Are there any specific lessons or skills you learned in Brazil that you find particularly valuable in the USA ?
In Brazil I learned to find a way to solve what was assigned to me, no matter how difficult or complex it is. This made me have a more dedicated profile to deliver with great dedication. Another point was the desire to bring a positive and lively vibe to the work environment. I feel that both helped me a lot from the first moment here. The people I worked with gave me great feedback, when they liked working with me for being a high-spirited vibe and quality deliveries.
Have you noticed any differences in the work-life balance or professional expectations ?
In Brazil we have a predefined lunch schedule by law and culturally we even have a time range in which we commonly have lunch. Companies kind of force us to do this, fearing lawsuits related to this at the end of the employment contract. Upon arriving in the USA, I realized that lunch time is not something like in Brazil, I mean, many of my colleagues go down, buy snacks and eat at their tables, something that is not common in Brazil, where we usually go out to have lunch with co-workers at restaurants in the area. It’s like a daily celebration 🙌. Even in remote work, there is a time to disconnect from work and have lunch, rest or even solve personal problems. However, this is not common around here and meetings are scheduled right at the time that in Brazil it was kind of a sin to schedule meetings. It shocked me a little at first, but nowadays I’ve managed to adapt and deal with it more naturally.
Talking about the amount of time at work, I would say that here it has been much better than in Brazil, as I said earlier, there is not that pressure that the more senior you are, the later you have to finish your day at work. This is a fantastic thing.
Thanks Julio !! Amazing person to follow in QA ! Not many people know, but I once was also a student of Julio, back in the days I was learning calabash and ruby for mobile automation 😂
And with sadness, but also thrilled to have the collaboration of so many BIG names in QA not only in Brazil, but now internationally as well this was the last post of this series ! Thanks to everyone who participated and helped with this project ! Amazing to share and learn from your journeys outside our home country 🇧🇷 ❤️
Ana Paula Vale has been working with Technology for almost 9 years. Right now she is a Frontend Engineer and this became her career development goal after she shifted from QA Engineer.
Working with development has always been part of her life even as a person in the Software Testing area, as she was already applying test automation in every company she has been through, as she has always been passionate about it and saw the value in having automated applications.
Ana Paula immigrated to Portugal for new personal and professional experiences. She researched companies, job requirements, and living costs in various countries. Language was a challenge in adapting to QA practices, but she improved communication by clarifying perspectives and proposing ideas. She introduced BDD and automation concepts to Portugal. Quality importance seems consistent between Brazil and Portugal. Ana learned about visual testing and brought an automation mindset from Brazil. Work-life balance improved in Portugal with flexible hours and better quality of life. She transitioned from QA to a Frontend Developer role and noticed better recognition for developers.
What were your reasons for choosing to immigrate to Portugal ? How did you prepare for finding a job and planning your move?
I didn’t have a great reason. At first, I wanted to leave Brazil to have new personal and professional experiences. I started by trying Australia, New Zealand, Canada. I also tried the company you, Rafa, were working for, remember? Haha 😂 But it turned out that I had a friend living in Portugal who referred me to the company where he was working for. I researched which companies were in those countries, what they asked for vacancies, the cost of living in the cities, and what the culture was like. I also improved my resume, sent cover letters to the companies that required it, and made connections via Linkedin to get more ideas and tips.
Are there any specific challenges you faced when adapting to the QA practices and standards in Portugal ? How did you overcome them?
Yes, first the language. Even though we speak Portuguese, it wasn’t easy for us to communicate in meetings and several misunderstandings happened. In these moments, I tried to clarify my perspective, listen more, and ask questions. Also, give quick feedback. I was used to working with BDD, with an agile testing mindset, and always participating in the product solution process, for example. But when I arrived, I realized that most of the tests were manual, and I needed to be patient to understand their side, involve myself more in the processes, propose my ideas and show them that we could try to start automating things and why it could be better for us. I really believed in the power of working with Behavior Driven Development and also did some workshops for them, for example.
Have you noticed any variations in the perception or importance placed on quality assurance compared to Brazil? If so, in what ways?
No, as far as I remember, the importance given to quality was the same.
Are there any new unique methodologies or tools that you’ve come across that have improved your QA processes?
Yes, I learned more about visual tests and how to automate them. In Brazil, I thought I only needed a tool like Applitools to do this, for example. And then I learned that visual testing was more about image comparison and that we could also introduce visual tests into our pipeline in a cheaper way, I would say.
Are there any specific lessons or skills you learned in Brazil that you find particularly valuable in Portugal ?
Yes, I feel that in Brazil we focus a lot more on test automation and on the idea that testing is not a phase, but an activity. I learned in Brazil that we are all responsible for the quality of software and I brought that back here, when I started teaching the developers from my team to automate, to think about test scenarios and how we could start to avoid bugs, for example.
Have you noticed any differences in the work-life balance or professional expectations ?
So, it depends. But I would say yes because I feel that I am very passionate about what I do and that this can cause an increase in the load I give to work haha because I really like to work. But now, after having migrated (yes, I now work as a Frontend Developer), I feel my life is simpler. Unfortunately, I noticed that I’m more listened to now as a developer than before as a QA. It was much harder to explain why testing is important, for example. Talking about work-life, I would say it’s better, of course. All the companies I worked for offered flexible working hours, alternating vacation days, that is, you didn’t have to take a whole month of vacation, for example. In addition, the cost of living is low and the quality of life is better. So going out at night is safer and cheaper. 😂
Thanks for sharing your experience Aninha 🙏 😊 I know closely how you built your path to become what you wanted !
Rafaela Azevedo 