Tag: ministry of testing

Human-AI Collaboration: Ministry of Testing London Meetup Recap

Last week I attended a face-to-face Ministry of Testing Meetup focused on guess what ? AI vs Testers: Friend or Foe? 🤖🧪 !

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.

Meetup On The Beach – Ministry of Test #Athens 2024

Hello hello 👋

First, I want to say a big thank you to Petros and all the Ministry of Testing Athens who received me and hosted this Meetup On The Beach – Athens on 30 May/2024 !

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).
  • This is a great Interactive Blockchain Demo for a hands-on understanding of blockchain functionality.
  • Here are some tools you can use for Web3 testing: Foundry, BitcoinJ, Hardhat, Embark, Web3.js, Remix-IDE, Synpress, Caliper, OpenZeppelin, Postman.

Check out the slides here !

Afterwards…

I DO LOVE the analysis part ❤️

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 transactions without 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 !