From June 13 to 16, 2023, the annual Eurostar event took place. Eurostar is a conference dedicated to software testing and quality held annually. It is a community where software testers from around the world come together to share knowledge and skills. The conference offers a lively and energetic environment centered on the importance of testing. Eurostar is also Europe’s largest conference on testing and quality, thanks in part to the diverse range of topics covered. Everything here is about making new connections and improving your own knowledge in testing.

For this conference, we sent our colleague Cynthia Maes out to share her experiences. The following are her findings:

Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the Test Conference Eurostar, an event that brings together thousands of testers from around the world each year. It was a day full of engaging talks, inspiring keynotes and interesting meetings with other professionals in the field. I would like to share my experience with you and highlight some highlights of the conference.

The day began with a powerful and memorable keynote by Isabel Evans entitled “It only takes one genius.” Her talk was a real eye opener and inspired me to appreciate the importance of teamwork and put aside jeego for the good of the team. As a novice software tester, she gave valuable advice: read as much as you can about the history of software testing and make it your own thing. Some methods may seem outdated, but are still valuable in the right context.

I then followed Nicole van der Hoeven’s talk called “The Lost Art of Taking Good Notes.” She discussed the benefits of taking good, evolving notes that are not static. She introduced an interesting application called Obsidian, a personal knowledge base and software application for taking notes using Markdown files. Obsidian allows users to create internal links between notes and then visualize them as a graph. This talk gave me more insights for new opportunities to improve my note-taking and knowledge organization.

Next, Viviane Hennecke’s talk called “How I am Unfolding my Potential as a Neurodivergent in Testing” was also definitely interesting to follow. Her presentation highlighted the challenges, but more importantly, the benefits of neurodiversity in software testing. This talk reminded me that diversity of thought and perspective is essential to creating better software.

Geosley Andrades gave a great talk titled “Spice up your Testing, and Gamify it Out!” He emphasized the importance and benefits of gamification in software testing and shared no less than 12 concrete examples and websites that can be used for this purpose. This talk opened my eyes to the possibilities of using game mechanics to make the testing process more fun and effective. I am sure I will use gamification a lot more in my career as a software tester.

Closing the conference was a smashing keynote by Kristel Kruustük titled “Testing with Purpose: How Stories, Values and Kindness Make Testing Better.” Her inspiring and motivational talk emphasized the importance of purposeful testing and the role of stories, values and kindness in improving testing practices. She invited the audience to take a moment to reflect on their own goals and why they are in this field. Her gripping story inspired me to continue to strive for meaningful work and appreciate the importance of humanity in my daily tasks.

In addition to the engaging talks and keynotes, the conference also had a number of other activities to offer. For example, I attended a very fun and interactive workshop with Emna Ayadi. While I cannot reveal too much about this, as I would like to share the content with my colleagues, I can say that it was a valuable experience that further enriched my skills as a tester. Stay tuned as I plan to put what I’ve learned into practice!

One of the highlights of the conference was the passport contest. To participate, you had to collect at least 25 stamps. I am proud to say that I filled the entire ticket with a whopping 45 stamps. This gave me a chance to meet all the exhibitors and talk to them about what they had to offer. In addition, I went home with some great goodies as mementos of the day.

All in all, my experience at the Test Conference Eurostar was extremely positive and enriching. The talks and keynotes increased my knowledge, inspired me and gave me new insights to further develop my skills as a software tester. Moreover, I am grateful for the valuable meetings and connections I was able to make during the conference.

I am already looking forward to the next edition of Eurostar and the opportunity to learn, grow and network even more within the exciting world of software testing.

Cynthia Maes
Software Test Engineer @M2Q

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