Last month I attended TribeQonf 2023 – a power-packed weekend with an exhilarating experience
It had been my first time attending an offline conference, and I must say, it was an experience I’ll remember for a long time. Throughout the event, I collected a lot of wisdom nuggets from industry experts and thought leaders.
This post is going to be a long one, detailing about my 3-day experience, learnings & takeaways at the conference. So, grab your cup of coffee and join me as I take you through my journey of TribeQonf 2023.
Day 0
This was the pre-workshop day, a day before the start of the conference on the topic “Automating Test Design & Designing Test Automation” by Robert Sabourin (Rob Sab). Though it sounded more like an automation workshop, it felt more like a thinking workshop. I can still hear Rob’s voice in my head while writing this blog – “Begin with the end in mind!” That’s how he began the session. Throughout the course of the day, Rob made us to
- Think critically and interpret information
- Taught us tools that could assist us in this process
- Made us do exercises to understand our understanding
- Questioned & reasoned our opinions & biases
- Made us learn about variables in Testing and how to identify them, control & observe them
- Made us understand the sampling of data, control flows, permutations and combinations, path analysis, directed graphs, and testing strategies.
- Made learning fun, through engaging exercises and collaborating with other folks 🙂
Met some known faces like Dimpy Adhikari, Mahathee, Ajay, Rahul, Sandeep, and the day ended with some interesting discussions with Ajay. The most I spoke to him in these two years was today 🙂
Day 1:
Day 1 was the first day of the 2- day conference. It was quite different from Day 0. As I walked into the venue, it felt like nothing less than a concert. Yes, I would say it was a concert for Testers 🙂
The level of organization, attention to detail, and hospitality by The Test Tribe team was impeccable.
Well, the event started with a welcome session and an introduction by Mahesh about the inception and vision that he saw for TTT. Thank you, Mahesh, if not for you, we all wouldn’t be here and you’ve made the testers of your country proud by building this awesome global community.
Day 1 had a stellar line-up of speakers with some great topics.
The very first speaker was Rob with the topic titled “The Long Game” a summary of which is detailed below. Rob as usual owned the room with his contagious energy.
After his power-packed talk, second, in line was Anuj Magazine with the topic “Staying Relevant in the ChatGPT Era: Navigating the Imminent Disruption”. Every slide in his presentation was exceptionally creative and spectacular. I was captivated by the content, so much so that I couldn’t resist taking pictures for my notes. Here are a few of them.
The next talk was on the topic “Unconventional Approaches for Testing in fast paced business critical environments” by Pooja Subramanian & Kumar Iyer followed by a break. This was the perfect moment for networking and engaging with people. During this short break, I had the pleasure of meeting Anindita, Geosley, Nishant Gohel, and Mahesh M in person for the very first time.
Followed by the break was a very insightful talk by Ashok Tiruvengadam on the topic titled “Testing Intelligently – What does it take?” It turned out to be the highlight of the day for me, as I gained valuable knowledge about hypothesis-based testing and its implementation. I had plenty of takeaways and thoughts to contemplate and apply from this session.
Next up was Prashant Hedge with his topic titled “Bug Bashing: My Secret Weapon for Quality Software”. Oh what amazing storytelling Prashant has got.
I conduct bug bashes in my organization and could relate so much to his points throughout. Picked up some ideas to implement in my next Bug Bash. Grateful for this opportunity to meet an amazing storyteller, entertainer, speaker, and an equally amazing human being.
Next was Santosh Tuppad with his topic titled “Let’s (ethically) hack”. He possesses a remarkable ability to command the audience, truly a gifted performer. He made us hooked without any fancy slides and his live demonstrations were a highlight of the session. His deep understanding of the power of questioning and critical thinking for testers made the experience truly enjoyable and enlightening.
This was just the first half of the day and it was fantastic so far.
After a sumptuous lunch at Radisson, and some networking and bonding with my Happy Book Reading folks – Chandra, Shoaib, Shubhodaye, Acsah & Tara Shankar we were ready for the next set of talks.
It started with “Test Automation we all dream to achieve, test automation we’re finally able to do” by Vikas Mittal followed by “Is Playwright the right automation tool for you?” By Sundaresan Krishnaswami.
Next up was a dear friend & the star tester on social media, Rahul Parwal presenting his topic titled “Level Up: Software Testing Career Development Strategies That Work”. Undoubtedly, this session resonated with many testers as it addressed the strategies most of them needed and could relate to.
Another networking break was followed by a talk by Madhumita on the topic titled “The Art of Testing User Experience” and closing the day with Nagabhushan’s talk on the topic titled “Beyond Boundaries: Unveiling the Journey from QE to SDET to Product Reliability“
Don’t be mistaken that this was the end of the day. Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost 🙂
The real deal was the 1-1 mentoring session that participants could book with the mentors of their choice. I and my friends had the opportunity to speak to Rob and we had so many amazing conversations with him. So many insights, ideas, and wisdom nuggets to learn from him.
Oh, what an incredible day it has been! Contented, Satisfied & Gratitude are the two words I wrote in my Journal that night.
Day 2:
Rise and shine, up for day 2 with a whole lot of excitement and enthusiasm. By now I had made friends and it felt like a back-to-college gang with our favorite professor being Ajay 😀
Day 2 kicked off with Anand Subbaraman from BrowserStack delivering an insightful talk on “Testing – the past, the present, and the future” setting the tone for the day. Following that, Shilpa Balgopalan took the stage to share her expertise on the topic “Art behind being a Tester.” Having worked in the e-commerce domain for the past 2 years, I found her examples highly relatable and engaging. Shilpa proved to be an amazing speaker, presenting her content with wonderful quotes and slides that captivated the audience.
Next up was Anagha Joshi with the topic titled “Golden data set and its importance in Testing” followed by a networking break.
I met Balaji Ponnada – the most humble and warm person from the same city I am from but this was the first time meeting him in person.
I had the privilege of conversing with the incredibly wise Shrini Kulkarni – his aura exudes empowerment and enrichment. He is a genuine leader who inspires and uplifts those around him, making you feel truly empowered
Post the break was the most awaited talk by Pradeep on the topic titled “What happened to all the testers who started with me 20 years ago?” As a fantastic speaker, he delved into the concept of holistic growth, striking a chord with the audience.
Next up was Kiran Rayachoti with his talk titled “State of Digital Quality” followed by Soumya Mukherjee’s talk – “Internals of No/Low Code Automation Tools”
Post Lunch, the opening session was by Peter Thomas with the title “The Automation Capability Map” followed by a wonderful panel discussion on “Being AI ready Tester in 2024” with Robert Sabourin, Nagabhushan Ramappa, Raju Kandasamy & Pradeep hosted by Balaji Ponnada.
After this mic drop panel discussion, networking break toh banta hai 🙂 (time for another networking break)
I met the man of perspectives – Sandeep Garg! The most cheerful person I have ever met. Laughed our hearts out throughout the discussion with him.
Post the break we had Raju Kandasamy enlightening us with an engaging topic titled “Adapting to the Next Generation of AI”. Certainly, this talk shed a lot of light on datasets for Generative AI, Evaluation frameworks & special considerations for testing Gen AI.
And then came the most awaited speaker on stage, Ajay Balamurugadas with his talk titled “Get Greedy with Test Coverage”. He never fails to amaze you. His talks are always a delightful surprise, and if you go back to any of his previous presentations, you’ll find them filled with numerous nuggets of wisdom. Once again, he delivered an outstanding performance, leaving the audience inspired and in awe (the audience clapping enthusiastically throughout).
And that’s how the talks ended on Day 2, followed by a closing ceremony by the organizing team of TTT & last but not least, a session with Rob – “Test with RobSab”
That’s a wrap, bidding goodbye to all the friends and folks from the community.
I have been attending online conferences for the past 2 years and I can truly say that offline conferences are so much better. Networking face-to-face with people is such a warm feeling.
I made a lot of memories, walked away with so many takeaways from the insightful talks, made friends whom I just knew by their Names and LinkedIn handles, and felt so alive, inspired, and empowered.
If this is how offline conferences are held, I want to attend every single one of them. Trust me when I say, it was all worth it!
Thanks to the amazing team of The Test Tribe for this wonderful experience and hope to meet again very soon 🙂
PS: This post was written after the conference, while I was traveling for a vacation, but it just sat there in my drafts for me to be back from my vacation and pick the pictures to post 🙂
Thanks for reading! See you all at the next offline conference 🙂