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The digital world has allowed many QA leaders to start software testing blogs and share their knowledge with others in the profession. We’ve assembled a list of the best QA influencers and software testing blogs so readers can find their next favourite thought leader.
These influencers and blogs regularly share valuable information, how-to’s and stories for QA members at every stage in their career.
Here’s a list of the brightest minds and influential thinkers who are shaping the QA industry today.
Frequently updated and always helpful, this blog has grown quickly and now over a thousand QA professionals visit everyday seeking advice and tutorials. The blog is run by Vijay Shinde, who describes himself as “a simple guy who always aspires to learn new things and works harder to make this place a better one for all especially our readers.”
The official blog of the Sticky Minds community has posts written by industry experts covering topics like agile testing, cloud computing, and everything in between. They also have a Q&A section where readers can have their questions answered by other community members and expert testers.
The blog of the popular automated testing software, ReQtest, is updated once a week and covers a wide range of topics from beta testing to the importance of QA analysts. Each post is written by the reQtest team and are short, easy to understand, and informative articles.
Joep Schuurkes started this blog to document his experience learning software testing. Now, with over ten years experience working in the field, Schuurkes regularly updates his blog with articles about CI/CD pipelines, regression testing, and the basics on how to write code as a tester.
Owned by Keith Klain, who has spent more than 20 years working in quality assurance for financial services and consulting firms. Klain “loves solving organizational problems through better software testing” and describes himself as “passionate about coaching and empowering testers.” He uses his blog to share his thoughts and ideas on how to improve software testing.
Before starting his blog, Michael Larsen retired from being a rock and roll singer to go work as a software tester at Cisco Systems. Since then he’s contributed a chapter to the book, “How to Reduce Costs of Software Testing”, and was a producer of a software testing podcast for SoftwareTestPro, among many other achievements and projects. Now he updates his blog with posts about continuous testing, the benefit of artificial intelligence in the testing world, and how to use agile.
Trish Khoo is a global expert in software testing and automation, and also runs a freelance business as a designer. When she’s not busy with speaking engagements around the world, she’s updating her blog and writing about the similarities between painting and testing, and debugging cheat sheets.
You can’t really say to someone ‘just do this and this and now you’re an expert tester’. It’s more like ‘start by doing this, and do it again and again for years and you’ll get good at it.’ And I think that’s why there’s a myth that testing is just some magical ‘mindset’ that some folks are gifted with and others can’t learn. It’s the same when people say art is a talent that folks are just gifted with – it ignores the years of hard work that went into refining that skill, and it prevents people from trying to learn it.
TRISH KHOO
Bas Dijkstra believes that test automation is a craft. That’s why he started a blog – so he and everyone else to learn and become better craftsmen. He’s worked in test automation for ten years and has a lot to share. QA leads eager to advance in their career would be wise to read his posts.
Joe Colantonia makes test automation fun and he makes learning fun, too. His blog features articles on performance testing, javascript automation testing, and how to use Boozang UI. He also has links to QA conferences and podcasts he has done in the past and uploaded to his site.
A blog focused on how to think like a tester. Updated multiple times a week with short, informative articles on topics like why you should stop writing so many UI tests and the best tools for upload testing.
That’s right, Google runs a blog. Not only do they run a blog, but they run one about software testing. It’s updated frequently and has guides and advice for software testing on multiple platforms.
A blog run by the browser testing software, Lambda test. They employ a roster of writers and professionals to constantly put out informative guides and advice columns.
TJ Maher has been a QA engineer since 1996. He’s worked in ecommerce and then joined Good Start Genetics, a molecular genetic information company. He wrote an excerpt for the book, Continuous Testing for DevOps Professionals, and developed a free Introduction to Capybara course for Test Automation University. On the blog are webinars and guides on how to use software like Selenium 4.
James Bach has received the testing luminary award, has served as an expert witness against Microsoft antitrust remedies trial, and was a charter member of the international society for software testing. On his blog he writes about his journey as a software tester, and the future of testing.
Started by Anne-Marie Charrett, an international expert in software testing. She grew the blog writing about quality engineering and software testing and now other experts in the field contribute to the blog on a weekly basis.
Maaret Pyhäjärvi has been working in software testing for over 10 years, spending the last three of them as a lead quality engineer. Her blog posts are less focused on software testing guides and how-to’s and instead look at the mental side of working as a software tester. She writes about the need for critical thinking, the importance of non-verbal communication and how to collaborate with others.
“As I grow in career age, I realize that the nature of software creation is not a series of tasks of execution but a sequence of learning. Learning isn’t passed in handoffs, with a specialist doing their bit telling others to take it from there. Learning is something each and every one of us chipped away a layer at a time, and it takes time for things to sink in to an actionable level.”
MAARET PYHÄJÄRVI
Lisa Crispin has written four books on Agile testing. She has worked in the software industry since 1982 and now leads agile workshops and conferences in both North America and Europe. Her blog focuses on agile testing and how to overcome some of the common hurdles software testers face.
Richard Bradshaw has spoken at some of the biggest test conferences in the world. He’s done talks at Selenium and organizes meetups all over the UK. He has a context driven approach to testing and describes himself as “a strong believer in automation in testing.” He is very active in the testing community.
Michael Bolton isn’t a frequent blogger – but when he does post, you don’t want to miss it. He’s worked with James Bach since 2003, been in the software industry since 1988, and is a big believer in “telling the testing story.” His blog posts are long, multi-part series on topics important to every software tester. Currently, he’s on his 7th part of his ‘breaking the test case addiction’ series.
TestFort is a testing and quality assurance company that runs a blog on, you guessed it, testing and quality assurance. Industry experts, in house QA members and other leaders in the field all contribute to their blog page on a weekly basis. A good source for simple guides.
Run by Pete Walen, who has over 25 years of experience working in the software development industry, either as a quality advocate, tester, or SCrumMaster. His blog covers Agile Testing, attending conferences, and life working as a ScrumMaster.
Anton Angelov is an international speaker, a code project MVP, and he spent six years working as a quality assurance tester at Telerik in Bulgaria, followed by joining Progress in the USA. He started his blog to teach other software testers the things he learned that helped him achieve his incredible level of success.
Know someone who’s influencing the QA, but isn’t on this list? We’d love to add them to the list—drop their name into the comment section below.
Source: TheQALead
Blogs
