September 2022 Summaries

Percy has launched its new Visual Engine, an upgrade to their existing diffing algorithm. The engine uses computer vision and machine learning for visual diffs on the Percy platform, resulting in faster and more accurate image comparisons. Key features include Page Shift Detection, Diff Highlighter, handling anti-aliasing noise, and Intelligent Text Stabilization. These improvements significantly reduce noise and highlight only the most important changes. The new engine is also over 1.5X faster than before.

Dogfooding, or "eating your own dog food," is a practice where companies use their own products and services before launching them to the market. This helps improve business by enhancing user experience, identifying and correcting mistakes early, developing trust and ownership in the product, validating user experience, and controlling the process. By putting themselves in the real users' shoes, organizations can ensure they are building high-quality products and services.

In an interview, Snehi Jain, an Engineering Manager at BrowserStack, shares her experience as a software engineer and discusses her role in the company. She is passionate about automated software quality enhancement and enjoys working on projects that make engineers' lives easier. Currently, she is reading "The Hidden Life of Trees" and "Until Tuesday." Her advice to those interested in entering the QA space is to join for the opportunity to understand a product's bigger picture along with technical insights. A fun fact about Snehi is that she cannot see straight lines, as they appear curved or merging to her.

BrowserStack is celebrating icons in the testing space by honoring thought leaders like Antoine Craske, a software engineer with over 10 years of experience. As Director of Technology Transformation at La Redoute, Craske's role involves ensuring overall consistency of the technology landscape and aligning teams on key transformation milestones. He is passionate about Quality Engineering, which aims to deliver quality at speed by leveraging structuring changes in architecture and using data from software lifecycles. Craske is currently working on passion projects such as the QE Unit, Cerberus Testing, and Test Automation Camp. His recent book focuses on defining Quality Engineering and its implementation framework. Apart from his work in software testing, Craske enjoys reading about various topics and has a twin brother with whom he once switched classes in college.

John Pourdanis, a Lead Software Quality Assurance Engineer at VMware, shares his insights on working with cutting-edge technologies like Kubernetes, Istio, and Cypress in the context of microservices architecture. He is currently passionate about setting up a QA Academy to help others enter or improve their skills in the testing world. Pourdanis' favorite quotes emphasize the importance of quality as a habit and doing things right even when no one is looking. His advice for those entering the QA space is to do it with passion, and he wishes he had known more about soft skills and Shift Left Testing earlier in his career.

Lina Zubyte, Head of Quality at Doodle AG, is an influential figure in the testing space. She focuses on improving quality culture by embracing collaboration, quality accountability, and defect prevention. Recently, she has been learning about evolutionary architecture and its relevance to product quality. Lina also launched a podcast called 'Quality Bits,' where she interviews inspiring guests about building high-quality products and teams. She believes that QA leaders should let go of control and focus on enabling continuous quality habits and knowledge sharing within their teams.

BrowserStack has announced the general availability of iPhone 14 on its Real Device Cloud on Day 0, coinciding with the device's global retail launch. This enables users worldwide to test their web and mobile apps on the new iPhone 14 for seamless performance and improved user experience. By making the iPhone 14 available on the same day as the retail launch, BrowserStack helps engineering and testing teams overcome procurement and logistical challenges. The company is committed to providing users with immediate access to the latest devices, enabling software teams to deliver quality at speed and scale.

Dolphin is a seasoned leader in software testing with over ten years of hands-on experience. He specializes in setting up and scaling quality and testing processes. Currently, he leads a team of five test engineers at Onfido, working on mobile and web SDKs that help millions of people verify their identity across the globe. Dawid is passionate about software testing due to its impact on product quality and the opportunity to learn new things. He curates Software Testing Weekly, a newsletter read by over 4,700 professionals every week. His favorite quote is from W. Edwards Deming: "Quality comes not from inspection, but from the improvement of the production process." For those interested in entering the QA space, he recommends understanding what it means to be a software tester and having the right intentions and motivation.

BrowserStack celebrates icons in the testing space who contribute their knowledge and expertise to the community. Nicola Lindgren, a QA Manager with over ten years of experience, is an author, blogger, vlogger, and conference speaker discussing topics such as testing, agile, and leadership. As a Senior QA Engineer at ustwo, her primary responsibilities include setting up QA processes, guiding teams on how to test, and planning feature testing. Lindgren enjoys the constant learning and growth that comes with software testing and shares her knowledge through her blog and YouTube channel. She has authored two books: "Starting Your Software Testing Career" and "How Can I Test This?" Lindgren is excited about the growing attention to accessibility testing in software development. If not a tester, she would consider being a risk analyst. Currently, she's re-reading "Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High" and recommends "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman and "Emotional Bids" by Dr. John Gottman. Lindgren advises those entering the QA space, especially women, to show their work and network within the testing community.

In this spotlight, we feature Trisha, a Senior Software Engineer at DRACOON GmbH, Germany, and a Board Member of Association for Software Testing (AST). Trisha enjoys continuous learning in her role but dislikes working in environments with poor teamwork and communication. She has always aspired to make a meaningful impact through her work. As a board member of AST, she is responsible for leading community efforts and increasing engagement on the platform. To stay updated with skills and industry knowledge, Trisha participates in activities like BrowserStack Champion program. She has been using BrowserStack for testing on cloud platforms and recommends it to others due to its ease of use and convenience.

BrowserStack celebrates the relentless passion of testers by honoring some icons in the testing space. Callum Akehurst-Ryan, a seasoned Test Engineer with over 15 years of experience, focuses on full stack exploratory testing, team collaboration, and non-functional testing. As a Senior QA Tester at Improbable, he works to uncover information about the quality of what they're building and socialize new ideas within teams and the wider organization through training and workshops. Currently, Callum is learning about security testing and threat modeling while also exploring how testers communicate in teams and push messages up. He believes that organizations can embrace and support diversity by smashing the monoculture, creating and supporting diversity at work, opening job adverts to make everyone want to apply, and running diversity training to promote empathy in their teams. His top advice for those entering the QA space is to be prepared to learn, get involved with local meet-ups, attend conferences, read blogs or follow testing people on Twitter, and not be scared that they're not technical enough because there are loads of people out there teaching things in different ways.

BrowserStack celebrates the relentless passion of testers by honoring some icons in the testing space. Maaret Pyhäjärvi is an award-winning testing professional and Principle Test Engineer at Vaisala, who loves sharing her knowledge with the community through trainings, courses, and workshops. She discusses her role as a Principle Test Engineer, innovations/trends in software development she's most excited about, passion projects she's currently working on, what she's reading/learning right now, favorite software testing quotes, advice for women entering the QA space, and fun facts about herself.

BrowserStack celebrates the passion of testers by honoring industry leaders like Maaret Pyhäjärvi, Principle Test Engineer at Vaisala. She shares her knowledge and experience through trainings, courses, workshops, and speaking engagements. As a test engineer, she focuses on continuous improvement across teams, working with multiple teams on selected products, and testing within one team. Exciting trends in software development include engineering productivity, ensemble programming, AI in testing, and AI as the target of testing. Maaret is currently working on passion projects such as writing books on ensemble programming and exploratory testing, teaching at Exploratory Testing Academy, contributing to the Selenium community, and helping the Finnish IT sector. She's reading Collaborating with the Enemy by Adam Kahane and No More Feedback: Cultivate Consciousness at Work by Carol Sanford. Her favorite software testing quotes include those from Cem Kaner, Alistair Cockburn, and herself. For women interested in entering the QA space, she advises to just get started and seek guidance from mentors. A fun fact about her is that she became a tester after studying Greek language when Greek Microsoft Office needed testing in Finland. If she could go back in time, she wishes she knew that software development is a social activity and that continuous learning and exploration are key to success in the field.

On World Tester's Day, we celebrate the crucial role that testers and quality engineers play in ensuring high-quality software products. The term "bug" originated from an incident where a moth was found stuck in computer hardware, causing system issues. Today, testing has evolved from being a standalone function to becoming an integral part of Dev teams. As digital transformation accelerates, the importance of QAs and testers as enablers and partners in software development is increasingly recognized. In honor of their relentless passion, BrowserStack will feature some icons in the testing space through #IconsOfQuality on Twitter and LinkedIn. Happy Tester's Day!