Community
Table of Contents
When I started my first QA job in 2020, I knew nothing. It’s only thanks to my teammates and managers that I learned to be the QA I am today.
In 2021, I had the chance to mentor other QA within the company as part of an internal training initiative. This was the “spark” for me.
As someone whose journey had been significantly helped by mentorship, I wanted to give back in an even bigger way, but I didn’t know what that looked like. I just wanted to teach and mentor, not manage.
In January 2023, thanks to a Dan Koe video, I found out there’s a whole community of content creators using education as an online business model, helping people who are “one or two steps behind them.” It was exactly what I was looking for, but I wasn’t sure where to start. I sat on the idea for months.
In August 2023, I took the leap. I started experimenting with ways to productize and share my QA knowledge. I’ve been involved in the community ever since.
Open Source Contributions
WebdriverIO
Add TypeScript support for BrowserStack debug features
Eidolon AI
Several small improvements to the Playwright tests & CI workflow
Twitter Spaces
Non-Coding Tech Careers
Most people think about breaking into tech and immediately think they need to learn how to code. I got together with a few friends on Tech Twitter so we could lead a discussion about non-coding career options.
Newsletters
Modern QA (formerly known as Test Quest)
On September 17, 2023, I started a newsletter. I wanted to learn how to write engaging emails that convert and grow an audience.
The newsletter started off as a mix of personal and career anecdotes to connect with readers. I was finding my voice. I started noticing an interest in QA job hunting advice, so I pivoted to that in June 2024, but I got bored with it after 2 months.
I revived the newsletter in September 2024 with a new focus: future-proofing your QA career.
1:1 Mentoring
ADPList
I wanted to offer my QA expertise for free to the QA community. I didn’t realize I’d end up meeting people from all around the world.
Reviews
Impact
Exposure
HeyTaco Blog
HeyTaco CRO Una Japundza interviewed me about a course I launched on Udemy.
Software Testing Weekly
My blog posts have been mentioned in a popular QA newsletter.
-
Issue 185 for my Zero to Manual QA Roadmap blog post
-
Issue 223 for my You Should Be Using Data-TestId blog post
-
Issue 234 for my Fixing a flaky Playwright test with a loop blog post
Rock n’ Road to Success (podcast)
Gabe interviewed me about my 5-year journey from Walgreens cashier to QA Automation Engineer.
