career development

A person with writer's block struggling to write on a red typewriter The “Dear Mother” Approach to Getting Past Writer’s Block

If you want to be a thought leader in the software community, you may want to share your expertise by getting published. But no matter how knowledgeable you are in your particular domain, writing about it is another matter entirely. If you're struck by writer's block, try writing a letter to unblock your thoughts.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten
A group of people all putting their hands in the middle A Primer for IT Project Sponsors: 10 Steps for Success

Much time has been spent examining the project manager’s role in IT project success, but the role and duties of project sponsors are often overlooked—even though sponsors are an essential element of success (and failure). Here are ten rights and obligations a project sponsor should perform to improve project success.

Payson Hall's picture
Payson Hall
Outdoor staircase leading up, photo by Håkon Sataøen The Role of the Test Manager in Agile

In traditional software processes, test managers are responsible for all management aspects of their team. Agile, however, is self-directed, so teams handle all the usual duties. Still, there is a role for test managers in agile, and it’s much more strategic than it was before. Here are the opportunities for the role.

Jeffery Payne's picture
Jeffery Payne
Person wearing VR headset, photo by Samuel Zeller The Future of Testing: VR and AR in Mobile Apps

With the ability to experience virtual and augmented reality using mobile devices on the horizon, the potential for these new technologies to go mainstream is huge. New test environments, configurations, and interfaces will require testers to change their methods, so get out of your comfort zone—and your office chairs!

BJ Aberle's picture
BJ Aberle
Wordie Update: Merriam-Webster Adds 850 New Words

The Merriam-Webster dictionary blog noted they recently added 850 new words and definitions that come from a cross-section of our linguistic culture. It’s good to know that some of the words we’re seeing in the headlines are now being included.

Pamela Rentz's picture
Pamela Rentz
Woman looking for a book in the shelves of a library, photo by Clay Banks Make Time for Learning with Deliberate Practice

As software professionals, we need to work continuously to improve our skills. But two common challenges are how to best work to improve, and how to find the time to learn when we’re busy. The answer is deliberate practice—practice with a clear goal and defined measures for success that pushes your usual boundaries.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Humanoid robot photo by Alex Knight What’s Our Job When the Machines Do Testing?

It’s a safe bet that testing jobs won't be taken over by machines anytime soon. However, those of us in the test industry would be wise to heed cross-industry applications of analytics and machine learning and begin staking out the proper role of the machine in our testing domain. What could AI mean for testing?

Geoff Meyer's picture
Geoff Meyer
code Do Testers Really Need to Learn How to Code?

Because automation, AI, and agile have changed how we test software, the thought is that testers need to understand a certain amount of coding so that they can make themselves more well-rounded and better able to adapt within a software project. But there are other things testers can focus on before learning to code.

Josiah Renaudin's picture
Josiah Renaudin