Last week, the 11th edition of The Test Automation Days took place in Jaarbeurs, Utrecht.
CKC Seminars, initiator and organizer of this unique conference, look back on a very successful edition with a group of almost 100 participants on the first day and over the 200 participants on the second day. We would like to thank all speakers, Founding Partner Squerist, content partners, exhibition partners, participants and communication partners who made this event possible.

This year’s theme is ‘Test Automation on the edge’. What does this mean?
We are talking a lot about Test Automation but it’s not only about Test Automation itself, but also the person behind Test Automation, so about you!
When did you for the last time explore the edges in testing automation? Have you used the data science and AI to improve your testing? Have you applied tools to increase the observability of your system? Have you used test automation technology in a different context or for a different purpose?

Answers on those questions are founded during one or both days. Everyone can continuously challenge themselves, but where is your limit?

The participants of the first day are challenged through learning by doing from world’s leading test automation experts. A workshop about how can you concretely implement smart test data solutions? An introduction in the concept of consumer-driven contract testing, teaching regarding  the principles behind mutation testing, core concepts and models who explain and advocate Testability or everything about BDD. All topics were included in a three hour hands-on masterclass.

There was also time scheduled for some leisure. Guided by CKC Seminars, everyone who wasn’t familiar with Utrecht, could join the city tour and have an informal drinks in the old city center of Utrecht.

The second day was all about exchanging ideas and tips through keynote lectures, talks and presentations, all presented by test automation professionals from their own work experience.

Chairman of the day, Ard Kramer, kicked off, followed by John Hare-Winton. Test Automation evolves quickly, and what starts on the edge soon becomes the new normal. But how do we identify those ‘edgy’ possibilities, and more important how do we adopt them?
To really shine as an automation engineer, you’ll need solid experience and skills both in software testing and in software development. And that isn’t easy. Do we realty need a test automation engineer in the first place? Bas Dijkstra shared his vision about it during the second keynote of the day.

Automation Teams often find themselves trapped in a hopeless death spiral. How teams typically react to the apparent quality problems and, most important, how to escape the death spiral of complexity, has been discussed by Robert Meaney. During the closing keynote, the stage was for Martijn van Otterlo, were he discussed powerful future directions in combining testing automation and reinforcement learning.

During the parallel sessions best practices and insights are shared and topics like ‘flutter apps’, ‘InfluxDB and Grafana’ ‘SAP innovations’, ‘Flaky Tests’ and ‘Framework Migration’ came up during the day.

We love to learn from your experiences! Please fill out our survey to help improve the conference even more.

Impression

Do you want to relive the atmosphere of the day? Or did you miss this edition of the conference and would you still like to get an impression? You will find an extensive impression here:

Do you have suggestions or ideas for next year (theme, speakers, etc.) or do you also want to be present as a partner? Please send an email to Joyca van Essen, joyca@ckc-semianr.nl or contact us on 040-2146200.