First up in our ‘Meet the Speaker’ Series for UKSTAR 2018 is Magnus Pettersson.

Magnus started working in testing by coincidence like so many others. Having previous experience as a teacher and an IT-technician he just happened to apply for the right work at the right time and by that found his calling. Magnus has worked in testing for almost ten years now and even though he has looked back or pondered the famous grass on the other side some times, he still considers himself to have the best job ever. Currently testing various smart traffic solutions which he finds both fun and challenging, since the solutions often demand that he has to think outside the box.

Magnus will present his session ‘Testing Skills I learned playing Dungeons and Dragons’ at UKSTAR 2018 in London

 

1. What is your favourite testing book/blog? Why is this your favourite?

My absolute favourite testing book is not a book about testing at all, but a book about inspiration. “Lilla inspirationsboken om stora saker” or roughly translated “The little inspirational book about big things” is a book written by a guy named Göran Adlén, and he has collected various quotes in this book. When I lack inspiration in my work it’s great to just pick a random page, read the quote and then read the authors comment on this particular quote.

That is often enough to get my brain going again. When it comes to actual testing book I like “Lessons learned in software testing” by Bach, Kaner and Petticord and I like it pretty much for the same reasons that I like the little inspirational book.

 

2. How do you keep up to date with the software testing industry?

I try to read blogs and forum posts. There is a Slack channel for testers in Sweden and I try to keep updated on the discussions there too. I also try to attend meetups whenever I can. We have a big testing community in Gothenburg, and I try to attend as many meetups as possible.

 

3. What is the biggest misconception about testing that you’ve heard?

That testing is so easy that anyone can do it. What we do takes a lot of skill and some people have a hard time understanding that.