Meet the next UKSTAR Speaker – Cassandra Leung who’s next in our Meet the Speaker Series.

Cassandra will be presenting her session ‘Hiring and getting Hired – from an ex-Recruiter‘ on Monday the 27th at 3:00 p.m.

 

How did you get started in software testing?

I didn’t fall into testing like some others have, the path I took was quite unusual.  I call my journey “the scenic route“.

I’ve always had an interest technology and development. While I was working as a recruiter in the IT sector, I was exposed to a lot more different roles and possibilities than those I was told about back when I was at school.  I started attending a Women in Programming group and learned more and more about producing software, and the roles available in the SDLC.  That’s when I really came to discover testing, and was immediately attracted to it.  I sought out a career change and landed a tech support job with a recruitment software company and within a year, I moved into testing!

 

Who inspires you?

There are lots of great people in the software testing community; some I’d even call “testing celebrities“, as they’re so well known and influential.  The individuals who inspire me the most are those who reach out to encourage other testers and help create a better community.  People who have always been very supportive of me include Danny Dainton, Patrick Prill and Bill Matthews.

I also want to mention Katrina Clokie – she writes fantastic blogs that are insightful, relevant and accessible.  She comes across as someone who is very knowledgeable but also asks others for their opinions in a very open and kind way.  I really respect and admire Katrina.

 

What do you see for the future of software testing?

I could take that question in so many different directions!

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is machine learning and the advancement of AI.  Will the use of automation turn into using “test-bots“?  I think some are already trying to make this a reality, but it raises a lot of questions for me.  For example, how would a real person test a “test-bot“?  How do we really test anything that learns; do we need to be smarter, more intelligent, faster than the test subject?  How do you test a machine’s ethics or sense for morality?  For that, we need more requirements, which turns in to a whole other debate about humans and our beliefs.  This is just one of the reasons I believe testing will always need human involvement.

We’re very deep in a very fast-paced and changing industry and the only certainties in our future are more change and more questions.