1. Understanding of the challenges faced by test managers
2. What does the SDeT role entail
3. How to help progress SDeTs

Maryam Umar works in London as a QA Manager. She started her career twelve years ago as a test engineer. After transitioning to the eCommerce sector, Maryam performed QA in various capacities for online restaurant and travel services. She now works in QA as a manager with special focus on sustainable delivery practices. In addition to this, Maryam has been a keen advocate of creating and sustaining diverse teams.

SDeT. When a hiring manager finds out they have to hire/work with an SDET, there is bound to be confusion. What is this role? Do they only write tests? What’s the developer to tester ratio? Are they really developers? How can I help them progress?
In this talk, I want to discuss the challenges of a test manager especially from the aspect of the team they manage. I will first discuss what value the role brings along-with the caveats of leadership in quality assurance. Most of the issues are around progression and how to gain respect in the team.
I want to have a discussion at the end about how we can overcome these challenges as a community and how we can make SDeTs a part of the team too.