Top QA Events in 2022
The Ultimate Guide by QAwerk
Quarter 4: October, November, December
People attend tech events for a variety of reasons. Some genuinely crave new knowledge, while others are more interested in traveling, meeting new people from their industry, and simply having fun.
Our round-up of QA events has something for everyone – from action-packed in-person gatherings to virtual meetups accessed from the comfort of one’s home. There are a couple of free events too. Also, be sure to read the pricing pages thoroughly – most events offer discounts for students, group attendance, or other special offers. Let’s go!
HUSTEF, October 4-6, Budapest, Hungary, offline
HUSTEF stands for Hungarian Software Testing Forum, which was established back in 2011. Among the speakers are C-level professionals working for big names like Dell, Nokia, and Zeiss.
The conference program contains tutorials, keynote speeches, and sessions. Tutorials will teach how to master heuristics for better problem-solving, automate tests with Cypress or Selenium, the art of exploratory testing, among other things.
Keynote speakers will discuss things that can go wrong in a technology-driven world, what testers need from ML and AI, and why you don’t want to be like Spotify. Session speakers will talk about challenging orthodox thinking with red teams, mistakes and excellent practices in test design, thriving as a non-technical testing professional, testability, health checks for testing processes, etc.
The event will take place at Akvarium Klub Budapest, located downtown.
Pricing:
- From €250 + VAT for a tutorial ticket (around $247)
- From €450 + VAT for a conference ticket (around $445)
TestFlix, October 8-9, virtual
TestFlix is an international software testing conference arranged by The Test Tribe, India’s leading software testing community that has already united over 7000 software testers globally.
The event would be perfect for QA engineers, test architects, test leads, and test directors. However, IT students, developers, and founders are also encouraged to attend as the topics to be discussed are pretty diverse.
At TextFlix 2022, you’ll learn the importance of varying inputs in testing, why testing should go beyond reporting bugs, how to build a continuous testing strategy, what AWS offers for testers, and types of performance testing for APIs. You’ll also broaden your knowledge of test automation frameworks like Selenium, Playwright, or Appium and dive into the nuances of testing micro frontends.
Besides purely technical talks, there are sessions devoted to QA career paths, professional transformation, workplace productivity, writing skills, effective leadership, and using the comfort zone to one’s advantage.
Pricing:
- Free
PNSQC, October 10-12, Portland, Oregon, United States, hybrid
PNSQC stands for Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference. It is the longest-running software quality conference, and in October 2022, they’re celebrating its 40th anniversary. The event is suitable for software testers, developers, managers, and other engineering professionals.
The keynote speakers will shed light on how to build a learning culture where junior and senior testers can upskill, accelerate time to market without compromising quality with value stream driven development, and why performance testing shouldn’t be equated with load testing.
At workshops, the attendees will learn the fundamentals of API automation, how to differentiate between performance testing, assurance, and load testing, and will practice coaching in a safe environment. They’ll also have a chance to get started with AI-enabled test automation using free tools and understand how mastering different visual modeling techniques improves test-case design quality.
The conference will be held at the Melody Event Center in Portland, Oregon, with meal breaks either in the center’s ballroom, Loyal Legion across the street, or around Portland. Since the event is hybrid, it is possible to join via Zoom.
Pricing:
- From $399 for online attendees
- From $1237 for in-person attendees
TestBashX, October 14, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK, offline
TestBashX is a community event limited to 100 attendees, so it’s perfect for those who hate overcrowded spaces but still would like to learn from the best and do some networking. The TestBashX crew emphasizes interactive and hands-on experiences, so the day will be packed with collaborative activities, peer learning, testing challenges, and prizes.
At TestBashX, you’ll learn how to become a mindful tester and prevent burnout, what strategies and tools to use when you feel overwhelmed, and what testing principles to follow in discerning critical from secondary.
For future coaches, there’s an opportunity to understand what a test coach is and isn’t, what benefits a test coach brings to the team, how to jumpstart this transition, and what roadblocks may be on the way. During activities, you’ll acquire skills in constructing an app’s model for guided testing, testing APIs with Postman, finding the right person for the job, and many more.
The venue is the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel situated in the vicinity of Bletchley Park, the former top-secret home of WWII codebreakers.
Pricing:
- From £99 (around $112)
AutomationSTAR, October 17-18, Munich, Germany, offline
AutomationSTAR is a test automation conference organized by the EuroSTAR team. It offers two different tracks happening simultaneously – one in English and the other in German. It also has an exhibition area where attendees can discover new testing solutions, tools, and services.
English speakers can learn how to develop an automation-first mindset, what makes a successful automation framework, how codeless automation works and what benefits it brings. Is there a future for automatic usability testing, do companies really need test automation engineers, and what influences the success of an automation project – these and many more questions will also be answered in detail.
German speakers can find out about common mistakes in test automation projects, principles of object-oriented programming for test automation, AI in test automation, how to decrease test suite running time, how to use the screenplay pattern for more readable and maintainable tests, and test automation with snapshot comparisons. There is also a speaker raising a socially important question of why mental health struggles shouldn’t be a taboo topic in the workplace.
The event takes place in Hilton Munich Park, surrounded by several landmarks just a five-minute walk away. In-between presentations, attendees can chill and network in a huddle area where one can practice 3-minute speeches, casually chat, or participate in games and giveaways.
Pricing:
- From €995 + VAT (around $983)
- When 3 tickets are booked, you pay only for 2
QA Global Summit, October 18-19, virtual
QA Global Summit is a tech meetup for QA engineers put together by Geekle, one of the world’s biggest tech event organizers. Among the speakers are senior testers, QA automation engineers, automation architects, lead QA consultants, and C-level execs working at big names like Amazon and startups like Thrasio.
The attendees will learn how to win new users and improve SEO through website accessibility testing, achieve test stability with mock services, build your own testing bot with open-source tools only, and whether no-code automation leaves up to promises.
The senior track will focus on testing blockchain systems, NFTs and digital twins, practical tips for testing IoT systems, and using tools like Taiko and SikuliX for UI test automation, among other trending topics.
Pricing:
- Free, entry level track
- From $165, senior and entry level tracks
Web Summit, November 1-4, Lisbon, Portugal, offline
Web Summit is not necessarily a QA event, but it’s definitely a must-visit for any tech team. It’s one of the biggest tech festivals of the year, attracting about 70K attendees from over 160 countries worldwide. It offers a very diverse selection of topics for professional and personal development.
If you’ve thought about creating a startup, here you’ll learn how to pitch it to the press and get tips & tricks from unicorn startups and decacorns. You’ll hear from crypto exchange founders about crypto’s volatility and promise. You’ll know why SaaS is indispensable for shipping satisfying consumer experiences.
How are Gen Zs different from millennials in their selection of investment opportunities? Is equipping your team with the latest software enough for an innovative corporate culture? Can a virtual world fill the disconnection gap of modern society? What regions will become the next Silicon Valley? You’ll find answers to these and many more thought-provoking questions at Web Summit.
The attendees also get access to a proprietary app for easy networking and navigation.
Pricing:
- From € 995 for general attendees (around $976)
- From € 4995 for executives (around $4901)
Meet our founder Konst at Web Summit! We have surprise drinks and QA tips for everyone who reserves their spot in advance.
Agile Testing Days, November 21-24, Potsdam, Germany, hybrid
Agile Testing Days is a learning festival bringing together software testers, managers, team leads, and IT decision-makers worldwide. The conference also provides an opportunity to exhibit for training providers, tool providers, consulting, and QA services companies.
At Agile Testing Days, you will learn how to test more in less time with history analysis, test gap analysis, and Pareto optimization of test suites. Experts will also discuss why accessibility testing should be by default and what tools fit it.
Testing pages in languages you don’t speak, testing with screen readers, metaverse development and quality concerns, insights from over 300 retros and how to make them fun – these and many more topics will be explored in detail.
The event offers a bunch of social activities for networking and sheer recreation. The program is also designed to boost productivity: one can start their morning with a run or yoga, breathe fresh air and stroll around during a lunch break, or practice some desk exercise to fight the sitting pandemic.
Agile Testing Days will be held at the Dorint Sanssouci hotel, which also caters to the needs of people with disabilities, so everyone is very welcome!
Pricing:
- From €399 +VAT for online attendees (around $394)
- From €900 + VAT for in-person attendees (around $889)
Blockchain Expo, December 1-2, London, UK, hybrid
Blockchain Expo is held alongside 5 other co-located events dedicated to IoT, AI & Big Data, Edge Computing, Cyber Security & Cloud, and Digital Transformation. The best part is you can attend all of these for free as long as you register beforehand.
Given the number of new web3 solutions appearing daily, it’s about time to dive deeper into the world of blockchain. Will blockchain become widespread, and what industries have the potential for mainstreaming blockchain? Can education and regulation incentivize blockchain adoption? How does blockchain take away the power of companies capitalizing on user data?
There’s also a track dedicated to tokenization, NFTs, and metaverse. You’ll learn who benefits from NFTs, tokenization peculiarities in the creator economy, hype around the metaverse and real-life use cases. Tradeoffs between physical and virtual real estate, DeFi projects that will dominate the market, the ease of coin creation and market saturation, among others, will be covered too.
The event will be hosted at Olympia, a well-known exhibition center in London. An evening networking party is also on the agenda.
Pricing:
- Free for in-person and online attendees
- From £99 for VIP networking pass (around $107)
QAwerk is attending Blockchain Expo! Be the first to learn about a new entrant to the decentralized messaging scene.
QRS, December 5-9, Guangzhou, China, hybrid
QRS stands for Quality, Reliability, and Security, and this conference is sponsored by the IEEE Reliability Society. QRS brings together the best minds from both worlds – academia and business.
Here scientists and practitioners will debate how to develop reliable and secure systems. The workshops will be built around automated and intelligent software testing, blockchain and smart contracts, cyber forensics, security, and e-discovery.
The QRS speakers will also investigate human and social aspects of software quality, system testing and validation, predictive maintenance, among others.
The venue is yet to be announced, so check the QRS website for updates.
Pricing:
- From $50 for online attendees
- From $850 for in-person attendees
ATAGTR, December 9-11, virtual
Agile Testing Alliance Global Testing Retreat (ATAGTR) is Asia’s largest testing conference. It is already the seventh edition and its theme is ‘Test beyond the obvious.’ Among the speakers are test engineers, architects, evangelists, principal consultants, and top leaders from companies like IBM, Cognizant, and Red Hat.
The program offers multiple interaction formats – from keynotes and workshops to quizzes, video interviews, competitions, and women-led panel discussions. It is also divided into 3 distinct focus areas.
The first focus area is devoted to exploratory, immersive, model-based, and hardware testing. The second focus area discusses performance, usability, compliance testing, chaos engineering, and data testing. Lastly, there’s a section on test strategy, test architecture, framework architecture, talent upskilling, and test management.
The entire program is not yet disclosed, yet it is known the invited experts will touch upon the metaverse and testing AR/VR solutions, testing blockchain-based and crypto apps, AI’s role in testing, implementing CI/CD across the entire lifecycle, and different automation tools.
Pricing:
- From $16, conference-only ticket
- From $76, workshop-only ticket
Stand With Ukraine
Instead of a usual wrap-up, we’d like to draw your attention to something that wrenches our hearts daily. As a Ukraine-based company, we always include tech events arranged here in Ukraine. But today, our country has a more important task – to fight off the Russian aggression and protect millions of people from autocrats and terrorists.
Our QAwerk team made a conscious decision to stay and hire in Ukraine because we want to support our fellow citizens and provide them with livelihood opportunities. We also want to keep our economy afloat, and IT has proved to be one of the most resilient industries.
The war has stretched over half the year already. Still, we keep delivering regardless, helping our clients catch bugs before they appear on prod, surprise users with better experiences, and earn world recognition for outstanding quality.
One such client is Evolv, so be sure to request the case study below to learn more about our collaboration and the results we achieved together.
Stand with Ukraine by working with Ukraine! If you or your friends are looking for a QA partner with experience across web2 & web3, do reach out. You’ll get premium services from a grateful and highly motivated team.
Attending Web Summit or Blockchain Expo in 2022?
Let’s meet in person and find out if we would make a great team.
