Top QA Events in 2023
The Ultimate Guide by QAwerk
Quarter 1: January, February, March
The past two years haven’t been easy, to put it mildly; however, we all have high hopes for 2023. What better way to start a new chapter of your life than upskill yourself, meet like-minded people, or get inspired by peers from your field? All those things can happen to you at a tech event.
We decided to make your job easier and cherry-picked some of the most promising conferences and summits, offline and virtual, for you to enter quarter one with a solid education plan. Let’s dive right in!
Automating APIs with JS, January 11, virtual
Automating APIs with JavaScript is a two-hour hands-on session hosted by the Ministry of Testing, an international community of tens of thousands of testers producing learning resources for software testers of all levels.
Julia Pottinger, Head of Training and Development at QualityWorks, will run the session. This workshop is designed for software testers who are either new to API automation or need to refresh their knowledge and upskill.
After this event, you’ll learn how to automate APIs with PactumJS, specifically, common API requests (GET, POST, and PUT), ensuring your APIs don’t break and handle errors correctly, and if your APIs follow the specified schema, among other things.
The Ministry of Testing arranges multiple tech events throughout the year, including offline events like TestBash, so be sure to check them out too. The Pro Membership subscription opens access to unlimited online events on technical, business- or career-oriented topics.
Pricing:
- £249.99 per year, Pro membership (around $304)
RoboCon, January 19-20, Helsinki, Finland, hybrid
RoboCon is a tech conference for test automation engineers, robot developers, open-source contributors, and tech enthusiasts interested in or already using Robot Framework.
At RoboCon, attendees will learn about the possibilities and limitations of AWS Lambda for Robot Framework, the daily challenges of a test automation consultant, things non-techies can do with Automation Studio, and libraries to use for API test automation depending on different scenarios.
Is the switch from Selenium Library to Robot Framework’s Browser Library worth it, and what bumps are on this road? How can you improve the accuracy of image-based UI testing? What does it take to become a trusted open-source contributor? How to test a robotic solution at home with open-source tools only? These and several more questions will be answered too.
If you can’t make it in January, there will be an online version of the RoboCon conference in March with 50% fresh content and a video game. The in-person ticket includes access to the online conference. You’re also welcome to attend a free open space day on January 18, the day before the conference, to propose a session, pitch a project, and chat with other members of the Robot Framework community.
Pricing:
- From €1200 +VAT for in-person attendees (around $1275)
- From €200 +VAT for online attendees (around $213)
TestingConf, February 1, Dallas, Illinois, USA, offline
TestingConf is a meetup for test automation engineers, agile testing experts, robotic process automation developers, and tech enthusiasts looking for the latest test engineering technologies to eliminate inefficient workflows and innovate.
At TestingConf, you’ll dive deep into the what, why, and how of digital quality assurance, breakthroughs that AI and ML bring into the QA field, and learn how to manage test environments with Docker.
The speakers will also talk about the software tester’s mission and responsibility when it comes to emerging platforms and technologies, how tech trends impact the quality assurance and quality engineering industries, how to build the right architecture for CI/CD in a serverless world, and what teams should do to succeed at continuous delivery.
TestingConf will be hosted at Hilton’s DoubleTree Hotel in Dallas, Illinois, near the Galleria mall.
Pricing:
- From $469 for one attendee
- From $349 for 3+ attendees
IT-Defense 2023, February 8-10, Mainz, Germany, hybrid
IT- Defense is an IT security conference for penetration testers, network administrators, developers, security officers, and tech-savvy professionals willing to learn more about cybersecurity.
It is the 20th edition of the event. IT-Defense features no promotion talks – only highly insightful technical presentations and exciting evening events for networking and recreation.
After the event, attendees will better understand online criminals’ profiles, the risks of integrating on-premise services with Azure Active Directory, remote work security and associated mistakes, fuzz testing at Mozilla, and how to hack a Tesla. Protecting your website against 3d-party JavaScript, modern forensic methods, and learning to enjoy making decisions in a demanding and deadline-driven field will also be covered.
The event will be held at Hyatt Regency Mainz; however, online attendance is also possible as the presentations will be streamed.
Pricing:
- From €1295 +VAT for lecture series only (around $1376)
- From €1595 +VAT for lecture series & discussions (around $1695)
Testing, Agile, DevOps and Low Code Showcase, February 9, Manchester, UK, hybrid
Testing, Agile, DevOps and Low Code Showcase: Methods and Tools is a tech conference made possible by UNICOM, a British events and training company, delivering IT education solutions since 1984.
As the name suggests, the conference is the right fit not only for software testers but other members of delivery teams as well as thought leaders and tech entrepreneurs.
Here you’ll learn about the importance of user acceptance testing (UAT), hear from a test automation architect from Adobe about phased testing, the design and methodology they use, and discover how socio-cultural diversity affects team communication and testing workflows.
The event will be held at the Midland Hotel, Manchester’s most iconic hotel. At the same time, those who cannot visit in person have the option to participate online.
Pricing:
- From £135 + VAT for in-person attendees (around $164)
- From £95 + VAT for online attendees (around $115)
Test Automation Day, February 16, Melbourne, Australia, offline
Test Automation Day is the right fit for test automation engineers, robotic process automation engineers, developers, and other agile IT professionals interested in the latest techniques and skills required to test disruptive technologies effectively.
Here you’ll learn how to devise a working test automation strategy, different test automation tools and approaches, peculiarities of testing microservices, and model-based testing.
The speakers will also talk about proven ways to enhance the capabilities of a testing team, the impact of test-driven and behavior-driven development on team efficiency, and improving quality with the SAFe Core Principle.
The event will occur at the Karstens Convention Center and will be arranged with all necessary COVID-19 precautions.
Pricing:
- From AUD 577 for one attendee (around $385)
- From AUD 362 for 3+ attendees (around $241)
Worqference, February 24-26, virtual
Worqference is a workshops-only three-day conference organized by The Test Tribe, India’s largest testing community.
Among the speakers are CEOs, principal QA architects, directors of product quality, senior QA managers and analysts, and software developers from big names like Vodafone as well as American and Indian startups.
The past Worqference was attended by over 2000 learners from around the world. Each workshop is followed by a 15-minute Q&A. The event also provides room for networking and recreation through contests and games.
The Worqference visitors will receive a certificate of attendance and post-conference access to all recordings.
Pricing:
- From $15
Online QADay, March 25, virtual
Online QADay is a tech conference organized by a Ukrainian event company for Ukrainian-speaking professionals.
The event crew has invited 12 speakers and offers two tracks dedicated to testing methods and tools, improving testing workflows, manual testing techniques and test automation, security testing, as well as testing emerging technologies.
The exact agenda and speakers’ line-up will be revealed closer to the end of March. Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Pricing:
- From 690 UAH for one attendee, early bird
Test Automation & Digital QA Summit, March 28, Toronto, Canada, offline
Test Automation & Digital QA Summit is a testing conference on strategies, tools, and trends in manual testing, test automation, and digital quality assurance. The event is put together by Testingmind, an international team of IT consultants.
Here you’ll learn how to measure the effectiveness of test automation, what we actually learn from those metrics, and what goals test automation usually pursues. Attendees will also dive deep into behavior-driven development using tools like Cucumber and methods like example mapping. The entire agenda will be revealed later in January, so stay tuned!
The venue is the Thompson Toronto hotel located in King West Village, a neighborhood where one can experience the true beauty of urban downtown living.
Test Automation & Digital QA Summit is also held in the USA (Detroit, Chicago, Austin, and Denver), Singapore, and South Africa, so check out the dates here if these locations and times fit your schedules better.
Pricing:
- From CA$ 250 for one attendee (around $184)
- From CA$ 860 for a group of four attendees (around $631)
Selenium Conference, March 28-30, Chicago, Illinois, USA, offline
Selenium Conference aims to bring together Selenium & WebDriver developers and users of the Selenium ecosystem to further advance the project and ensure its lasting success and numerous benefits for the community. It was put together by the greatest minds from the Selenium Project itself, big names like Amazon, Sauce Labs, Reverb, among others.
Here you’ll learn how to avoid common pitfalls when managing test data, identify different types of code smells, and use a proxy to create a full stack automation suite. Handy features in the latest Selenium versions, triaging failed reports with ML, and Selenium non-testing use cases will be covered too. See a detailed overview of confirmed sessions here.
Besides conference sessions, there are several workshops. There you’ll learn how to transition from Selenium Web Driver v3 to v4, what features got deprecated and what new capabilities are there for browser automation. Other workshops are devoted to running Selenium Grid and testing mobile apps with Appium respectively.
The event’s venue is the newly renovated voco Chicago Downtown. The organizers offer a 10% discount for a group of 3 to 5, and 20% discount – for a group of 6+ individuals.
Pricing:
- From $699 for conference pass only
- From $1099 for conference & workshops
Stand With Ukraine
Ukraine has been fighting off russian aggression for over ten months already. It has survived 9 massive missile attacks on the energy sector. Even though the latter caused blackouts throughout the country, IT professionals in Ukraine don’t give up.
They work from cafes and coworking spaces equipped with power generators and Starlink terminals, enabling uninterrupted Internet connection. Despite the hardships, Ukrainians keep arranging and attending learning events to enhance their expertise and maintain their partnerships with foreign clients.
If you’d like to support the IT community in Ukraine, please continue working with your vendors from Ukraine. Rest assured, they’ll find a way to deliver on what’s been promised. Don’t let occupiers win by shattering our economic front. And if you happen to look for a QA partner, our QAwerk team would love to help.
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