Many software quality engineers (SQE) give a little shudder when they hear the term ‘AI’, associating it with potential job loss. Today’s testing and software quality assurance (SQA) industry relies on a human workforce to manage tasks such as manually-driven exploratory testing and to create automated functional tests. The promise and potential of AI, namely its ability to overhaul manual tasks with greater speed and efficiency, is why so many SQEs give it a wide berth. While nobody wants to be replaced by a bot, avoiding AI is not going to help ensure job security. In fact, SQEs who take the opposite approach and investigate how AI can turn them into super-SQEs, are giving themselves a solid competitive edge.

Nadine du Toit, Chief Services & Innovation Officer at Inspired Testing, says that advances in the application of AI in software testing simply can’t be ignored.

“AI helps to reshape the future world that we know and work within today,” says Nadine. “AI-enabled software can superpower your real-world business by enabling intelligent automation to oversee repetitive tasks and optimise processes. This enables your human workforce to focus on customer relationships, solve complex problems, make fast, smart decisions and deliver exceptional work. AI put to good use really does give a business a solid competitive advantage.” 

Inspired Testing invites you to learn from its journey into AI

At this year’s AI Expo Africa, Sastri Munsamy from the Technology and Innovation team at Inspired Testing will present a sneak peek into findings from the global software testing company’s research and development department.

In his talk, Sastri will cover some of the current common challenges in the SQA industry such as script maintenance, test results analysis, defect classification and automated exploratory testing -  and discuss how AI can help resolve them.

“Today’s leading software testing and SQA tools like Selenium and ReportPortal have started integrating elements of AI technology with exciting results,” says Sastri. “At Inspired Testing, we’ve had a lot of fun testing and trialling these tools, among others, and have found a number of important benefits – not to mention learnt a lot of valuable lessons – that could be of great interest to our peers.”

Sastri’s advocacy for AI in SQA is underpinned by his extensive experience of real-world testing and automation projects. His expertise and enthusiasm on the subject of integrating elements of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with artificial intelligence and machine learning to create AI empowered testing tools that will help supercharge the SQA industry is well worth hearing.

“At Inspired Testing, we have a very clear vision for the future of SQA,” says Sastri. “We see an AI empowered human workforce that is able to deliver results faster and more efficiently. Imagine SQEs able to test at the speed of DevOps with little reliance on technical skills because they have a bot assistant doing all the grunt work. We’ve still got some way to go before realising this vision but we are making enormous headway in unlocking the benefits of meaningful AI driven automation in software testing.”

AI Expo Africa is a three day live online event that runs from the 7-9 September 2021. Sastri Munsamy will present his talk: Behind the scenes of Inspired Testing’s journey into AI on Wednesday 8 September at 11:30am.

Global software testing company Inspired Testing has appointed Bas Dijkstra, an industry renowned test automation consultant, to the new position of Director: International Academy.

Based in the Netherlands, Bas joins the Inspired Testing team with 15 years of experience in improving software testing efforts through the smart application of tools. Over the past 5 years, Bas has focused on helping others become better test automation engineers through his corporate training courses and workshops. Bas builds and delivers industry relevant, technical and engaging courses that incorporate many of his own learnings from his career as a test automation consultant. Bas is also a ‘teaching and learning’ enthusiast who puts time and energy into upskilling engineers, helping companies remain relevant and competitive. As a result, he is well respected in the industry and his courses are lauded for their professional excellence.

“I’ve known the Inspired Testing team for some years and have watched the company’s growth and success with great interest,” says Bas. “Leading the Inspired Testing International Academy is like a dream job for me. I get to work with people and help them learn things that make them better at what they do, I get to fiddle with code and tools, AND I get to build a globally renowned, best practice, industry relevant software testing training institute from the ground up.”

Bas begins his new role on 1 September 2021 and will be responsible for developing and delivering a portfolio of courses designed to provide the Inspired Testing customer base with a well-rounded test automation education offering. Currently, the Inspired Testing Academy attracts companies and engineers from mainly South Africa. Bas will lead a team to expand the Inspired Testing Academy into new markets with a mission to provide comprehensive training that keeps up with global software development trends and business demands.

“To become a good test engineer, you need more than a couple of two or three week standalone courses,” says Bas. “There are a number of scattergun approaches to test automation training out there and in my view, they simply aren’t good enough. The software testing world needs a reputable, gold standard training academy that offers a comprehensive series of courses that combines fundamental principles with practical, technical know-how. And that’s exactly what we aim to deliver with the Inspired Testing International Academy.”

Nadine du Toit, Chief Services & Innovation Officer at Inspired Testing, says notwithstanding all the pressures of 2020, the company pushed forward on its mission to create an innovative, future-geared international Testing Academy. The academy is a key part of the company’s global growth strategy and will be steered by Bas towards growing knowledge and expertise in software quality engineering for the global future.

“Knowledge, experience and skilled capabilities are invaluable commodities within today’s global technology industries,” says Nadine. “As industry specialists, it is imperative that we lead the way in harnessing the latest technology trends and preparing skilled software testers to go above and beyond market requirements. As part of our senior management team, Bas will help us achieve Inspired Testing’s vision of remaining relevant in the ever-changing software testing industry. Under his leadership, our International Testing Academy will shape the software engineers of the future for their and our clients’ ongoing success.”

Bas lives in the Netherlands with his wife and two sons. When he’s not at work, he loves to get outdoors and go for a trail run, a bike ride or a swim, or sit down and relax with a good book.