Automation Olympics

David Lai

unread,

Mar 9, 2015, 4:01:34 PM3/9/15

to seleniu...@googlegroups.com

Was wondering if someone created a hackathon type event for accomplishing automation tasks, if people would be interested in participating, and if people around the country would be interested in creating their local chapter.

I think too often a Test Engineer's ability is under appreciated in the organization, and it's also hard to find out which test engineers are good, bad, or mediocre.

Where the end result of most developer's work can be seen in the public view in a form of a product, service, or a platform supporting the service/product, most test engineer's code will never be seen outside the organization. In hiring, it's hard to distinguish a good test engineer from a bad engineer, this is mostly done by interviews, with the prayer that the interviewer even knows what to look for. On top of that, the pay scale for Test Engineers vary so wildly based on any number of factors from levels of responsibility, how much design input they have, and other outside responsibilities that gets tacked on to that role.

What if, there was some sort of cool annual games that's created where in chapters around the country, people participate in hackathon like events to automate various tasks, and their automation code will be ranked and judged by categories such as speed, correctness, code complexity, and reliability. Then I think we can create a future where people could compare apples to apples, and also show appreciation for Test Engineers that have achieved a high level of skill in their craft.

This thread is to just get the discussion started. I don't have a solid plan yet, but I wanted to see what people have to say about the idea.

David

unread,

Mar 10, 2015, 9:26:21 PM3/10/15

to seleniu...@googlegroups.com

+1

good post, I'd like to see that too. But I ponder on some things like: who would organize such a thing, what entity/organization would manage this, and who would sponsor such events/activities (say for hosting at some location, food, prizes, etc.).

As a start, if not an actual onsite event, it could be an online contest/gamification kind of thing. I recall there are sites that offer programming challenges, just tweak the concept to testing/automation instead. This is likely cheaper and easier to set up & maintain. Or we could aim for both types - online & offline.

Also, have you heard of Testathon? I was invited to it last year but couldn't make it.

http://testathon.co

http://www.cloudwards.net/news/dropbox-sponsors-testathon-for-san-francisco-area-4864/

http://greatpreneurs.com/testathon-worlds-first-hackathon-testers/

Perhaps good to contact the Testathon folks to see if we can spin off your idea with support from them.