Not a conference but a CASTalyst

Firstly, apologies for the terrible play on words, its got to be one of the worst pun ever! Put it down to a lack of imagination.
I’m going to be busy at CAST 2011 this year as not only am I attending but I’ll be holding a workshop and a track session.

The 1/2 day workshop is on Career Management for Software Testers and the  track session is on Skype coaching.

You can find out more about the details about all the tutorials here and the track sessions here. There are some great talks on this year and I’ve earmarked a few, hopefully there not on the same time as me!

Any tester who is serious about testing needs to consider going to CAST. It’s a conference that you will not forget. Trust me.

I had the opportunity to go to CAST 2010, sponsored by the software testing club and I wrote about the experience here and here

It's been six months since then, and on reflection, going to that conference wasn’t an event but more a catalyst to learning and experiencing more about testing.

Rebecca Fieldler has on her Skype profile the following quote by Will Durant: ” Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance.” and I think that sums up nicely my feelings on CAST. It wasn’t so much what I learnt, but the realisation on how little I knew.

Since then, I’ve made a real effort to up my game. My book library has exponentially grown and I’ve even read some of them!

I made a commitment to myself at CAST 2010 to start speaking a conferences.  I’ve spoken at a few conferences since then, and speaking at CAST 2o11 is like coming full circle on that promise.

I’m also making more of an effort to keep in touch with other testers I met at the conference, people like Karen Johnson and Fiona Charles.

So, you see, what I mean when I say catalyst!

I hope to see you there,

Anne-Marie

Update: If you feel its the right time for you to start speaking at conferences, CAST is offering an emergent session run my the indomitable Matt Heusser. You can get all the details on this blog