F11-401: Stepping Up to Leadership: Test Leadership Lessons from Harry Potter

Track: Leadership Perspectives for Testers

Even if you do not have the word “lead” in your job title, and even if you are not a manager or other official leader, sometimes you find people looking to you to be a leader. This can happen even when no one told you that you were, or asked you to be. Stepping up to your own potential involves overcoming your own uncertainties, self doubts and perception. Learning to foster relationships while learning your craft is a challenge for everyone, particularly when people are looking to you to be an expert when you don’t feel like one.

This session will look at the choices, options and paths that are available to every tester and software professional, including opportunities for self-education, networking and other professional and technical development. Local testing groups, blogs and online forums are a good start. Learning to apply these lessons in day-to-day work situations is the next hurdle. By building your own skills, you can help build the skills of your colleagues and co-workers to help you and they become technical leaders. In this interactive discussion, the presenter will talk about his mistakes, what he learned from them, his successes, and how he capitalized on them, and what opportunities there may be for you to step up to leadership in your own right and practical tips for doing so.

Key learning points:

  • Building professional and personal relationships
  • Developing technical leadership skills
  • Advantages and necessity of continuous self-education
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Please Note: The presentations are intended for attendees only. The presentations page is password protected – contact info@softwaretestpro.com for verification of attendance and the password to access the presentation.

Session Speaker:

Pete WalenPete Walen – Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide
Peter Walen has been in software development for over 25 years. After working many years as a programmer, he moved to software testing and QA. Following a brief foray in Project Management and Business Analysis, he returned to software testing. He has worked in the fields of insurance and finance, manufacturing, higher education/universities, retail, distribution and point of sale systems. Peter is an active member of several testing associations and an active blogger on software testing.