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With the Super Bowl come and gone not too long ago, it made me wonder about competitions of the mind and not just the body. Have you ever considered competing with other testers? Or even how such a thing could be explored and managed? Wonder no more because a group has started a competition just like that. Similar to a Hackathon but for testers instead, the Testathon (www.testathon.co) is a new competition designed to pit testers against one another for fun, socialization, and learning.

Testing in teams of five, testers work their magic on individual apps using any testing method and defect reports they want. The apps in question are provided by the event sponsors. While this is a BYOD event (Bring Your Own Devices), you’re free to use whatever device you want, in any number, and whatever software you want. Testing lasts all day long, and teams can be randomly assigned.

Prizes are given for things like Best QA, Best Security Bug, Best UI Bug, Best Quality Bug Report, Best QA Team, and even some funny ones like Funniest Typo. Prizes include new mobile devices, cash, book, and more. While winning is nice, I think the best takeaway is the community spirit in testing, and the prospect of learning something new.

The very first one was held in London, the next in Stockholm, third one last October in San Francisco and last one was recently on May 23rd in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. While the next event hasn’t been scheduled yet, testers may want to keep tabs on it. At events like this, you can learn by doing. Gain perspective from testers across the world, and immerse yourself in the testing community. You may come away from the event with new friends and new skills, not to mention a new perspective on testing. I have already contacted some of the top performers to offer them a job :). Just a little hint for you where to get the best talent.

About the Author

The author, Ruslan Desyatnikov, is the CEO & Founder of QA Mentor. He created QA Mentor to fill the gap he has witnessed in QA service providers during his near 20 years in QA. With Ruslan’s guidance, unique services and methodologies were developed at QA Mentor to aid clients in their QA difficulties while still offering a high ROI. Ruslan offers monthly seminars aimed at imparting his extensive testing knowledge that can be applied to start-ups as well as large companies. To learn more about QA Mentor and testing services please visit www.qamentor.com or contact Ruslan directly by sending email to rdesyatnikov@qamentor.com