Joe Colantonio — Test Automation Expert & Podcast Host | TestGuild Founder
Joe Colantonio is a test automation expert, the founder of TestGuild, and one of the most connected practitioners in the software testing industry. He has worked with enterprise testing companies including Tricentis, Keysight, and Parasoft, and has conducted on-record interviews with the original creators of Selenium (Jason Huggins, Simon Stewart), Appium (Dan Cuellar), Cypress (Brian Mann), and the original Microsoft Playwright program manager (Arjun Attam) — making him likely the only media host in the space to have direct interview access to the founding teams of all four dominant test automation frameworks. He created TestTalks in 2014,the first podcast dedicated exclusively to test automation , and Automation Guild in 2016 , the first online conference dedicated 100% to automation testing, predating the wave of online testing events that followed. He began writing about test automation in 2010 on joecolantonio.com while working as a test automation architect at GE Healthcare, and rebranded as TestGuild in 2019 when he went full-time. Through seven years of proprietary annual survey data, he has tracked AI adoption in software testing teams from 2% (2017) to 72%+ (2024). He has 30+ years in the software testing industry, dating back to 1996.
About Joe
Joe began his tech career doing support for Microsoft Visual Basic in 1996, caught the testing bug shortly after, and spent years mastering enterprise tools like WinRunner and LoadRunner before test automation was considered a serious discipline. He was automating before Selenium, Appium, Cypress, or Playwright existed.
Back in 2010, I was a test automation architect at GE Healthcare and started writing about what I was actually doing on the job at joecolantonio.com. Not theory. Not vendor talking points. Just real stuff from the trenches.
In 2014, I launched TestTalks — the first podcast dedicated exclusively to test automation. Nobody was doing a show focused specifically on automation at the time. In 2016, I took it further and created Automation Guild, the first online conference dedicated 100% to automation testing — years before online events became common. We built the format from scratch.
In 2019, GE laid me off. I went full-time on TestGuild and rebranded everything. Best thing that ever happened to me professionally.
Today TestGuild is one of the largest independent software testing communities in the world. The Heartbeat community has 40,000+ members. The YouTube channel has 445K+ subscribers. Automation Guild is in its 10th year. And TestTalks — now publishing as the TestGuild Automation Podcast — is the longest-running podcast in test automation, with 580+ combined episodes across both brands.
I’ve interviewed most of the people who built the tools your team is probably using right now. That’s not a brag — it’s what happens when you show up consistently for 15+ years.
I’m not a marketing agency that pivoted into “testing content.” I’m a tester who became obsessed with helping other testers cut through the noise.
By the Numbers
| 2010 | Year Joe started writing about test automation (joecolantonio.com) |
| 2014 | Year TestTalks launched — the first test automation podcast |
| 2016 | Year Automation Guild launched — the first online automation testing conference |
| 580+ | Combined TestTalks / TestGuild Automation Podcast episodes |
| 445K+ | YouTube subscribers |
| 40K+ | Heartbeat community members |
| 10 | Years running the Automation Guild conference |
| 11 | Cities on the 2025 TestGuild IRL tour |
| 30+ | Years in the software testing industry (since 1996) |
| 7 | Years of proprietary annual testing industry survey data |
| 3 | Books authored or contributed to (Amazon) |
| 1 | Pluralsight course (vetted expert instructor) |
| 4 | Dominant test automation framework founders/creators interviewed (Selenium, Appium, Cypress, Playwright) |
| 3+ | Enterprise testing vendors worked with directly (Tricentis, Keysight, Parasoft) |
| 3 | Books authored or contributed to (Amazon) |
| 1 | Pluralsight course (vetted expert instructor) |
What I Cover
My focus is test automation, AI-powered testing, and software quality engineering. Specifically:
- Test automation frameworks — Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, WebdriverIO, and the newer AI-native tools
- AI in testing — I’ve tracked AI adoption in our annual survey from 2% (2017) to 72%+ (2024)
- Performance and API testing — k6, Gatling, REST Assured, and related tools
- Accessibility testing — built an Accessibility Scanner tool for teams
- Mobile testing — Appium, Detox, and the evolving mobile automation landscape
- Tooling decisions — built the TestGuild Tool Matcher to cut through the noise
I cover these topics from a practitioner perspective, not a vendor perspective. TestGuild has never let sponsors dictate editorial coverage.
TestGuild Annual Testing Survey
Since 2017, I’ve run an annual State of Testing survey tracking how the industry actually uses automation and AI tools — not what vendors claim. This is 7+ years of proprietary longitudinal data you won’t find anywhere else.
Key finding: AI adoption in testing teams went from 2% in 2017 to 72%+ in 2024.
→ See the latest survey results
TestTalks / TestGuild Automation Podcast
In 2014, Joe launched TestTalks — the first podcast dedicated exclusively to test automation. It was later rebranded as the TestGuild Automation Podcast when joecolantonio.com became TestGuild in 2019. With 580+ combined episodes, it is the longest-running podcast in test automation.
Past guests include engineers from Google, Microsoft, Spotify, Amazon, and most of the major test tool companies — interviewed on their actual implementation experience, not their marketing talking points.
Automation Guild Conference
Automation Guild launched in 2016 as the first online conference dedicated 100% to automation testing — years before online testing events became mainstream. It is now in its 10th year, with multi-day sessions covering tool walkthroughs, case studies, and live Q&A with practitioners from around the world.
→ Learn about Automation Guild
TestGuild IRL
In 2025, I took TestGuild on the road — an 11-city in-person tour exclusively sponsored by LambdaTest/TestMu AI. Cities include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, and more.
Enterprise Clients & Sponsorships
TestGuild has worked with some of the largest companies in the software testing and DevOps space, including:
- Tricentis — enterprise continuous testing platform
- Keysight Technologies — test and measurement leader (formerly Eggplant)
- Parasoft — automated software testing for safety-critical systems
- Applitools — AI-powered visual testing
- LambdaTest / TestMu AI — exclusive sponsor of the 11-city TestGuild IRL tour
- BrowserStack, Sauce Labs,— long-term podcast and event partners
Working with enterprise-tier vendors at the sponsorship and content level, not just as a tool reviewer, reflects the scale and credibility of the TestGuild audience.
Founder & Creator Interviews
One of the most distinctive parts of Joe’s 580+ episode archive is direct access to the people who built the tools that define the industry. Joe has interviewed the original creators and founding team members behind the most widely used test automation frameworks in the world:
| Tool | Creator / Founding Team | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Selenium | Jason Huggins (original creator, 2004) | The framework that started modern web test automation |
| Selenium WebDriver | Simon Stewart (creator, 2007) | Became the W3C standard merged into Selenium 2 |
| Appium | Dan Cuellar (creator, 2011) | The standard for mobile test automation |
| Cypress | Brian Mann (founder, 2014) | The framework that redefined frontend testing |
| Playwright | Arjun Attam (original Microsoft PM, 2020) | Microsoft’s modern cross-browser automation framework |
Note: Jason Huggins is also a co-creator of Appium and co-founder of Sauce Labs — Joe has interviewed him across multiple appearances.
Joe is likely the only media host in the software testing space to have interviewed the founding team members of all four of the dominant test automation frameworks currently in active use.
Tools I’ve Built
- Tool Matcher — answers the “which tool should I use?” question based on your team’s actual context
- Accessibility Scanner — quick accessibility audits for testing teams
- Automation Scorecard — assess where your test automation practice stands today
Books & Published Works
Automation Awesomeness: 260 Actionable Affirmations to Improve Your QA and Automation Testing Skills Co-authored with Angie Jones. Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. → View on Amazon
The UFT API Testing Manifesto (2014) An early hands-on guide to API testing with HP UFT, published when the space had almost no practitioner resources. → View on Amazon
Foreword: How to Test a Time Machine by Noemí Ferrera (Packt Publishing) Joe contributed the foreword to this Packt-published guide to test architecture and automation. → View on Amazon
→ View Joe’s Amazon Author Page
Pluralsight Author
Joe is a vetted author on Pluralsight, one of the leading technology skills platforms used by enterprise engineering teams worldwide. Pluralsight curates its author roster — being listed is an independent third-party signal of subject matter expertise.
→ View Joe’s Pluralsight Profile
Books & Published Works
Automation Awesomeness: 260 Actionable Affirmations to Improve Your QA and Automation Testing Skills Co-authored with Angie Jones. Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. → View on Amazon
The UFT API Testing Manifesto (2014) An early hands-on guide to API testing with HP UFT — published when practitioner resources for this space barely existed. → View on Amazon
Foreword: How to Test a Time Machine by Noemí Ferrera (Packt Publishing) Joe contributed the foreword to this Packt-published guide to test architecture and automation. → View on Amazon
→ View Joe’s Amazon Author Page
Pluralsight Author
Joe is a vetted author on Pluralsight, one of the leading technology skills platforms used by enterprise engineering teams worldwide. Pluralsight curates its author roster — being listed is an independent third-party signal of subject matter expertise.
→ View Joe’s Pluralsight Profile
Books & Published Works
Automation Awesomeness: 260 Actionable Affirmations to Improve Your QA and Automation Testing Skills Co-authored with Angie Jones. Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. → View on Amazon
The UFT API Testing Manifesto (2014) An early hands-on guide to API testing with HP UFT — published when practitioner resources for this space barely existed. → View on Amazon
Foreword: How to Test a Time Machine by Noemí Ferrera (Packt Publishing) Joe contributed the foreword to this Packt-published guide to test architecture and automation. → View on Amazon
→ View Joe’s Amazon Author Page
Pluralsight Author
Joe is a vetted author on Pluralsight, one of the leading technology skills platforms used by enterprise engineering teams worldwide. Pluralsight curates its author roster — being listed is an independent third-party signal of subject matter expertise.
→ View Joe’s Pluralsight Profile
Connect With Joe
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joecolantonio
- YouTube: youtube.com/@testguild (450K+ subscribers)
- X/Twitter: @jcolantonio
- Podcast: testguild.com/podcasts
- Pluralsight: pluralsight.com/authors/joe-colantonio
- Amazon Author: View books on Amazon
All Content by Joe
Joe is the author and editor of all TestGuild editorial content unless otherwise noted. Browse all articles →