About This Episode:
In today's episode, we'll explore my specially curated list of the top 10 must-attend software testing conferences and events for 2025.
See all testing conferences with dates and time: https://testguild.com/software-testing-conferences/
Whether you want to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of test automation, QA, and software testing, this episode is packed with invaluable insights.
We'll explore conferences focused on industry-leading tools like Playwright, Selenium, Appium, Cypress, and Robot Framework and events dedicated to security testing, QA leadership, and performance engineering. I'll share experiences, expert-led sessions, and real-world success stories from these remarkable gatherings. Plus, you'll get tips on how to make the most of your conference experience—from networking to taking structured notes.
Stay tuned until the end, when I'll reveal a no-brainer event you won't want to miss! This episode is a must-listen if you're ready to boost your testing knowledge and connect with like-minded professionals. Let's get started!
** For Bitrise users signing up on BrowserStack App Automate, grab your free upgrade to App Automate Device Cloud Plan here: https://testguild.me/bitriseuser
** For App Automate users signing up on Bitrise, grab your free credits here: https://testguild.me/AppAutomateUser
** BrowserStack Test Observability: Why Your Automation Tests Are Failing (Test Observability Can Help): https://youtu.be/1myqnQLnA7g
Exclusive Sponsor
About Our Sponsor – BrowserStack & Bitrise Partnership
We're excited to introduce this week's sponsor, the BrowserStack & Bitrise Strategic Partnership, which is set to transform mobile app test automation on real devices. BrowserStack, a leader in testing solutions, has joined forces with Bitrise, a top mobile DevOps platform, to offer seamless integration of CI/CD workflows with large-scale real-device testing. This partnership empowers developers and QA teams with better pipeline visibility, enabling faster and higher-quality releases.
What’s in it for you? If you're a Bitrise user, you get exclusive free access to BrowserStack App Automate, unlocking the powerful Device Cloud plan with 3 parallels to test mobile apps at 3X the speed, along with advanced debugging, analytics, and deployment workflows, all with built-in Test Observability.
BrowserStack App Automate users aren't left out either—they receive 15,000 free credits on Bitrise to optimize their CI/CD pipelines.
Don't miss out on these exclusive benefits! Check the links below to claim your offers and take your mobile app testing to the next level:
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About Joe Colantonio
Joe Colantonio has over 25 years of experience in software automation testing and is thefounder of Test Guild–a dedicated independent resource for actionable and real-worldtechnical advice from industry experts (blog, video tutorials, podcasts, and online conferences)to help improve your DevOps automation, performance, and security testing efforts. He is thehost ofthe longest-running podcast on automation testing. He has interviewed over 400 industryleaders and is the creator of Automation Guild, the premium, annual online event for testautomation engineers. Joe has also hosted over 500 hours of live online events for some of thebiggest companies in the software testing space. Joe's company, Test Guild, also providesservices to software companies to help them reach a community of highly engaged, growth-oriented, and ambitious audience of 40k+ software testing professionals.
Connect with Joe Colantonio
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- Company: www.testguild
- Blog: www.testguild
- LinkedIn: www.joecolantonio
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- YouTube: www.joecolantonio
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[00:00:00] In a land of testers, far and wide they journeyed. Seeking answers, seeking skills, seeking a better way. Through the hills they wandered, through treacherous terrain. But then they heard a tale, a podcast they had to obey. Oh, the Test Guild Automation Testing podcast. Guiding testers with automation awesomeness. From ancient realms to modern days, they lead the way. Oh, the Test Guild Automation Testing podcast. With lutes and lyres, the bards began their song. A tune of knowledge, a melody of code. Through the air it spread, like wildfire through the land. Guiding testers, showing them the secrets to behold. Oh, the Test Guild Automation Testing podcast. Guiding testers with automation awesomeness. From ancient realms to modern days, they lead the way. Oh, the Test Guild Automation Testing podcast. Oh, the Test Guild Automation Testing podcast. With lutes and lyres, the bards began their song. A tune of knowledge, a melody of code. Through the air it spread, like wildfire through the land. Guiding testers, showing them the secrets to behold.
[00:00:34] Joe Colantonio Here are my top 10 software testing conferences and events you should attend in 2025 and watch all the way to the end because the last one is a no brainer. First, why a list of top software testing conferences? Many testers always ask me what is the future of software testing and how should they prepare for it? One answer may be obvious, but you should always be learning to succeed in test automation, QA, software testing or any industry. And based on my interviews of over 700 software testers and DevOps engineers across my podcasts, the number one way that many mentioned to me, and that also included some of the tips in my book to help you on your continuous learning journey is to attend onsite and online testing conferences. And this list is based on real experience. It's not AI-Generated. It's my own and that of real world testers I speak with every day on my podcast. Here are the top 10 in no particular order.
[00:01:31] All right. Before we get into today's episode, I want to share with you today's episode sponsor. They just wanted me to share and spill of tea on this huge announcement. I'll have BrowserStack just partnered with Bitrise, a leading mobile DevOps platform to revolutionize mobile app test automation on real devices. And this collaboration integrates CI/CD workflows with mobile real device testing at scale, providing developers and QA teams better visibility its pipelines for faster quality driven releases. But if you like other people, you're probably wondering so, well, how is this partnership going to benefit you? Well, if you're a Bitrise user, you'll gain exclusive free access to BrowserStack app automate enabling mobile app testing on real devices in the Bitrise workspace. This is BrowserStacks popular device cloud plan with 3 parallels that allows you to test your mobile apps at 3x the speed plus you also get access to their advanced debugging, analytics, and deployment workflows with built in test observability. But that's not all, there's something for BrowserStack App Automate users as well, they get 15,000 credits of Bitrise absolutely free. Don't wait. Check out the links in the description and grab your exclusive benefits now.
[00:02:53] Joe Colantonio Let's first start on conferences that focus on the Big 3 open source solutions for browser automation you're testing education. As my latest automation testing trends video goes over that you can see here, Playwright remains this year's leading automation testing solution. Our survey shows it is one of the fastest growing interest areas for our community. So let's start this list with the conference focused solely on Playwright test automation or solutions to automate software testing. The Worldwide Playwright User Event. This Worldwide Playwright User event is a conference dedicated to the Microsoft Playwright Testing framework, bringing together developers, trade professionals in test automation enthusiast. Attendees can expect expert led sessions and real world success stories and advance tips integrating Playwright into CI/CD pipelines. This event also offers a mix of technical talks, hands on workshops, and networking opportunities, making it a valuable form to share insights on cross browser testing, performance optimization, and emerging features in Playwright. If you're looking to sharpen your test automation skills or learn from industry pioneers in the Playwright ecosystem, this event stands out as a must attend. If you want to learn just about Microsoft Playwright Web testing framework, this one is for you.
[00:04:11] Joe Colantonio Next one up is obvious, it's the Grand Daddy of them all. It is Selenium Conf, this year that also combining it with the Appium conference. For Selenium and Appium testing enthusiast, you can't go wrong with the Selenium Appium conference. This conference focused on bringing together both the global Selenium and Appium communities and projects related to browser and mobile automation tools. It features talks and workshops led by Selenium and Appium core committers and industry experts covering new features, best practices, and real world success stories. And the first Selenium conference ever attended was in Boston 2013, which was a big eyeopener for me because I came from QTP and WinRunner. I learned a ton about open source using Selenium and I highly recommend this one. All automation engineers interested in Selenium and Appium. And you can find the link down below for all the times and dates for these conferences and when they take place. Next up is Cypress Conf. So if you've ever spoken with a Cypress automation ambassador, you know how excited they get about this test framework. It's especially popular among frontend developers and frontend testers and it is repeatedly cited in our annual Test Guild survey as a great solution for JavaScript lovers. If that's you then, Cypress conf is a must attend. This conference is a free virtual event focused on the latest and Cypress and end-to-end testing and it's perfect for seasoned Cypress users or newbies just getting started.
[00:05:34] Joe Colantonio Next up is a personal favorite of mine. It is RoboCon. So my experience, I think the Robot Framework is one of the most unheralded automation frameworks available. Its flexibility is touted on my podcast as one of the biggest strengths in handling complex test automation challenges using a unified framework wrapper. What is RoboCon? RoboCon is a conference focused solely on Robot Framework, which is a popular open source automation framework that I think every tester should know about, and it's a great event for anyone interested in test automation as it brings together a community of developers, testers, and enthusiast to share knowledge tools and best practices. It offers both onsite and online options for attendees. I've had the honor for the past 3 years of running and hosting the online event and I'm always amazed to learn about its diverse testing features, a very, very helpful, very dedicated community. And I'll also be hosting the online event taking place in March. And once again, you can find the link for that down below. If you know me, I like to include things outside of functional automation. I believe in through end-to-end testing and one of those testing techniques I think every tester should know is security. That's why I'm occluding Owasp on this, which holds several key events in 2025 that are highly beneficial for software testers in automation engineers. And these gatherings offer opportunities to enhance skills, stay updated on industry trends, and expand your professional networks. As you know, I truly believe that software testers should be involved in security testing. And these events are a great way to get up to speed on security testing. Attending these events can provide valuable insights into application security, directly benefiting your testing and automation processes. I also think Owasp is one of the most undervalued resources for testers. Definitely check that out as well. Next up is the BrowserStack QA Leadership Summit. The BrowserStack Leadership Summit brings together leaders and experts in the field of quality assurance to discuss the latest trends, challenges, methods and techniques around innovations and testing. It's a fantastic opportunity for QA professionals to network, learn more from industry leaders and explore new strategies to enhance your software testing process. This summit typically features a lineup of insightful sessions, panel discussions, and workshops led by top experts from various industries. And it's all about sharing knowledge and empowering QA teams to drive quality and efficiency in their organization. And it's also all online. And I had the honor kicking off last year's event by speaking one of the co-founders about navigating the future of testing and quality insights, test coverage, A.I. and more. Now, I had a great time. And rumor has it I might be speaking at the next one as well. Alright, another smaller conference, single track that I really love, the community here was excellent as QA or the Highway, which is an in-person one day software quality assurance and testing conference. It's a fantastic event for QA professionals to gather, share insights, and learn from industry experts. And the conference typically features a variety of sessions covering a wide range of topics from test automation, Agile testing, workshops, and network opportunities, all aimed to enhance your skills and knowledge in the QA field. And it's a great place to explore new tools, methodologies, and best practices. And it also has a special place in my heart because it was the first and only conference I've ever keynoted in person. And it was an awesome conference experience. They treat the speakers like rock stars. They actually gave me this awesome LED Test Guild light, which is sweet as a speaker gift, so it really has a special place in my heart. If you've never been a highly recommend, you add it to your testing bucket list to attend in 2025.
[00:09:13] For hardcore performance engineers, you definitely want to check out the International Conference on Performance Engineering, ICPE, which is the premiere event dedicated to advancing performance engineering across diverse computing environments. It has a rich history spanning 16 years and originated from convergence of workshops on software performance prediction and benchmarking. It really is for technical, really performance nerds. And this conference provides a unique platform for industry practitioners and researchers to explore the latest trends, innovations, and challenges in performance engineering. I learned about this event years ago from Alexander Podelko, who is a hard core performance engineer and currently senior performance engineer at Amazon, and he heads up a lot of things at this conference as well. And he told me the ICPE covers a wide range of topics, including performance modeling, analysis, measuring, benchmarking, and run time management across various systems ranging from cloud and edge computing to mobile devices in large scale data centers. Attendees gain insights into critical aspects such as scalability, reliability, security, energy efficiency, and cost effectiveness in modern software and system design. And the conference addresses a bunch of emerging areas of performance such as the AI-driven systems, iOt, cloud-edge infrastructure, and a whole bunch more. So you definitely want to turn if you want to gain insights from leading experts of performance engineering and you want to discover innovative techniques of performance modeling and optimization. And just like security testing, I think software testers and automation engineers need to know more about performance as well. And here's a great conference to attend to do so and really up your performance knowledge as well. The next one is InnovateQA. So the founder of InnovateQA, Anna Royzman has been on automation testing podcasts for many years. She runs many different conferences. I think this is her latest. She is an expert in running software engineering onsite events for QA that a lot of people rave about. And her latest is Innovative QA, which I think takes place in Seattle in June. And then, Anna told me this conference focuses on the importance of software testing with insights, best practices and cutting edge tools to build high quality, safe, accessible and reliable systems and products that customers love. And these events also, once again, typically feature industry experts, thought leaders, and practitioners who share practical insights, emerging trends and real world case studies to help software testers. By attending Innovate QA events in 2024, we'll have an opportunity to deepen your understanding of cutting edge testing tools and methodologies, and learn how to streamline your automation efforts and connect with the community of like minded peers. The last one shouldn't be a surprise, it's one of the biggest and one of the oldest online events dedicated 100% automation testing and that is Automation Guild online conference and community. Automation Guild was one of the first online conferences in the world, dedicated automation of software testing helping you succeed in creating what I like to call test automation awesomeness. I started around 10 years ago as an online only event. It's a 5 day event. And it covers not just functional testing, but full end-to-end testing in topics around performance testing, security testing. We have workshops and a whole bunch more. And based on feedback from thousands of software testers that have attended our event over the years, it's a fantastic event which brings together some of the top automation experts globally to share actual tips the latest tools, techniques and best practices mindsets you can implement immediately. We cover functional automation testing on artificial intelligence, DevOps, performance testing, security testing, Continuous Integration, mobile testing, and more. And the best part, it's 100% online. You could join from anywhere without the hassle of traveling. You also get lifetime access to all the recordings, which means you can revisit the sessions any time you need a refresher. Think of this as a hybrid conference slash membership slash community. All rolled up in one full year long automation testing and learning. And your online ticket also gets you access to a year long commitment from the community with one new training session every month to help you with your automation efforts throughout the year. If you're all about accelerating your modern software automation efforts and connecting with a community of like minded professionals, make sure to register now using that link down below. The event has a 3 day ticket and a 5 day ticket. So it's happening February 10th to the 14th. But the community lives on before, during, and long after the event is over. And if you missed it, you can still join the community, get instant access to all of the recordings within all access replay pass ticket. And as I mentioned, I created this event for software automation engineers, by software testing automation engineers. In 2016, as user conference on advanced automation testing topics. But it covers a bunch of other things that can pertain to both experts and newbies in software test automation. And Automation Guild aims to help attendees discover a tip two best practice and mindset that will help you on a new or existing automation project. And unlike any of these other events, we come with a six month money back guarantee. After six months of you can honestly tell me you didn't learn one tip, two technique, a best practice to help you on a mission. You'll get your money back, no questions asked. If you're looking for a 24/7 automation software testing community to support and exchange ideas, I highly recommend you joined this event. Once again, you can find that in the link down below. Look forward to seeing you there.
[00:14:47] Joe Colantonio And regardless of what event you attend. Here are some quick tips to get the most out of your experience. This is also based on a lot of tips that I was told by many automation engineers on my podcast that I included in my book as well. So before the conference, you definitely want to research speakers and expertise weeks before the conference starts. Make sure to set specific learning objectives and outcomes you want to achieve. Join conference, social media groups and engage in pre-conference discussions. Also review attendee list of available and identify potential connections. You don't even know what kind of connections you make at conferences to mix it up to your LinkedIn profile and professional social media. Also, prepare a 32nd elevator pitch for your role and interests and also prepare note taking templates and tools. During the conference, obviously, you want to take structured notes, but for folks that are attending Automation Guild, just so you know, we're training an AI chatbot with all the sessions and all the live Q&A. After the fact, you could just use it as a coach and ask it, Hey, what did this person talk about? Automatically will summarize and take the notes for you. Also make sure to document key quotes and insights for sharing with the team. I know a lot of companies once they send someone to an event, they usually ask them to do a presentation for the team after the fact. Also prepare questions for Q&A portions and use conference hashtags to engage with the community. For networking, you want to actively participate in discussions, forums and chats. Once again, you never know who's around and who's going to see you and find interest and common ground with you and give you offers if you look for different opportunities. It's funny, when I was at a conference, I was asking a lot of questions and I noticed someone turning around to look who was asking those questions. It turned out a year or two later that person was interviewing me for a job and you remember that. And I got the role. So you never know what's going to happen at these type of events. Definitely connect with speakers and attendees on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has been huge for myself and my career as well. Make sure to share insights and engage with others in their chats and also schedule follow up conversations. Also, you can learn a lot from vendors, so I highly recommend you make the most out of the exhibition areas. Research vendors beforehand. Prepare specific questions about tools and solutions. Schedule a demo follow ups and take notes on potential solutions. And after the conference, I highly recommend you schedule a personal debrief session within 24 hours. Create an action plan for implementing new ideas. Share key learnings with your team. They always say teaching is the best way to learn. Follow up with the new connection within a week and join relevant communities mentioned during the session. Those are my top 10 must attend software testing conferences events for 2025. Let me know your thoughts as well in the comments below. If you haven't already, make sure to like, subscribe to never miss another episode. As always, test everything and keep the good. Cheers.
[00:18:09] Thanks again for your automation awesomeness. The links of everything we value we covered in this episode. Head in over to testguild.com/a532. And if the show has helped you in any way, why not rate it and review it in iTunes? Reviews really help in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them. So that's it for this episode of the Test Guild Automation Podcast. I'm Joe, my mission is to help you succeed with creating end-to-end, full-stack automation awesomeness. As always, test everything and keep the good. Cheers.
[00:18:09] Hey, thank you for tuning in. It's incredible to connect with close to 400,000 followers across all our platforms and over 40,000 email subscribers who are at the forefront of automation, testing, and DevOps. If you haven't yet, join our vibrant community at TestGuild.com where you become part of our elite circle driving innovation, software testing, and automation. And if you're a tool provider or have a service looking to empower our guild with solutions that elevate skills and tackle real world challenges, we're excited to collaborate. Visit TestGuild.info to explore how we can create transformative experiences together. Let's push the boundaries of what we can achieve.
[00:18:55] Oh, the Test Guild Automation Testing podcast. With lutes and lyres, the bards began their song. A tune of knowledge, a melody of code. Through the air it spread, like wildfire through the land. Guiding testers, showing them the secrets to behold.
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