This year will be the second year of the AutomationGuild.com, the online automation conference put on by Joe Colantonio, of the TestTalks.com podcast. Speakers have submitted pre-recorded videos that you can watch at your leisure throughout the year. Each speaker will also be giving a live-streaming Q & A session.

Some of the Speakers:

• Richard Bradshaw - head of the Ministry of Testing in the UK
• Angie Jones - SDET at Twitter
• Lisa Crispin - of many Agile Testing books and conference
• Your truly, T.J. Maher - soon-to-be SDET at ThreatStack.com

... You may be wondering how someone like myself who only has been doing automation for two years became a speaker. You would be surprised how supportive and encouraging software testing conferences are to new speakers! All you really need to do is sketch out a topic and fill out an application.

Do you need practice giving talks? Get your start at the Ministry of Testing - Boston!

At the Ministry of Testing - Boston we are always looking for speakers. No previous experience necessary! Contact me to give a five, ten, twenty or forty minute talk related to testing to our group! Maybe we can workshop some talks together?

About the AutomationGuild.com conference, Applitools will be offering a discount code for people who wish to sign up. You may have heard the name "Applitools" before: Moshe Milman, co-founder and COO, spoke to our group last year to give a tour of their visual testing product. November, I interviewed Jason Ison, a Senior Success Engineer of Applitools. Our group also crashed Jason's webinar, also held in November.

"Applitools is proud to be the Platinum Sponsor of Automation Guild 2018 Online Conference - and we are offering you an exclusive 20% discount when you sign up.

"Simply go to the Automation Guild website, and add APPLITOOLS in the "Enter Coupon Code" field when signing up, to claim your 20% discount at checkout. 

"Want to learn more about this one-of-a-kind online conference? Read below:
25+ Leading Test/Dev Experts Share Epic Automation Secrets in this one-of-a-kind Online Conference

"Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the skills, tools, techniques, and best practices that will dominate 2018, which will help you perfect your craft and accelerate your career!
Watch session from your desk, at your own pace! Register now".

... Can't make the sessions? ... No worries! I will be attempting to see if any of the speakers wish to talk at a Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup event.

- T.J. Maher

Twitter: @tjmaher1