You little beauty

We Aussies are a pretty laid back lot but a software testing event in Adelaide this November has a whole heap of software testers tapping their toes in anticipation for the first Australian Workshop on Software Testing (OZWST) to be held 8th & 9th November in Adelaide.
I’m one of the few invitees to this event and its looking to be a couple of days of extreme learning.

I see this as an historic event in Australian Software Testing Calendar. For what I believe is the first time ever,  Australian software testers are coming together with these objectives:

They want to learn to become better software testers
Sure, many testers want to become better in their craft, but how many are prepared to pay their own to Adelaide to do so? Unlike conferences or summits where companies pay for training, most testers attending are self funded and they’re doing it because they know that this is a unique opportunity to learn and improve their software testing skills through experiential learning.

They want to actively promote skilled software testing
Let's face it, on the whole software testing has a bad image in Australia and we need some serious champions out there who are willing to stare down the grey faceless masses, that either through ignorance and/or stupidity promote mediocre testing. The testers at OZWST mean business; they want to persuade and influence others – and they’re looking to OZWST to help them gain those skills.

They want to build an community of thoughtful testers
Software Testing is a poorly understood skill in Australia, and here is a bunch of testers who want to change that. Its no surprise this event is run by and for Context Driven Testers. By working together as a community, software testers can share war stories, learn from experiences and encourage each other.