Since itās that time of year again, do you have any NY resolutions regarding your testing skills, conferences you want to apply to or attend or career direction?
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I was reading recently not to set goals for the next year that you wonāt achieve.
Instead create a plan, a schedule and follow up constantly on those each few days.
Iām considering creating some general ideas on what Iād like the next year to be about:
- personal: health, hobby, family, ā¦
- professional: work related, non-work related, career related.
Related to Testing Iām planning to create a schedule for each month and follow up step by step.
Goal wise would look like this, not sure Iād be able to fit them all in the same year though.
- Read at least 5 testing related books.
- Learn and try to practice how to read/learn more efficiently
- Doing a RST online applied training
- Joining weekendTesting sessions
- Practice starting in new projectsā¦practice testing management, strategies, product coverage outlines creation.
- Practice fast reaction/problem solvingā¦
- Recover some knowledge from BBST and helping as an assistant instructor on BBST Foundationā¦
- Plus get a bit more into some tooling/programming/scripting(Iāve neglected that during the few past years)ā¦
- Practice testing documentation talking, negotiation, writingā¦
- (Wanted to go to Copenhagen Context this year but was cancelled - So Iāll have to choose another cheap conference to attend - or maybe Iād replace it with another useful thing for the money - a course in management?)
- Do something about the meetup Iām trying to hold here. Go to other non-testing related meetups.
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Not so much a resolution as a goal: last yearās test-related goal was to speak at TestBash Philadelphia and publish some more on the Dojo.
For 2018 my test-related goals are:
- Blog about testing at least once a week.
- Speak at TestBash USA this year
- Keep getting published on the Dojo
Personal ones are:
- Blog a minimum of 5 times a week.
- Get my passport.
- Get back to my fiction writing.
- Get into better health overall.
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I really want to get off my butt and take a proper stab at performance testing and get back into security testing. I have done many training courses but not properly sat down to apply my learnings in a long time.
I would like to start blogging a bit more regularly than I have been.
I have some writing ideas for the Dojo that I want to action.
Iām doing my first conference talk at Nordic Testing Days which will hopefully be the start of more but Iāll see how the first one goes 
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Hey Paul,
Good questions and I have definitely been thinking about it.
- Finish setting up my Robot framework & set up API testing as well
- Research and develop well-written blog articles as a way of exploratory learning this is me
- Attend Sydney Bash as an active participant and encourage others here in Brisbane to attend as well
- Find a contract that excites me for 2018
- Widen out within the testing community to find ones who are passionate about testing & want to share the excitement
- Find a volunteer organisation that I can use robot automation to assist with their processes (waiting to hear back from one check them out (http://www.orangeskylaundry.com.au/))
- Get back to swimming regularly (best testing ideas happening while swimming laps)
I set these up as User Stories on my kanban board which is along my hallway wall. It makes for interesting discussions from non IT guest when they notice it 
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Good question @paulmaxwellwalters . I never actually do new yearās resolution, but this thread inspired me.
- Be more involved in testing-community (through MoT, but also try to attend some local meetups)
- Up my testing-basics (maybe through certification, but also by doing some more reading (just bought āAgile Testingā))
- Try to blog more.
- Automate more of my tasks and tests at work
- Learn more about Protractor
@kimberley Thatās a nice idea, make a personal kanban board for these
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Iām setting intentions for 2018, and planning. I brought a shiny af planner for 2018, and already started filling it.
- I need and want to podcast smarter
- I want to write more, both personally and professionally
- I want to be healthier and happier - yoga and gym regularly, eat better, self care, etc
- I want to clean for at least 15 mins everyday, as I have a habit of marathon cleaning instead of maintenance cleaning
- Speak more
- Put a mental health in tech workshop together
- I want to start saving a bit more as well, itās been adhoc so far, need to start really planning it
EDITED because lolz this is about testing resolutions, so, my solely testing related intentions:
- Set up my first automation suite in Nightwatch
- Learn more
- Get my notetaking skills down
- Focus on device testing a bit more
- Learn more about VR testing, especially accessibility in VR
- Get another job once this contract is up!
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Hi Gemma,
Love your plans.
I would definitely be interested in the mental health in tech workshop & where do you podcast?
Cheers K
Thanks Ronald it looks a tad āinterestingā to anyone who doesnāt understand Kanban but it opens the door to demystifying what I do for work to the uninitiated person. 
Hi!
Iām glad to hear the workshop is of interest! Iām not sure what form itāll take yet but looking forward to putting stuff together.
I have two podcasts! One on testing (letstalkabouttests.xyz) and one on mental health (innerpod.co.uk)
Thanks for all the replies! It is appreciated.
For my part, I havenāt yet decided on a firm submission topic for conferences this year. I am keen to speak at a few if they will let me and my academic and work commitments allow.
Regarding learning, I wrote about various tech learning objectives and linked resources in a blog post. The abridged version is as follows -
- Practising an hour a day of programming. I know quite a few languages but am quite rusty generally.
- API Test Automation using Postman and other tools
- Machine Learning theory and practice using free resources from the University of British Columbia and the University of Oxford
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I like the idea of having goals more than resolutions. Resolutions always sound so formal and final. Like if you donāt do it, youāre a failure.
So some of my goals for 2018 professional goals are.
- Learn more about automation and coding, so I can better help my team
- Do a presentation at a testing meet up (Iām almost finished putting together my presentation, so will be practicing it a lot before I give it a go).
- Do more with security and penetration testing if possible
- Help others like myself who struggled or are struggling with mental health issues in the workplace (@gemma.hill1987, I would be very interested in hearing more about that tech workshop, would love to help if I can).
On a personal note
- Go back to the gym
- Not to be as introverted
- And build up the guts to propose to my girlfriend
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Hi @michael_dixon!
Iām not sure on ideas yet, or what parts of mental health to tackle. Iām undergoing training to become a mental health first aider this month, so Iām hoping to get some ideas and resources from there. I might start a thread asking people what theyād like to see as thereās been some interest!
Gem
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I would be interested in the mental health workshop. As an employer, Iām currently adapting the work environment and business practices to better support mental health and neurodiversity.
Alan
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