In this episode, Vernon and Richard celebrate their love for the software testing community, discussing the importance of people, tools, teaching, and the thrill of conferences. They reflect on personal growth, the challenges of production issues, and the joy of mentoring others. The conversation emphasizes the connections made within the industry and the shared experiences that enrich their careers.

Links to stuff we mentioned during the pod:

• 10:28 - Selenium
  • The Selenium website
  • The BiDi spec
• 10:44 - Jason & Simon
  • Jason's LinkedIn
  • Simon's LinkedIn
• 13:17 - James Thomas
  • Here's an example of what I mean
  • And another!
  • Aaaaaand another!
• 27:02 - The PEBCAK error
• 27:28 Conferences
  • 27:58 - PeersCon 2025
  • 28:17 - Agile Testing Days 2025
  • 28:29 - Let's Test SA
    • Please DM if you can commit to going and/or know of companies that would be willing to sponsor!
  • BONUS - The legendary Chris Kenst maintains Software Testing Conferences, which has a list of allTheConferences
• 29:33 - Martin Hynie
  • Martin's newsletter
  • Martin's LinkedIn

00:00 - Intro
01:11 - Is it our birthday yet?
01:52 - The Forced Socio-Economic Day episode
02:20 - What do we love about our careers?
03:07 - We love PEOPLE
04:39 - Different kids of friendship
06:08 - Making a huge impact on people with tiny interactions
08:18 - The benefit of being tool aware
10:10 - We love TOOLS
10:20 - Rich's favourite tool
12:03 - Vern's favourite tool
15:40 - We love the VARIETY
18:21 - We love TEACHING
19:58 - What does the balance look like between teaching, mentoring, and coaching in Rich's current role
22:33 - We love CHALLENGE
23:51 - Systems thinking and understanding how things work
27:28 - We love CONFERENCES
35:35 - Mutual appreciation ❤️
36:28 - The Friendly Tester is Dead. Long Live Richard Bradshaw!