This year I made my first visit across the pond to speak at the EuroSTAR Testing Conference, hosted this year in the beautiful city of Antwerp, Belgium. The city is a beautiful juxtaposition of old world and modern life with cobble streets, gothic architecture, and every food imaginable.

The opportunity to speak at such a prestigious conference was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking — not to mention it was an amazing chance to finally use my passport which had been collecting dust with COVID lockdowns.

It wasn’t just the public speaking that made me a bundle of nerves though. I wasn’t employed full-time and had been freelancing my way through applications and blog posts, speaking engagements, and other consulting work. Dropping everything to travel so far when I had no steady income seemed irresponsible, but I knew I had to go. Even if the idea of going to another continent by myself on a strict budget was sending my anxiety through the roof.

Themes

EuroSTAR has a theme every year and for 2023 that was “software development is a social activity”.

It’s like it was made for me! Of course I took my Dungeons and Dragons talk, Becoming the Hero of the Sprint.

Think about it. In Dungeons and Dragons, you have a group of individuals with different skills and abilities working together toward a common goal. Each person has a specific role to play, and if one person fails, the entire group fails. You see it, right?

The conference theme was so cohesive that all the talks built upon each other. With speakers from all over the place and at different stages in their careers, it was nice to have a new perspectives, solutions, and validation.

I joined 2 different gamified tutorials that were as magical as the city around me. These activities forces me to really think about the connections and difficulties that can arise with a simple lack of communication.

While there is always a struggle with which talk to attend and which one you wish you could duplicate yourself for, I take solace in the fact that there were no right answers here. There never is.

Still, like most adventures, the extra experience points are in the side quests. The biggest value for me came from all of the lean coffees and side huddles that brought new perspectives and solutions, the conversation and questions that came after the talks, and the exploration of Belgian beer in the evenings that brought validation.

Sanne said it best in her LinkedIn post:

Sure, the talks are awesome, but you know what’s even better?

The chance to mingle with the delegates and speakers afterward! It’s like a secret sauce that makes the whole experience super valuable. I missed so many talks because the people I was talking to made me forget the time.

The city was beautiful, and the conference still has my mind buzzing a couple of weeks later with the ideas and camaraderie that can only be found at these events. I was genuinely nervous to step onto such a large stage with so many people I’ve looked up to watching me, but the feedback I received was actionable and supportive. It turns out traveling alone to another continent isn’t as scary when you know so many people from your online communities. And speaking in front of your peers isn’t terrifying when they all truly want your success. Just further proof that testing really is a social activity.

So here are the top 5 takeaways that really hit home for me:

• Communication is key and more important than any technical skill you think you have to master.
• A genius on your team is not as great as a genius team.
• Stop and chat with people, even if you really want to see that talk.
• People want you to succeed. If they don’t, that’s on them.
• Not everything has to tie into AI. (Please, I beg you).

If you have the opportunity to attend, or better yet, speak at a conference that takes you away from home and out of your comfort zone, then with my whole heart, I would suggest taking it without hesitation.

You never know where the road will take you to level up your skills.