268: Saying Goodbye to TestTalks

Hey, it's Joe. And in this episode, it's with mixed emotions that I say goodbye. But it's not what you think.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Drop that.

Welcome to the Test Guild Automation Podcast. We're all getting together to learn more about software testing and automation with your host, Joe Calantonio.

If you've been listening for a while, you've heard I've been talking about how I'm going to be renaming the show to Test Guild. And so this is the last episode of Test Talks, or the last episode under the name of Test Talks. This is going to be the first episode under the new name of the Test Guild Automation Podcast. And there are a bunch of reasons why I made this name change. And that's what I'll be going over today and how it's going to help you create even more automation awesomeness. Listen up.

The Test Guild Automation Podcast is sponsored by the fantastic folks at Sauce Labs. Their cloud based test platform helps ensure your favorite mobile apps and websites work flawlessly on every browser, operating system and device. Get a free trial. Visit testguild.com sourcelabs and click on the exclusive sponsor section to try it for free for 14 days. Check it out. So a lot has changed since I started JoeColenternia.com, which is my blog, over nine years ago. Really. I started it almost like a midlife crisis. I was getting older and I wanted to find a way to keep myself relevant. So if I ever got laid off or fired, you know, I'd have a platform that when people looked for me when I was interviewing at other jobs, they could see I had pretty much a portfolio. So that was the whole reason behind starting joecolenterner.com originally. And so it really began as a way for me to share what I was working on day to day as an automation performance engineer. And most of the topics I covered back in the day was really hands on experience with the Mercury HP test tool stack. So think quick Test Professional, windrunner, Loadrunner, alm, all those types of tools. But over the years however, I found myself evolving into more of a researcher architect role and really began expanding to cover all things automation related. More open source type technology like Selenium started covering DevOps, C security testing, performance testing, whole bunch more and even of late. Recently I've got to cover topics based solely, not even what I've done hands on yet, but really solely on what I've learned from other experts in the industry and then sharing them with you. So I also began hosting a weekly podcast, Test Talks, which you're listening to now, what used to be Test Talks about five years ago. And once again, I style that more as a way to help me work on my communication skills. I'm really an introvert, so if you ever saw me at a conference, I'm usually hiding out in the back. I really don't talk much. So I thought this would be a great chance for me to really work on communicating with people, working on my skills, interviewing and things like that. So that was the genesis of Test Talks. So I didn't know how big it would get, but it really seems to be when I talk to people, that's what they know me for. They know me for this podcast. And then three years ago, I said, hey, wouldn't it be great if I could have a conference that people don't have to pay for to fly down, to waste money on airfare, hotel fare, taxi service, food, leave, work for a long period of time, if you're a germaphobe, have to go out in public. If it'd be great if I can take that same type of atmosphere, that same type of experience, and put it online in an online conference dedicated 100% to automation testing, wouldn't that be awesome? So then I came out with Automation Guild, which was the first online conference in the world, dedicated 100% to helping you with automation testing. And then I grew that to Guild conferences and started covering other topics like testing, performance testing, security testing. And so once again, Guild conferences. So already I had three different names. I had joecolentonia.com, which was my blog, Test Talks, which was my podcast, Guild Conferences, which is online conferences. And I had multiple sites. I had to keep up with multiple sites to update. So that's one of the reasons why I decided to change the name to Test Guild. And also, I'll be honest, most of the revenue I make is from the online conferences. And I like to do it full time eventually. And so I thought I'd focus all my energy on that. And hopefully people were confused when they were attending the conferences. They didn't know I had a blog, or some folks knew I had a blog, but they didn't know I had a podcast. Or some people knew I had a podcast and not a blog. So I thought it'd be great to kind of get the same type of name so people aren't confused when they go to a Guild conference. Test Guild sounds more like Guild Conferences. So, needless to say, things have grown well beyond the initial vision I had of a simple personal Brand personal blog Joe Calantonio and the simple fact is I've outgrown my name. So to reflect that change, I decided to rename joecolantonio.com and test talks to Test Guild. For folks that don't know what is a guild, I think guild is a really cool name. A guild is an association of artisans, in this case software engineers, who oversee the practice of bettering their craft and trade in a particular area, which is testing. So that'd be great to call it Test Guild. So Test Guild will be where we all get together to learn more about how to use automation, performance, security, testing, DevOps and tools more effectively. So we all get together and it's not just me teaching you, it's you teaching me. And everyone is an expert at some tip tool or technique that they could share with the guild to help them with their automation efforts. So I really like that idea. So that's why I didn't call it a university. University really sounds like I'm a teacher and you're a student. Right? Where a guild is more like we're all experts in one small area of something. We're all an expert in something. Even if you've been doing automation for just a month, the environment you're working in and the tool tech stack you're working in is probably completely different from mine. And you probably have a tip that could help me and I have a tip that can help you. So that's what I, that's. I really want to foster more of this type of everyone's an expert. Everyone should be sharing and learning from one another in this guild like environment. So going forward, everything is going to be under the Test Guild name. So this really is going to open up opportunities as well for others that want to contribute. So in the past, JoeColentoy.com was kind of weird to have guest contributors because it was joecolentoyo.com right? So now let's Test Guild. For instance, Lisa Crispin did a series with me a few months back and now, you know, I'd like to open up to more folks and it'd be under the Test Guild brand. I just think it makes more sense that way. So joecolantonio.com is going to become test guild.com test talks is what you're listening to now. What used to be Test Talks is going to be renamed the Test Guild Automation Podcast. And so a lot of people have been asking, why change the name Test Talks once again? You know, I want to create other podcasts, so I want to create a podcast on performance testing, one on security testing. And I was going to originally create another website called, you know, Something to Do with Performance or Something to do with Security. And so I didn't want to have all these other websites, again, all separate under different brand names. And calling it Test Talks doesn't really make sense because I have a blog and have conferences, and they're not really talk. So I needed a name to put them all under. So I'm going to be starting a podcast dedicated to performance testing, and I'm going to call it the Test Guild Performance Podcast. I'm also probably going to start a podcast on security testing, and then that's going to be called the Test Guild Security Podcast. And they're all going to live under Test Guild. So right now, if you go to test guild.com, there'll be an option for blog, podcast and conferences. It's nice and easy, so hopefully it'll be more clear. So now when you go to podcasts, you'll see one for automation, one for performance, and probably eventually will be one for security. So I think you get the picture why I'm doing it. I just think it makes more sense and it really makes things more clear and less. And I think there'll be less confusion around what's going on. Even though I wanted to bring Guild Conferences over into Test Guild, the reason I didn't is Test Guild Guild conferences has over 2,000 students already, and it just would have been too difficult. And it's kind of from the experts I've spoken to. They said it's probably better to keep it separate just in case I get hacked. And because Guild Conferences has username information, I like to have extra security on it. So Guild Conferences stays the same. But because it's. The main site is called Test Guild, I think that the new name reflects the relationship there, so there should be less confusion. Also, our new logo reflects the change as well. So if you take a look at our logo first, obviously when you look at the logo, so if you haven't already seen it, go to Test Guild and you'll see it. Guilds get their start in the Middle Ages, and so what's more Middle Ages than castles? So if you look at Test Guild, it almost looks like a shield. So slash castle. Also, guilds were known to protect their members in many ways. So the castle type shield reflects the guild as a safe space for folks to learn, ask questions, exchange ideas, and support each other as they're perfecting their craft of testing. And as I mentioned, There are no like experts. Like I am the master expert. It's everyone is an expert. Everyone should be free to share a tip tool, a technique or best practice that help them within their current role. And I'm sure someone in the guild is going to benefit from that. And this is really how I see the community and the spirit I like to see and foster at the Test Guild. Lastly, I just want to assure you that although the name has changed, you can come here and find the same helpful resources and automation awesomeness you've come to rely on in the past. So even though we have a new name, it's the same Automation Awesomeness, but even hopefully more automation awesomeness. And what better way to express this new awesomeness with a new theme song for the Test Guild. Check it out. Listen up, tell me what you think.

Test Guild, what you need is right here, ready to protect you from weak software. Software Automation Testing. Time to get it rolling for way better security and better performance codes that will break it down. That is what it's doing. Find the bugs before you ship the software out to the user so you don't have to worry. Nothing to fear. Full stack testing to help you succeed at the Test Guild. Yeah.

Also as I mentioned, I'm going to study a podcast called the Test Guild Performance Podcast. A lot of people have said, well you should keep them all in one podcast and just release it multiple times during the week. And I just found out based on surveys that a lot of people rather have a separate podcast before performance testing. Even though it's still testing, I still think it's important. I think I can really go into the weeds deeper with a separate podcast for performance testing and that people then won't get turned off by if they just do mainly functional automation, that there's going to be topics mixed in with performance testing. I just thought it'd be great just to separate it and make it really clear that that this, the Test Guild Automation podcast will be dedicated towards more testing automation DevOps type topics and the Test Guild Performance Podcast be more towards performance testing and cyber liability testing. So definitely you're going to want to check that out. That's going live September 9th. I'll have my first episode and you can get there by going to Test Guild, clicking on podcast and then just choosing the performance podcast. Hope that makes sense. Hope you like the new site. Hopefully the new site is more streamlined as well, less confusion and I paid some money to really get really good design in there. Hopefully better UI UX type flow. And so let me know what you think. I really would appreciate it. So you can drop me an email at my new email@joestguild.com Like I said, it's just a quick episode. Just wanted to give you a heads up that this is now what used to be Test Talks is now the officially Test Guild Automation Podcast. We still have our awesome sponsor Sauce Labs, so really happy about that. And we also have a brand new intro and outro. So that's it for this episode of the Test Guild Automation Podcast. For links to everything value we covered in this episode, head on over to testguild.com a like automation two six eight. That's a 268. So once again the naming convention has changed because when I have the performance podcast it's going to be P in the episode number. So P like performance and the episode number and security is going to be S like security followed by the security number. So because this is the automation podcast, it's going to be a like Automation 26 8. So that's Test Guild forward slash a 268. And while you're there, make sure to click on the exclusive sponsor section to learn all about Sauce Labs awesome products and services. So that's it for the Test Guild Automation Podcast. I'm Joe and as always my mission is help you succeed with creating Automation awesomeness. As always, test everything and keep the good. Cheers.

Thanks for listening to the Test Guild Automation Podcast. Head on over to testguild.com for full show notes, amazing blog articles and online testing conferences. Make sure to subscribe to join the Guild and continue your testing journey. This has been a Joe Calantonio production.