Become a "Coyote" at CAST 2014

Now that the full program has been announced, and my talk is posted and described, I can now say, with a certainty, what I'll be talking about at CAST 2014 this August in New York City.

Actually, I need to qualify that. It's not what I'm going to talk about, it's what "we" are going to talk about.

Harrison Lovell is an up and coming tester with copious amounts of wit, humor and energy. Seriously, he gives me a run for my money in the energy department. I met Harrison through the PerScholas mentorship program, and we have been communicating and working together regularly on a number of initiatives since we first met in September of 2013. The results of those interactions, experiments, and a variety of hits (and yes, some misses here and there), are the core of the talk we will be doing together.

Here's the basics from the sched.org site:

"Coyote Teaching: A new take on the art of mentorship"

Too often, new software testers are dropped into the testing world with little idea as to what to do, how to do it, and where to get help if they need it. Mentors are valuable, but too often, mentors try to shoe-horn these new testers into their way of seeing the world. Often, the result is frustration on both sides.

“Coyote Teaching” emphasizes answering questions with questions, using the environment as examples, and allowing those being mentored the chance to create their own unique learning experience. Coyote Teaching lets new testers learn about the product, testing, the world in which their product works, and the contexts in which those efforts matter.

We will demonstrate the Coyote Teaching approach. Through examples from our own mentoring relationship, we show ways in which both mentors (and those being mentored) can benefit from this arrangement.

“When raised by a coyote, one becomes a coyote”.


Speakers

Michael Larsen
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, Socialtext
Michael Larsen is Senior Tester located in San Francisco, California. Over the past seventeen years, he has been involved in software testing for products ranging from network routers and switches, virtual machines, capacitance touch devices, video games and distributed database applications that service the legal and entertainment industries.
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Harrison C. Lovell
Associate Engineer, QA, Virtusa
Harrison C. Lovell is an Associate Engineer at Virtusa’s Albany office. He is a proud alumnus from Per Scholas’ ‘IT-Ready Training’ and STeP (Software Testing education Program) courses. For the past year, he has thrown himself into various environments dealing with testing, networking and business practices with a passion for obtaining information and experience.


Yes, I think this is going to be an amazing talk. Of course, I would say that, because I'm part of the duo giving it, but really, I think we have something unique and interesting to share, and perhaps a few interesting tricks that might help you if you are looking to be a mentor to others, or if you are one who wants to be mentored. One thing I can guarantee, considering the combinations of personalities that Harrison and I will bring to the talk... you will not be bored ;)