TestBash Philly 2017 - The Lost 99 Second Talk

Honestly, I didn't really lose it, it was buried with all my other writing notes. I wanted to post this today as a reminder that if you work in the tech industry, you are not non-technical. I'm sure someone out there will disagree with that statement, but I feel like it's important to keep saying it. Inclusion vs exclusion. You may not be as technically skilled as someone else, but that doesn't mean you are non-technical. 

 This is the full text of the planned 99 second talk I gave at TestBash Philly 2017 (I omitted some things for time, but wanted to post the original here).

Recognizing Your Technical Might


Who has a computer or smart phone?

As owners of these things…have you called yourself Non-technical?

Yes - Me Too!

 It’s Bullshit!

How many you have been free IT service for your relatives?

Me too.

We tell our devices all kinds of things everyday. We give our devices instructions, and those instructions trigger other instructions.

We have become so clever in disguising the technical and making it mundane, most things we do now with a push of a button.

A single input, a slick interface.

Fact is, you all know more than you think you do. You know what’s under that button, that slick interface. You know how those programs and devices work in the real world. You might know more about how something works than the folks that created it.

Testers are explorers of the digital frontier. You are the advanced mission, creating the map, redrawing parts of it as you know more, relaying that information back, helping to make changes or making those changes yourself.

We boldly dive into all kinds of things everyday that didn’t exist until someone’s complied a bunch of symbols and a machine translated, then presented it upon request in whatever configuration you wished up at that moment.

Do not accept anyone calling you non-technical. Do not accept a narrative someone else has created for you.

Create your own.

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