DevConf.us: Web UI Testing for Beginners

Continuing our preview series of the speakers of the inaugural DevConf.us, today we're sharing an interview with Og Maciel, Senior Manager of Quality Engineering for the Satellite team at Red Hat.

Maciel's August 18 talk will focus on an introduction to Selenium, the portable testing framework for web apps, and how beginners can get started using the Selenium IDE.

Q. Let’s open with the easy one: who are you and how did you get to where you professionally are today?

A. I'm a Senior Manager of Quality Engineering at Red Hat and I can honestly say that my involvement with Open Source pretty much paved the way to my current role. When your entire Open Source community is your "customer" base, you have to learn how to be proactive, think quick on your feet, be diplomatic and respectful, and consistently put your "customer's" needs as your highest priority. There is also the pride that you're working on something that is being used by literally thousands of users and you want to make sure that their experience is smooth and satisfactory. From that experience to heading the Quality Engineering team here at Red Hat feels like part of the journey.

Q. Please tell us about your first experience with free/open source software.

A. I started playing with Linux around 1996, but I guess I really rook the plunge when I started helping translate GNOME applications during the early days of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. The community was super friendly and welcoming and even though I was not a rock star developer, my translation skills were appreciated and the community was receptive to all the hundreds of hours I poured into making Linux applications usable by non English speakers.

Q. Without giving too much away, what can attendees expect from your presentation "Web UI Automation With Selenium For Beginners"?

A. My goal is for attendees to learn about Web UI automation and take home the foundation for designing and developing automated Python code using Pytest, Selenium, Travis, and SauceLabs. I feel that these technologies, plus the experience, can be a nice addition to anyone's CV looking for a job in automation.

Q. When approaching the subject of your talk, what do you feel are the most challenging issues?

A. Believe it or not, the most challenging issue for "Web UI Automation With Selenium For Beginners" will be to show how to install and maintain an older version of Firefox for some exercises showing a tool called Selenium IDE. Other than that, it should be okay for everyone to follow along.