You know that feeling when you discover something that makes you go,

Saw something like that in the paper this morning.

I'm still a newbie in the Door County area. We've only been here since July.

So I'm still learning a lot.

But this program's been around since 2020, allowing community members and public school teachers in Sturgeon Bay -- where I live -- to share skills with the community.

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My favorite part is that the teachers don't have to teach their subject.

Another neighboring school district inspired Sturgeon Bay's program, and a Spanish teacher in that district teaches quilting classes.

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So many QA professionals think they're "just testers", even when nobody else is putting them inside that box.

What's your version of a "quilting class"?

• Do you know how to make websites?
• Can you speak another language?
• Have you messed around with content creation?

How can you separate yourself from the pack in a way that helps your community?

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I've seen testers who have great people skills lead or play a managing role in QA communities.

Testers who know how to make websites or APIs have made demo projects for the community to practice their testing and automation skills.

I've seen many open-source projects call for contributors to help translate their docs into other languages.

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Testing isn't the only way you can add value, even if that's your main job.

If you're that 1-dimensional, you should be concerned.

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At work, I'm starting on yet another web development task.

(simple stuff, just updating text, adding a background gradient, nothing you can't learn on freeCodeCamp)

But I only get to do this stuff because I told my boss and project manager that I've got some basic web dev skills.

I showed some of my projects during my 1:1s. This wasn't an accident.

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If you never show people what you can do, they'll assume you're "just a tester".

And why wouldn't they?? That's what you got hired for.

Advocate for yourself, show people what you can build, and see what happens.

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Testing is a valuable skill...but the world is going "generalist" pretty darn fast.

If you don't believe me, just ask AI, "Is there a rise in generalism in the tech industry?" (if you're brave)

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You don't want to be a 1-trick pony.

That's why I made Social QA Bootcamp the way I did.

It's not just testing. Not just automation. It's a smattering of different skills that open up your mind to all the possible career moves you could make.

Even the ones that don't seem relevant to testing, but which you'll wanna know 5 years from now.

It shows you how to put yourself out there so your skills don't live and die at your 9-5 job.

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There's a whole world out there waiting for you to shine brighter.

Hop on the waitlist for the next cohort if you want to see what you're made of.

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​>>> Get first dibs on the May 2025 relaunch​

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And you'll never believe what happened to me this morning, but that's a story for tomorrow (naturally, with a lesson to go along with it).

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Cheers,

Steven