Women in Testing: 7 Influential Figures

A woman’s success should be an inspiration to other women; we’re strongest when we cheer each other on. Every year we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th and acknowledge the contributions women have made in many industries. So, this Women’s Day, let’s celebrate women in software testing! 

Women in the tech industry are now setting a great example for others in the sector. As per a recent study, women make up 28.8% of the overall tech workforce, which shows a stable increase over the past few years. Moreover, in 2020 about 25% of GAFAM’s (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft’s) employees were female.

For professionals looking to start or improve their career in software testing, here are seven significant women who have made an impact in testing for you to follow.

1. Beth Marshall

Beth is a senior quality engineer and an active member of the software testing community. She has close to 14 years of industry experience, where she has worked as an analyst, leader, and manager.

Beth is a firm believer in women in tech and organizes various sessions on software testing. In addition, she is a tutor at Coders Guild and an instructor at the Test Automation University. Beth has built an extensive portfolio! One of her most popular articles is Postman Flows.

Find Beth at:

• LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-marshall/
• Twitter- https://twitter.com/Beth_AskHer
• GitHub-  https://github.com/askherconsulting
• YouTube- Beth Marshall – YouTube
• Blog- Beth Marshall – Beth The Tester’s Tales

2. Angie Jones

Angie is a globally renowned, respected, and result-oriented Developer Relations leader. She is an international keynote speaker and a Java champion. She firmly believes in enhancing her knowledge and thus chooses to share in conferences at software companies worldwide.

Angie is committed to mentoring and introducing young women to technology. In her leisure time, she leads the Diva Chix online community, where teenage girls and women learn to succeed in technological fields while also learning important life principles like operating a business.

Find Angie at:

• LinkedIn-https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiejones/
• Twitter- https://twitter.com/techgirl1908
• GitHub –  https://github.com/angiejones
• YouTube – Angie Jones – YouTube
• Blog- Angie Jones Blog

3. Maaret Pyhajarvi

Maaret is currently working as a Principal Test Engineer at Vaisala. Her style includes creating skills to acquire relevant, on-time information about a product.

Maaret is a proven expert when it comes to customer acceptance testing. She organizes and delivers testing in agile and traditional lifecycle models. She is a firm believer in exploratory testing and inculcates the passion of testing in young professionals.

Find Maaret at:

• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/maaret/
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/maaretp
• GitHub – https://github.com/maaretp
• YouTube – Maaret – YouTube
• Blog- Maaret’s Blog

You can Listen to Maaret Pyhäjärvi talk on Let’s do a Thing and Call it Foo!

4. Marie Drake

Marie is a Quality Engineering Manager at Zoopla. She started her career as a manual QA test consultant and is now an experienced software tester passionate about Test Automation and Continuous Testing. 

Read more– Now perform your Selenium Automation Test Free!!!

Marie is also a Cypress ambassador and has written several blogs on ‘Testing with Cypress.’ Marie is a firm believer in the #womenintech movement and helps in nurturing the QA community through her work.

Find Marie at:

• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-drake/
• Twitter –https://twitter.com/mcruzdrake
• GitHub – https://github.com/mdcruz/
• Blog – Blog of Marie Drake

5. Lisi Hocke

Lisi works as an Expert Quality Engineer at Ada Health. She is a holistic tester, quality enabler, agile experimenter, and a sociotechnical symmathecist (one who learns with others in context). She believes that teamwork is the key to rapid growth.

Lisi’s blog, “A Tester’s Journey”, is a journal of her testing and conference activities, and we can all benefit from what she’s learned!

• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisihocke/
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/lisihocke
• GitHub –  https://github.com/lisihocke
• Blog – A Tester’s Journey

6. Elisabeth Hendrickson

Elisabeth is a dynamic veteran with close to 20 years of experience in the software industry. She is currently working as the CTO and Founder for Curious Duck Digital Laboratory LLC, where she focuses on core concepts of effective software development and delivery.

She started her tech journey in 1988 and shifted to Quality Assurance in 1993. Evolving from a tech writer to a founder has been an extraordinary journey for her, and she says, “If you want a team to go fast, a feeling of momentum is more important than a sense of urgency.” Her book ‘Explore It: Reduce Risk and Increase Confidence with Exploratory Testing’ is a must-read book for any software tester who would like to improve their knowledge of what to test.  

Find Elisabeth here:

• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/testobsessed/
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/testobsessed
• GitHub –  https://github.com/testobsessed

7. Lisa Crispin

Lisa Crispin is the co-founder, along with Janet Gregory, of the Agile Testing Fellowship, and is a consultant who helps teams identify and achieve their testing goals.

Lisa and Janet authored the book “Agile Testing“, which continues to be one of the most influential software testing books ever published.  

Find Lisa here: 

• LinkedIn –https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-crispin-88420a/
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/lisacrispin
• GitHub –  https://github.com/lisacrispin
• Blog – https://lisacrispin.com/

It’s not just women in software testing who are inspiring!  I’m currently reading a biography of Margaret Thatcher, who, while not a software tester, made history as the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  I love her quote: I’ve got a woman’s ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it.”  Motivational words for us all!  

Let us all join together to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022 with tons of optimism and joy.

Tune in on 8th March (10 AM EST) for an interactive AMA where I will answer questions related to women in technology, handling career breaks like a pro, donning multiple hats in software automation, and much more!

Here’s a quick glimpse of the upcoming webinar:

Kristin Jackvony

Kristin Jackvony discovered her love of software testing in 2009 after a career in music education. She’s been a QA tester, a QA lead, and a QA manager, and she’s currently the Principal Engineer for Quality at Paylocity, where she helps teams adopt good quality practices. She writes regularly in her blog, “Think Like a Tester”, has a LinkedIn Learning course on API testing called “Postman Essential Training”, and has just published a book “The Complete Software Tester”, available through Amazon.

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