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Learning from Embedded Software Development for the Space Shuttle and the Orion MPCV
Software development is much different today than it was at the beginning of the Space Shuttle era because of the tools that we have. But the art and practice of software engineering has not progressed that much since the early days of software development. Compilers are much better and faster, and debuggers are now integrated into development tools, making the task of error detection easier.
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QCon London: In an Enterprise Ecosystem Your Platform Is Not an Island
In a talk at QCon London, Rachael Wonnacott explained the challenges in building a developer platform in an organisation with legacy processes and how a golden path leading to either a Kubernetes Hotel or a Public Cloud House might be necessary.
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How Senior Software Engineers Can Learn from Junior Engineers
A rigid hierarchical dynamic between senior and junior software engineers can stifle innovation, discourage fresh perspectives, and create barriers to collaboration. According to Beth Anderson, senior engineers can actively learn from their junior counterparts. She suggests creating an environment of mutual growth, psychological safety, and continuous learning.
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Using Artificial Intelligence in Software Testing
Quality Assurance Engineers can evolve into artificial intelligence (AI) strategists, guiding AI-driven test execution while focusing on strategic decisions. Rather than replacing testing roles, AI can enhance them by predicting defects, automating test maintenance, and refining risk-based testing. Human-AI collaboration is crucial for maintaining quality in increasingly complex software systems.
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QCon London: Bringing DevOps Principles to Controls and Audit
Ian Miell delivered a talk at QCon London 2025 on a modernised approach to compliance, announcing an open-source project that aims to solve many of the problems seen in the audit and compliance process. Miell highlighted that there's a disconnect between modern DevOps practices of automation and repeatability, and traditional audit and compliance procedures.
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QCon London: Mistakes People Make Building SaaS Software
Jon Topper, AWS ambassador and founder of The Scale Factory, shared key insights at QCon London 2025 on building effective SaaS solutions. He highlighted pitfalls, stressing the importance of multi-tenancy from day one, automating tenant provisioning, and planning disaster recovery. Topper encouraged leveraging community wisdom to avoid costly mistakes and implement secure, scalable architectures.
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Lessons Learned from Growing an Engineering Organization
As their organization grew, Thiago Ghisi's work as director of engineering shifted from being hands-on in emergencies to designing frameworks and delegating decisions. He suggested treating changes as experiments, documenting reorganizations, and using a wave-based communication approach to gather feedback, ensuring people feel heard and invested.
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QCon London: a Three-Step Blueprint for Managing Open Source Risk
At QCon London 2025, Johnson Matthey's vulnerability manager, Celine Pypaert, discussed managing open-source dependency risks while maintaining momentum in innovation. She described a three-part blueprint for handling the security challenges that arise with the now widespread use of open-source dependencies.
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QCon London: Monzo's Recipe for Developer Experience: Assemble, Build, Communicate
Fabien Deshayes spoke on how Monzo has created and optimised their developer experience teams in a talk at QCon London 2025. Deshayes outlined some techniques for building an effective Developer Experience platform, focusing on three key aspects: assembling effective teams, building impactful products, and communicating value across the organisation.
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How Software Developers Can Build Their Personal Brand to Elevate Their Influence
A strong public brand helps software engineers in job transitions and creates opportunities, while an internal brand builds credibility within your company. Pablo Fredrikson shared a story about how he helped a team struggling with a service issue to improve relationships. To build your brand, define your goals, take on visible projects, and be helpful. It benefits both you and the company.
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Exploring Aging of Programmers: Fostering Inclusive and Age-Friendly Workplaces
Age-related discrimination assumes older programmers are less capable or unwilling to learn. Kate Gregory stresses that inclusive, age-friendly workplaces benefit all employees. She advises staying open to new experiences, learning, and building connections to maintain a fulfilling career and well-being as we age.
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Applying DevOps Principles and Practices as a Quality Assurance Engineer
DevOps streamlines software development with automation and collaboration between development and IT teams for efficient delivery. According to Nedko Hristov, testers' curiosity, adaptability, and willingness to learn make them suited for DevOps. Failures can be approached with a constructive mindset; they provide growth opportunities, leading to improved skills and practices.
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Learnings from Working with Programming Rules and Guidelines
Programming rules and guidelines improve code consistency, but misapplication can lead to poor results. Arne Mertz suggests that software developers selectively adopt rules and guidelines, and document deviations with clear explanations. They can discuss their experiences in communities or during their daily work, to foster collaboration and improve code quality without unnecessary bureaucracy.
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Using Artificial Intelligence for Analysis of Automated Testing Results
Analysis of automated testing results is a very important and challenging part of testing activities. At any given moment we should be able to tell the state of our product according to the results of automated tests, Maroš Kutschy said at QA Challenge Accepted. He presented how artificial intelligence helps them save time spent on analysis, reduce human errors, and focus on new failures.
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Ensuring Security without Harming Software Development Productivity
Security can be at odds with a fast and efficient development process. At QCon San Francisco Dorota Parad presented how to create a foundation for security without negatively impacting engineering productivity. She showed how you can make your security strategy almost invisible to the engineers while embedding it deep into the culture at the same time.