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  • How AI with Prompt Engineering Supports Software Testing

    AI is becoming a key QA tool, aiding in faster scenario generation, risk detection, and test planning. Arbaz Surti showed how effective prompting using roles, context, and output format helps to get clear, relevant, and actionable test scenarios. AI can boost testers, but human judgment is needed to ensure relevance and quality.

  • Changing a Career from Developing Software to Test Automation

    A developer who became a test automation engineer faced a challenging learning curve due to limited testing experience. He learned the importance of test levels, when not to automate, and how QA is vital to quality. Motivated by impact, growth, and teamwork, he values communication and continuous learning.

  • How to Enable Testing a Distributed System on a Single Environment Using Proxy Routing

    Without a dedicated QA environment, teams faced tech and coordination issues when testing a distributed system. A slow, unmaintainable CLI led an organization to shift left with automated testing. They built a tool for versioned deployments using CI and proxy routing, enabling developers to run isolated tests on multiple versions to catch bugs earlier.

  • Why Software Engineering Governance Matters: Reducing Risk without Slowing down

    Software engineering governance helps teams make decisions, Sarah Wells said at Goto Copenhagen. She argued it should support value delivery, not hinder it. Poor governance slows progress and can increase costs. A technical strategy with a radar can help teams to make better decisions, and aligning with DORA capabilities can boost their performance.

  • DevGreenOps: How to Design Sustainable Digital Services

    DevGreenOps, also known as DevSusOps, is an extension of the DevOps approach, in which environmental sustainability considerations are integrated into every step of the DevOps cycle, Jochen Joswig said in his talk at OOP Conference. Applying transparency, minimalism, efficiency, and awareness helps us to design sustainable digital services.

  • Combining Continuous Delivery with Pair Programming: Lessons Learned

    Pair programming and continuous integration can go hand-in-hand. Pushing to main multiple times a day is hard in isolation, leading to delays, large PRs, and merge issues, Ola Hast and Asgaut Mjølne Söderbom mentioned in their talk about continuous delivery with pair programming at QCon London. Pairing enables instant code review, easier refactoring, fewer bugs, and higher team resilience.

  • Producing a Better Software Architecture with Residuality Theory

    Software architecture is tough because it blends coding, math, and business systems. Due to surprises, architectures tend to become irrelevant over time, Barry O'Reilly said. He presented residuality theory, where he suggested stressing naive architectures to reveal hidden “attractors” in complex business systems. This allows designs to better survive change and uncertainty.

  • How Software Engineers Can Grow into Staff Plus Roles

    Software engineers can boost their impact by helping other teams, focusing on business-driven work, and building strong relationships, David Grizzanti mentioned at InfoQ Dev Summit Boston. Growth can come from mentoring, setting cultural norms, thinking strategically, and designing a career path based on what motivates you.

  • DORA Report Finds AI Is an Amplifier in Software Development, But Trust Remains Low

    Nearly 90% of technology professionals now use artificial intelligence in their work. But according to the 2025 DORA State of AI-assisted Software Development report, there's still a significant gap in trust between developers and the tools they increasingly rely upon. The report findings found that while AI adoption has become "nearly universal," there are still some organisational challenges.

  • Growing Your Career towards Senior Roles in Software Development

    Flexible working is key to career development, enabling people to stay in tech while balancing personal needs, Sophie Weston said. Flexibility widens the pool of potential talent and enables keeping the best talent. She has championed internal promotions and "squiggly careers," allowing role shifts, including in and out of management, to support long-term growth.

  • Green IT: How to Reduce IT’s Environmental Footprint

    Green IT focuses on reducing IT’s environmental footprint, by rethinking how you build, deploy, and power IT systems. At QCon London, Ludi Akue presented how her team did a lifecycle assessment, set a 10% emissions reduction goal, simplified architecture, and optimized frontends, to align with climate goals.

  • Open Practices for Architecture and AI Adoption

    Andrea Magnorsky presented on Byte-Sized Architecture at Cloud Native Summit 2025, as a format for building shared understanding through small, recurrent workshops. Ahilan Ponnusamy and Andreas Spanner discussed the Technology Operating Model for AI adoption. Both approaches drew on the Open Practice Library for human-centred collaboration and driving architectural evolution.

  • Lessons Learned from Growing from Junior to Staff and beyond

    Bruno Rey suggested thinking about career growth in circles: self, team, company, and customers. Success comes from understanding broader impacts, embracing compromise, and acting fast, especially in startups. He advised seeking mentors for honest feedback, being open to unexpected or crisis-driven opportunities, and thriving in change with an anti-fragile mindset.

  • How Sociotechnical Design Can Improve Architectural Decisions

    Sociotechnical design in software development emphasizes creating systems where people and technology thrive by fostering collaboration, emergent coherence, and shared understanding through enabling constraints, leading not only to improved architecture but also to more effective, adaptive, and fulfilling work.

  • An AI-Driven Approach to Creating Effective Learning Experiences at QCon

    An experiment was created around a certification program influenced by AI at QCon London, which included special events during the conference, a pre-conference breakfast where participants could learn about upcoming activities, and an AI-driven workshop immediately following the conference. Wes Reisz spoke at InfoQ Dev Summit Boston about a program he led using AI.

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