Amy Blankenship

QA isn’t dead - but it could be if we quit this fight. I've seen a lot of people wanting to call it quits in QA lately on LinkedIn. Which tells me; the real enemy isn’t AI or automation. It’s despair. It’s the silence after rejection that convinces too many testers to give up. 🔹 Roles vanish mid-process. 🔹 Recruiters ghost after final rounds. 🔹 “Overqualified” labels block talented professionals. 🔹 Applications disappear into black holes. 🔹 The industry starts whispering: “Maybe QA is done.” I’ve sat on both sides of the table; leading QA teams through layoffs, been ghosted myself during interviews (more times than I care to remember), and watching brilliant testers walk away. The difference between those who return and those who don’t isn’t talent. It’s survival. If too many testers give up, the discipline itself loses ground. QA doesn’t die because AI replaces us. It dies if we retreat quietly. Hold the line. Stay sharp. Stay visible. Every post you write, every skill you sharpen, every connection you make keeps QA alive. Because when the market rebounds - and it will - those who endured won’t just fight again. They’ll win and I want that for all of us. Please don't give up. #QualityAssurance #SoftwareTesting #QAJobs #QALeadership #TestAutomation #SoftwareQuality #QualityEngineering #CareerGrowth #JobSearch #TechCareers #AutomationTesting #Leadership #TestingCommunity #CareerResilience 

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If you are vibe coding, you need to 2x or 3x your QA staff. Why? Because you are pumping out more code, more features, and getting them ready for review much faster. This coding is also lower quality and can cause a lot more issues. This means that there are going to be a lot more QA issues, more tickets, and more testing. So make sure you are budgeting for extra QA if you are expecting your engineers to vibe code.

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329 Comments

Talking Horizon and Theme Blocks in ShopDev Alliance today. I've got a larger thread I can link in comments on Twitter(X) with more resources but I'm curious about what sorts of things people have learned about theme blocks and if you can answer the big questions about the pros and cons. Personally, I'm finding the use of theme blocks for development more approachable but the divide for usability is just as steep for merchants. Theme blocks are a hard left compared to the simplicity required for Sections + Blocks in themes. Merchants love the flexibility but don't want to be buried in configurations. The promise of infinite flexibility ends up being a hindrance, and while developers can build in a way you don't need them - you may still want them. There are certainly some best practices and gotchas to be aware of. But I'm curious, how many of y'all are building with theme blocks first now? Or using Horizon as your base instead of maybe Dawn (or even the new skeleton theme)?

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Playwright v1.50 is here, packed with 🔥 some amazing features and updates to make your testing experience even smoother! Here's a quick look 🚀 Exciting Playwright 1.50 Update! 🎉 🧪 Test Runner Leveled Up: ⏱️ Step-level timeouts 🏃‍♂️ Easy step skipping 🔍 Enhanced snapshot & accessibility testing 🖥️ UI Improvements: 📊 Better HTML reporting 🕵️ Detailed trace views ⏲️ Advanced time tracking Release Note : https://lnkd.in/gEUCjsjX #softwareengineer #automation Debbie O'Brien #TestingCommunity #Playwright #Microsoft

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"The worst bugs don't start in code. They start in meetings." Most rework starts before the first line of code. We nod. We agree. We move on. And later we find out: we weren't aligned. Not really. The misalignment wasn't loud. It was silent. And invisible, until testing. Until launch. Until someone says: "Wait… that's not how I thought it would work." It's not about bad intentions. It's about unspoken assumptions. And the cost of skipping clarity. 💬 What do you personally expect to happen when this goes live? You'll hear five answers from five people. Even in the same meeting. And that's the point. Alignment isn't about saying yes. It's about being able to explain what 'yes' means: clearly and consistently. That's how quality starts. Not in testing, but in shared understanding. How do you make assumptions visible?

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Tests Didn’t Pass… So I Disabled Them! We’ve all seen the meme and laughed. But when this becomes a real troubleshooting strategy, it’s a red flag. Flaky, outdated, or ignored tests aren’t just minor annoyances. They’re silent risks hiding behind green pipelines. Disabling them might make the build pass, but it doesn’t make the problem disappear—it just defers it to production. A mature testing approach means:   • Writing meaningful tests, not just coverage checks   • Maintaining and refactoring tests as the system evolves   • Investigating failures, not masking them Quality isn’t about chasing green checkmarks but building trust in what we ship. How does your team handle failing tests? Let’s discuss better solutions. #SoftwareTesting #TestAutomation #QualityEngineering #DevOps #TechLeadership

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5 ARIA attributes every dev should know (and 2 to avoid) Most developers know ARIA exists, but which attributes actually matter for everyday accessibility work? Before we get started, remember the first rule of ARIA: Don't use ARIA unless you have to. If semantic HTML can do the job, use that instead. But when you do need ARIA, here are 5 ARIA attributes that are actually useful: 1. aria-labelledby - Describe the current element with the text from another element on the page. Better than aria-label because it allows you to reference existing visible text on the page and keep it translatable. 2. aria-describedby - Connects help text, error messages, or extra context to form fields and other elements. Screen readers announce this after the main label. 3. aria-expanded - Essential for dropdowns, accordions, mobile menus - anything that opens and closes. Bonus: pair it with aria-controls to define which element it's controlling. 4. aria-current - Perfect for programatically defining the current page in navigation, active step in a process, or current item in pagination. Much clearer than visual styling alone. 5. aria-live - Announces dynamic updates to screen readers. Use "polite" for status messages, "assertive" for urgent alerts. Two to avoid (or use carefully and thoughtfully): 1. aria-label - It's typically a better choice to choose another way to label elements, with text inside a button tag, a label tag associated with a form field, or visible text associated with the aria-labelledby attribute. Treat aria-label as a last resort when no other method of labeling an element can be used. 2. role - Most of the time, there's no need for that role attribute when you use semantic HTML. Skip adding role="button" on a div - just use a button tag. A proper heading tag doesn't need a heading role or an aria-level attribute. The best accessibility starts with good semantic HTML. ARIA is intended to fill in the gaps, not replace the foundation. What ARIA attributes do you find most useful? Any that trip up your team?

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No QA! #CollegeVine is able to perform releases w/o the need of QA. It is definitely doable. But notice what Chris says: they have CICD pipelines, each piece of work should be deployable in Prod in 2 days or less, they have automated tests and feature flagging to control what is being used. This echos my previous 2 articles that essentially says: don't hire QA unless you have a clear business need for it and look at alternatives first. Thanks to Matthieu McClintock for pointing me to this. #softwarequality #softwaretesting #softwareengineering

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8 Comments