Sunday, November 28, 2010

Social Networking for Test Professionals follow-up

In the last entry I formulated my ideas on what social networking means to us test professionals. Soon after I read a column by Thomas Friedman on the professional use of social networks. Here is the link, and a relevant excerpt:

"...today’s knowledge industries are all being built on social networks that enable open collaboration, the free sharing of ideas and the formation of productive relationships — both within companies and around the globe. The logic is that all of us are smarter than one of us, and the unique feature of today’s flat world is that you can actually tap the brains and skills of all of us, or at least more people in more places. Companies and countries that enable that will thrive more than those that don’t."

Clearly Tom reads my blog. :)  

Then I stumble on a blog by Rick Nelson in Test & Measurement World magazine (here) quoting that same Thomas Friedman column. Rick also references an interview EDN managing editor for news Suzanne Deffree did with Deirdre Walsh, social-media and community manager at National Instruments.

Walsh listed five reasons why engineers should use social networks (paraphrasing): 
1. technical support from peers
2. staying abreast of the industry for career reasons
3. be heard, by your peers and your vendors
4. professional networking with like-minded peers
5. become "famous" in a free-form venue not restricted by their job description


So look around, change your perspective, find your voice, get involved. Here are a couple of forums I frequent, and a couple where I am a member and occasionally drop by:


www.softwaretestingclub.com
www.qualitytesting.info
groups within LinkedIn:
Software Testing & Quality Assurance
Software Testing and Quality Assurance (yes, they are different)
Bug Free: Discussions in Software Testing
DFT Experts  (Design For Test - a hardware thing)
First Fault Problem Solving





3 comments:

  1. Sean, I love this line "So look around, change your perspective, find your voice, get involved." Thanks for continuing to evangelize the benefits of social technologies for engineers.

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  2. Thanks, Deidre. For me, getting involved might seem like more work, but it is easier keeping your head in the game if you put some heart in it as well.

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