Katrina Clokie

Test Practice Manager at BNZ

Beyond Coding: Test Automation as Art

The rise of test automation is changing the testing landscape as organizations urgently accelerate their automation goals. As demand for automation increases, those accountable for testing roles are learning to write code, but few are learning the skills that support the creation of truly useful automated assets. Just as using a paintbrush does not make an artist, writing code does not make an engineer. Without a wider perspective, we can end up with test automation frameworks and tests that are inefficient and difficult to maintain. As a test practice manager at a major financial institution, Katrina Clokie has experience defining and implementing enterprise test automation strategy. Join Katrina as she challenges us to step back from coding and think about the bigger picture. Discover how to effectively evaluate existing test automation assets, define a vision for automation, collaborate on creating innovative automation solutions, apply automated visual regression, establish coding dojos, and develop and maintain stable automated suites.

Katrina Clokie leads a team of around 100 testers as a Test Practice Manager in Wellington, New Zealand. Katrina is an active contributor to the international testing community as the author of A Practical Guide to Testing in DevOps, an international keynote speaker, a co-founder of the WeTest New Zealand testing community, the founder of Testing Trapeze magazine, frequent blogger and tweeter.

Rebecca Downes

PhD Candidate, School of Management. Victoria University of Wellington

Why Remote Work is Great and How You Can Be Great At It

It’s the age of technology and we’re all connected by the internet. So why do so many people still drag themselves through rush-hour traffic to get to the office every day? There is an alternative! I will talk about why companies and job-seekers should consider remote work. I’ll talk briefly about the advantages it can offer but mostly I will focus on what you need to know to be successful working remotely, based on best practice from remote workers all over the world and hundreds of hours of research for my PhD on distributed teams. All condensed down to just 45 minutes of useful knowledge.

After nearly 20 years leading teams in the tech and film/visual effects industry in Wellington and working remotely, Rebecca left behind all hope of gainful employment to pursue her PhD. She is currently researching remote work and hopes her research will one day help companies embrace remote work too.

Anthony Borton

DevOps Architect, Microsoft

Playtime - Raspberry Pi, Azure, DevOps and a BBQ :)

We all use technology at work to solve problems and hopefully make things easier for our customers. We can also use that same technology and know how to power our own projects and hobbies! Join Anthony as he walks you through one of his recent personal projects where he used his knowledge of Azure IoT, Azure DevOps and a Raspberry Pi to monitor his ProQ smoker during his low'n'slow cooking. Warning! This session has been known to contribute to feelings of hunger.

Anthony Borton is a DevOps Architect on Microsoft’s DevOps Customer Advisory Team. He has many years’ experience helping organisations adopt and succeed using DevOps practises. He was Australia’s first Professional Scrum Developer Trainer and has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer for over 20 years.

Prae Songprasit

UI Front End Developer at Xero Wellington

What to expect, when transitioning from UI/UX design to front end?

Many have done it. In fact, it's a great thing for the industry. But what's involved? With the world of Front End Development evolving constantly. JavaScript is no longer just an interaction tool, but runs whole codebases, and even databases. Is there still a place for someone who just love CSS, HTML, UX, accessibility, and talking to designers in the language they understand? If there isn't, how do you continue to provide value to the team? But if there is a place, what does it take to get in?

Prae co-organised CSS Meetup in Auckland, and is now co-organising Wellington Web Accessibility.

Aaron Hodder

Senior Consultant, Assurity Consulting

Responsible Digital: Minimising digital cruelty through Inclusive Collaboration

'Silicon Valley is run by people who want to be in the tech business, but they are in the people business. They are way, way in over their heads' - Zeynep Tufekci
Tech's obsession with technical expertise, tools, and rapid development has some troubling consequences. In this presentation, Aaron will present some case studies demonstrating algorithmic cruelty, unethical practices, and harmful software behaviour - all largely unintentional - and offer some practices and models for how to introduce more humanity into our development practices in order to make our products more humane.

I am a senior consultant at Assurity Consulting Ltd. I am an advocate for agile and lean ways of working, with software testing being my primary area of expertise. My latest professional interests are in ethics, and the human and societal impact of technology and how teams can be more conscious of ways their products may inadvertently cause harm and distress.

Amelia Laundy

Returning Organiser

Amelia is a rising star in the firmament of Wellington IT. A graduate of the training powerhouse that is Enspiral Dev Academy she has worked with local luminaries such as Owen Evans at Hoist, Dave Williams at Trade Me, and, um, Owen Evans at 8i. Boasting development prowess which rampages across multiple stacks as well as the kind of organisational skills which would give Brunel cause to pause she is a linchpin of the organising committee.

Annah Gerletti

Organiser

Two years ago Annah came along to Code Camp to see what this IT lark was all about. Last year she gave a talk. This year she’s on the organising committee. Whaaaat! Originally from Arizona, she’s hit the Wellington IT scene with the pace of a roadrunner, and the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid. Currently she works at Flux Federation helping their app run like it’s on Rails. Annah brings to the committee boundless energy and a Get Stuff Done attitude which will make this the greatest code camp since the last one.

Ben Amor

Returning Organiser

Ben has worked with of the biggest names in Wellington, including alumni of both Xero and Trade Me. To widespread astonishment, including their own, they're all willing to work with him again. He brings a great sense of fun, a quirky sense of humour and a sterling can do attitude to everything he does and we think it's just splendid that he's joined us for the fourth Wellington Code Camp.

Bevan Arps

Founding Organiser

Bevan is the driving force behind Code Camp Wellington as well as the Wellington .NET user group. He's an alumnus speaker of TechEd and Code Camps in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Over his long and storied development career he's written code you can bank on as well as some that's right on the button. We can only hope he's not going soft as Code Camp moves into its fourth year and we're delighted that he's brought his vision and zeal to the committee for another round.

Charlotte Hinton

Organiser

Charlotte brings all her experience from running internationally recognised events, such as WDCNZ and Xerocon to the Code Camp Wellington team. From delivering events to coaching teams, Charlotte loves working with people who want to change the way that they approach how they work. Her approach helps team navigate obstacles that they might stumble over - so that they instead leap and makes their work transparent and visible.

Craig Marshall

Speaker Liason

Craig has worked with both start-ups along with some of the more established technology companies around town leading their development teams. Having just finished up working for Aetna Health Insurance in the US and traveling the globe earning thousands of frequent flyer miles, Craig offered to help out the team for the 2019 Code Camp. Welcome to the team Craig!

Gareth Bradley

Speaker Liason

Gareth is a passionate speaker & organiser, with past involvement in communities covering software development (methodologies, Javascript/Angular, .NET), user experience, Toastmasters and internal corporate. He’s here to help our speakers succeed - from those with a tentative idea, those new/new-ish to public speaking, to any range of past presentation experience.

Marielle Hawkes

Speaker Liason

Marielle’s day job doesn’t have much to do with tech – unless you count despairing over the functionality of government IT systems. She does, however, care a lot about supporting her local community and diversity. From founding a women’s network at her work, to co-founding a small e-commerce store called We Love Local, Marielle is always looking for cool ways to bring people together.