Program Committee

Ard is a software tester from the Netherlands and is working for OrangeCrest. He calls himself a Qualisopher which stands for someone „who loves truth and wisdom and at the same time is decisive to improve man and his environment“. This means he is interested in the world around us, to see what he can learn and subsequently apply in software testing. That is one of the reasons why Ard tells stories in books and at (test) conferences such as EuroStar, Expo:QA, TestWarez, TestingCup, Romanian Testing Conference and, of course, SANAE Software Testing BEER.EX. Besides working in IT he is also active as a sport (volleyball) coach and chair of the music school in his town.

Full time teacher and an occasional translator, Peter, discovered the world of software testing almost 20 years ago and kept buckled in ever since. He went throughout many projects in banking sector as a tester and later as a test manager. His current assignment lies in Tatrabanka. In personal life, Peter is loving husband, father of two sons and huge fan of american hard-boiled fiction and film noir.

Kalle is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in the software testing industry, embodying roles that span from Test Engineer, Test Manager and Test Architect to Test Advisor. His career is marked by a profound commitment to enhancing software quality and efficiency, underscored by his foundational role in establishing leading-edge firms in the field. Kalle is the visionary – for example, the famous open-source test automation tool Robot Framework was created by his team member Pekka Klärck as part of Qentinel assignment for Nokia. Further expanding his entrepreneurial footprint, Kalle founded Aileo, a testament to his ongoing dedication to advancing software testing and quality assurance landscapes. At Aileo his focus is to help companies to take AI powered testing in use. Besides testing Kalle enjoys downhill skiing and travelling with his family.

Out of his 20 years of experience in IT, Robert spent most of it trying to push the quality of the software in the TelCo domain. His wide range of skills such as software development, project management, and test management helps him to understand the software delivery process in all of its nuances and subtleties. Apart from test management, he is an established coach, mentor, and trainer in the domain of QA. Recently he became the Head of AAS Academy.

Lukáš is the head of the QA department at Itera in Slovakia – a Norwegian IT company with branches in Bratislava and Žilina. Lukáš has been working in the Bratislava branch since its inception, which has been for 10 years now. He is passionate about testing and considers it both fun and challenging. Testing is often underestimated, yet it should be an essential part of every development process. Lukáš, and indeed the entire Itera team, subscribes to the idea of „People first“, so in addition to QA, his focus is also on communication and coaching.

His career in software engineering started in 2012, and he went through various positions in Quality Engineering and Test Management. Currently, Daniel is holding the position of Senior Engineer for Test and Infrastructure for Alteryx – a big player in data analytics. And holds the position of president of Czech and Slovak Testing Board – a local ISTQB member board. He is most familiar with topics related to testing, test analysis, test automation, performance testing, tools development, DevOps, project management, and people management. He is obviously passionate about software quality, but also extreme skiing.

Irja is a Quality Engineering Manager with almost 15 years of experience in the industry. She started her professional adventure as a software tester and business analyst, after which she took over the product manager role in the first Croatian unicorn. After a multi-year product adventure, Irja decided to accept the challenge of establishing testing practices and integrating quality from the very beginning of product development. For the past few years, she has focused on modern exploratory testing, developing people, establishing quality engineering practices, process organization, and encouraging healthy collaboration between teams.

Juraj started in the banking sector at Dexia bank, from where he moved to Slovenská sporitelna, where he was dedicated to testing credit products and managing a small team of testers. Then, after a short experience in the public sector, he went to the company Multitude, where he passed through various positions from Test manager, Test lead to the current position of Engineering lead, where he is in charge of the entire SDLC. His strong domain is software and test engineering, non-functional testing, DevOps, leadership, but he also creates the makeITfun podcast for the testing community.

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