Bottle Rocket Hosts Second Annual QA Bootcamp

Each year, Bottle Rocket hosts a Quality Assurance (QA) Bootcamp, a half-day event covering mobile and connected device application testing. The bootcamp is a chance for testers in other industries to get exposure to the mobile application testing space.

Our agenda for the day included various mobile-specific topics:

• QA Automation
• Augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality
• A tour of our office (including the new automation lab and AR/VR lab)
• Tools
• Know your platform
• TV Everywhere

Last year, all speakers were from Bottle Rocket’s QA team, but this year we decided that having input from Rocketeers of other disciplines would add to the experience. So, we invited department leads from engineering and experience design (XD) to give their perspective. Development leads focused on upcoming iOS/Android developments along with the collaboration of the engineering and QA teams working together. Our head of experience design reiterated the value of having QA’s input in XD and involvement throughout all phases of the project. The outcome of those discussions allowed participants to get a glimpse of working in a collaborative environment with multiple disciplines and what to look for in future announcements.

Having other departments involved, in a way, also replicates our working model in the office – all disciplines are integrated. Other companies are known for the separation of QA from the rest of the development team, but here at Bottle Rocket, we believe that all disciplines should work together in close proximity to create a quality product. The speakers helped show that our culture can truly increase productivity and especially that there is value in including QA from the beginning of the project, throughout its development, and upon release. Our working model and their obvious respect for our team seemed to leave a positive impact on the attendees.

The idea was to open up a broad discussion that isn’t necessarily QA-centric; for example, AR and VR is something that impacts many fields and is on the rise. Sharing our current work in this area with exciting platforms was a fun way to elicit the engagement of the participants. Mobile automation is always a popular topic – it’s becoming integral to technology as a whole. We hope participants were inspired and ready to explore the mobile automation world within their own companies.

One of the highlights of the bootcamp was the quality of participants attending the event. Their questions allowed us to dive deeper into the material and to gain a better understanding of where interest lies for future bootcamps. Having the right group of participants makes all the difference in the impact of an event like this. The talent in the room and their inquisitive minds allowed for its success.

Part of our own success story includes the way we work (which correlates to our level of productivity), and what better way to give a glimpse of that to our participants than touring our office space? Stops on the tour included the VR lab, the QA device and automation labs, and examples of our lo-fi to hi-fi whiteboard approach throughout the work areas.

We could have spent years planning and perfecting a bootcamp agenda and presentations, but without an interested and eager audience, it wouldn’t have amounted to much in the end. We owe the success of this year’s event to the questions and passion of the attendees. The positive and insightful feedback is what keeps us going and strengthens our desire to share our knowledge with the community. It makes all the work worth it when we receive feedback like:

“Well Organized”
“Great work environment and great team”
“Very informative & helpful”

Seeing what participants were interested in hearing more about has inspired new focuses for the next bootcamp — there will be many more events like this coming from the Bottle Rocket QA team!

Interested in working with our QA team for your brand experience? Let us know at [email protected].