This is my personal recap of my speaking year 2025.

Introduction

As a test automation engineer, 2025 was an incredibly rewarding year for me on the speaking circuit. I had the opportunity to share my knowledge across numerous platforms, connecting with testing communities both online and in-person.

Here are some highlights in reverse order.

Conference Highlights

Fall and winter events

The end of 2025 kept me particularly busy. In November, I presented "Extending a Java test framework with SPI" at Software QS-Tag in Frankfurt - the first time I ever attended this rather prestigious conference. Here I had a lot of interesting conversations with other speakers and attendees and also recorded a podcast that will be available mid 2026.

Just before that, I had the opportunity to deliver two separate talks at TestCon Europe in Vilnius, Lithuania: "Extending a Java Test Framework with SPI" and "Karate - Beyond API testing." Having two slots at the same conference allowed me to share different aspects of my quite technical day to day work with the TestCon audience. Also, this conference is like homecoming as I was able to reconnect with many old and new friends from the testing space there.

Online presence

I continued to embrace virtual speaking opportunities throughout 2025. In September, I presented more about Karate at the Testomat.io Test Automation Meetup and shared my personal journey in "The road to QA" at the Online Test Conf.

In August, I participated in what turned out to be a fascinating panel discussion on "What can go wrong with AI in testing?" at the Testμ Conference, where we explored the potential pitfalls and ethical considerations of AI in testing processes. This was the first opportunity for me to discuss, agree and disagree with Michael Bolton and James Bach which was quite interesting.

Open source contributions

On July 11, I had the pleasure of presenting my test reporting solution Cluecumber at the GitHub Open Source Friday event, which was a great platform to highlight trivago's open source contributions and discuss how this project in particular developed over the years.

Summer events

Summer brought some variety to my speaking calendar. At the trivago QA Meetup in Düsseldorf in June, I took a break from technical talks and performed a magic show for my colleagues - combining my love for magic with my professional life.

Just one day before, I traveled to Vienna to present "The road to QA" at TestBustersDay, sharing my career transition story and hopefully inspiring others considering a move into test automation from pure software development.

Spring activities

May was all about Karate framework education. I conducted an in-depth tutorial on "Karate - beyond API testing" at the Live2Test event, providing some hands-on guidance to attendees. Earlier that month, I delivered a talk along the same lines at the trivago Tech Get Together in Mierlo, Netherlands, helping my colleagues understand how this framework is and can be used at our company.

Early 2025

I kicked off 2025 by moderating a webinar focused on "Streamlining Core Banking: Overcoming Challenges with Karate Test Framework" which was a welcome change from the usual speaking engagements. Being a moderator was quite scary but also exciting as this role is more about facilitation and much less about oneself. In January, I presented "Identifying Code Smells" at the Continuous Testing Meetup, helping fellow testers recognize and address problematic patterns in test code - a topic that I'm particularly passionate about.

Reflection

Looking back, 2025 was another interesting year of growth and connection for me as a speaker. From technical deep-dives into frameworks, design patterns and advanced programming approaches to sharing my personal career journey and even performing magic, I enjoyed every opportunity to contribute to the testing community. These speaking engagements not only allowed me to share my knowledge but also to learn from the diverse perspectives and experiences of attendees and fellow speakers across Europe and beyond.

I'm grateful for all the opportunities I had to connect with testing professionals throughout the year and look forward to continuing these conversations in 2026.