From Headlines to Hands-On: a Journey with AI and Continuous Upskilling

Patricia Osorio Aristizábal , founder of TKASE , is passionate about challenges and creating high-value solutions. With over 30 years of experience in software engineering, she worked in large Colombian companies, where traditional and agile methodologies were applied.

In the last 5 years, Patricia has been a trainer of more than 90 courses related to software testing to +1K people in 7 countries in Latin America. Recently she joined the Train-the-Trainer course for Certified Gen-AI Assisted Test Engineers to become a trainer herself. The following text is a testimonial of her experience during the course.

It all began with a headline I read more than 5 years ago, that was along the lines of “Welcome to the era of the fourth industrial revolution”; it marked the beginning of an upskilling and reskilling movement aimed to face this new era of knowledge.

I heard back then that the automation and digitalization of processes would render human involvement obsolete and that many human jobs, as we know them today, would be replaced by computer programs and artificial intelligence.

Jobs such as clerks or customer service agents in banks or shops or warehouses, data entry clerks, secretaries, and other 100% manual jobs were predicted to disappear (Source: World Economic Forum 2023).

At the beginning of 2023, my English teacher, Ariella Moses, introduced me to a new artificial intelligence tool that was able to dialogue, in a kind of pirate voice. I am talking of course of ChatGPT (Open AI). That was the first contact I had with the new version of generative artificial intelligence. My first approximation to it was when I read in 1996 about an expert system that was able to win a chess game against the then-master Kasparov (1996): IBM's Deep Blue. More recently, I had the opportunity to attend TestingUy 2024 edition last April and heard about this topic again – in a context closer to my reality, that is software testing (to know more about the impact of AI on testing, please refer to: https://lnkd.in/d-dYRNKa).

Then I got to thinking and talking with my friend Guino Henostroza. I believe it is time to get more involved in the subject. To begin to understand and above all to implement in the context that drives me, not only of software testing but also of learning how to learn. Thus, I embarked on a journey that is ongoing and that I am really just beginning.

I have called this journey Navigating the Digital Age: Continuous Learning for Exponential Growth. I am currently in what would be the third of a total of seven steps. It currently occupies this position, but I couldn’t say for sure that it will remain so. This is a learning process. During this third step, I have focused on looking for mentors, people who possess greater knowledge and experience to help me in my learning process. That is how, thanks to my friends at Brightest, I was able to join a course taught by two people who were not only generous with their time but also with their willingness to transfer knowledge.

I am referring to the “Certified Gen AI-Assisted Test Engineer” course held by Rahul Verma and Tariq King .

The course was challenging in every possible way. First of all, we did it in three days and in the German time zone. Second, it was a remarkable walkthrough of all of the key concepts that a tester needs to study about AI in this context. Starting with understanding what artificial intelligence is, going through typical prompting patterns, working collaboratively with the LLM to generate test scenarios using classical design techniques (I mean equivalence classes, boundary values, etc.); recognizing the relevant assistance LLMs can provide with data generation.

I must say that I am still in the process of reviewing and studying everything I have learned to prepare for the exam. And every chance I get, I build test-enhance prompts into my LLM, whether it is to review an article I write (such as this one), brainstorm about a product I wish to release, or just generate images providing the right context.

I do believe, however, that the greatest learning I have gained from this course is that I am the expert. My LLM is just an assistant that helps me with reviews and with some ideas that can be of value to me. That I should not believe everything it tells me. Everything can and should be verified and subjected to my human judgment.

If you are a tester and want to boost your skills and productivity, check the next courses available here ?? https://lnkd.in/eEJrH3yQ

If you want to offer this course in your company or as a service, check the next Train-the-Trainer courses ?? https://lnkd.in/erdFM6ph