LAGOS TESTATHON 2019 RECAP

Over the weekend, about three hundred (300) Nigerian Software testers, Engineers and Tech Enthusiasts converged at the ZoneTech Park, Lagos for the 35th chapter of Testathon. Testathon is like a hackathon but for testers. It was organised by the Global App Testing team in conjunction with the Facebook Local Insights Team. It was a two-day event that hosted successfully shortlisted software testers who had previously applied to attend the Testathon. 

The Testathon was a well-anticipated event because it was an opportunity to meet new people, see how apps are tested, provide local insights to awesome apps, meet some of the members of the Facebook team and of course win prizes!  

 The prize categories that were won are:

Some of the prizes for these categories include PlayStation 4 Consoles, iPhone 11 phones, Samsung S10 phones, Smartwatches, Airpods, Google Chromecast just to mention a few.

2016 vs 2019

This was the second time Testathon was holding in Nigeria. The previous one was in 2016 and was organised by the same teams. I was at both events and this year’s Testathon was definitely an improvement over the previous.

• Coaches per team: All attendees were divided into teams of six. Each team was to test features around a specific scope and was assigned at least one coach. It was an added advantage to have someone available to provide clarity about the scope,  answer questions and attend to technical issues. Some of these Coaches were Software Engineers and Growth and Local Insights Managers of the products being tested.

• Nigerian cultural display: On the two days, there were two groups of traditional dancers from two ethnic groups of Nigeria; Yoruba and Igbo. The Yoruba dancers performed on the first day, while the Igbo dancers on the second day. Asides their performance, they also joined in celebrating the winners. 

• New categories of prizes: This year, we had a different prize category for Most Translation Issues Identified and Best QA Runner Up. I was particularly excited to see the latter prize category because it showed that the organisers were eager to improve the quality of translation and better portray the local culture and insights on the apps being tested.

• Bigger and Better Venue: The venue was definitely bigger and so the sitting arrangement for team members was better. It helped to foster better teamwork and collaboration.

• DJ and More Food: What’s an event without food? There was lots of food and many options to choose from with consideration to vegans and attendees with gluten-related disorders. This year’s event had a DJ (unlike 2016’s) and so while testing was going on, people listened to energetic and motivating songs.

Personal Experience

I was glad to attend this year’s Testathon and really ecstatic to have won prizes for two categories: Most Translation Issues Identified and Best Issue Runner-Up. 

Although I didn’t prepare as much as I would have loved to, I attended the event with the goal of logging bugs and insights peculiar to the Nigerian market. I was glad that I logged many relevant issues that would help the development team adapt the apps into our language and culture.

It was a very memorable event not just for me but definitely for everyone who attended!