Chronicles Of Testing

Caveat : You will see and read the word 'problem' many times :) For over eight months of inactivity, I took the role of an independent test consultant this year in June. To say the least, I went through a phase of depression. Absolutely did nothing in this time period that made me feel alive, this was only adding to the sorrow. But thankfully I found what my calling is by the end of this traumatic phase with the help of an excellent coach Selena Delesie and friends from the testing community. I alone couldn't have navigated safely through it all and I did realize post this phase, that I feel the most alive when am learning, helping myself and others along this journey. And most importantly I learned what do I need to do next, what work helps me to be content with and solved many of the problems I had personally and professionally. It was at the end of July that Ajay Balamurugadas asked me to do a workshop and co-present with him on the topic: Problem-Solving. Having sp...

an online workshop. The simple answer is Don't do it . Don't run a workshop online, if there are no representatives or a co-presenter at the onsite. No matter the amount of preparation, and the confidence in the content and the research done on the exercise involved do restrain from running a workshop online.  IF: `The exercise designed and/or you crave for high interaction. `The audience is new to this style of presenting. `The speaker is new to this style. `The audience and the speaker are new to each other. `The exercise designed requires both the speaker and the audience to be on mute. `The exercise designed requires the audience to focus and work in a silo. `The speaker cannot see and/or interact with all the audience. Do online workshops if there is no other option of getting the audience to attend it offline. And if: `A co-presenter is at the onsite and acts as a binder between the presenter and the audience. `It is a group activity, then do try thi...

Venue - HasGeek Date - 17th January 2015 Apoorva Giri and Shruthi Kamath, two Information security enthusiasts conducted a workshop on Web Application Security and Network Security at the HasGeek house recently. It was a woman only event held as an initiative to introduce more women to the InfoSec arena. This event was held in association with HasGeek , at the HasGeek house, Bengaluru. The workshop covered basics of Web App Security and Network Security. The participants worked along with the instructors in the hands-on session alongside Apoorva and Shruthi. Normally the webinars and the talks that I had attended earlier dived right into hacking, ransack a web app and put the network team to shame in public by showcasing the vulnerabilities. The experience at this workshop was refreshingly different. And how? The organizers guided the participants in the following activities: → downloading and installing Kali Linux and metasploitable on Oracle VM VirtualBo...