In this first of a two-part series, Matthew Heusser and Michael Larsen welcome Perze Ababa, Jon Bach, and Jen Crichlow to discuss the broader ideas of testing, and to ask, "Are there areas of software testing that deserve greater attention?

When it comes to Software Testing, there is no guarantee that what a tester is doing today will resemble what they are doing five or ten years from now, or if they will still be involved in software testing. Many people come and go, while others make it a point to be "lifers" in the software testing industry. Still, even for the so-called lifers, there is a broad array of options and opportunities for career growth and development. Where to go and how to get there are the broader questions.

Michael Larsen sits down and talks with Vernon Richards and Leandro Melendez at the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC). held in Portland, Oregon, USA in October, 2022. They discuss the challenges and opportunities available to software testers, as well as the responsibility of curating their own testing careers, both in the work they are doing now and the work they might want to do going forward.