Not a forum. Not a Slack group. A deliberate space for software testers who are serious about their craft. Built for practitioners who want conversations that go somewhere, not a feed of LinkedIn performance and hot takes.
The Test Chat exists because most online spaces for software testers are optimized for reach, not insight. You get job posts, motivational quotes dressed up as advice, and arguments about whether manual testing is dead. It's tiring.
The Test Chat was built on a different premise: that practitioners who are serious about testing deserve a space where they can talk about the actual hard problems. Context-specific testing strategy. The politics of quality in large organizations. What you do when your manager doesn't understand what you're trying to build. How to have a career in testing that doesn't plateau at senior engineer level.
That's what happens inside this community. Not a forum for noise. A space for people who want to think.
Conversations about real testing problems in real contexts. Not sanitized success stories. Members share what didn't work, what surprised them, and what they'd do differently. The kind of knowledge transfer that usually only happens between people who've worked together.
No thought leadership. No personal branding exercises. No "5 things I learned from failing that I'm now using to succeed spectacularly." Just testers talking to each other honestly about the work.
How to navigate a testing career in organizations that don't always value it. How to make the transition to quality leadership. How to have the conversations with engineering leaders that actually shift how quality is perceived in your organization.
Members across continents, organizations, and experience levels. The common thread is a commitment to testing as a serious discipline, not a compliance checkbox. That shared premise makes for unusually good conversations.
Brijesh started TesterSpeak because most testing content on the internet is either entry-level tutorials or conference keynote highlight reels. He wanted something in between: direct, unfiltered conversations with practitioners who've actually been in the rooms where decisions get made. Guests are chosen because they've done the work, not because they have large followings. Not a marketing show. Not a panel of consultants agreeing with each other. Just testing, talked about honestly.
Brijesh built What Lies Beneath around a simple idea: the most interesting answers come from questions you didn't prepare for. He brought in some of the most respected names in software testing: Dorothy Graham, James Bach, Pradeep Soundararajan, Maaret Pyhäjärvi and others. Then he handed the mic to the community. No scripted questions, no pre-approved topics. The community asks, the guests answer, and what comes out is the kind of candid conversation that normally only happens after the conference talk is over.
If you're serious about testing and want a community that takes the craft as seriously as you do, this is where you belong.
Co-founded by Brijesh Deb, Adebayo Jacobs Amoo, Faiz Modi, and Sachin Sharma. Built on the conviction that practitioners who are serious about testing deserve a genuine space for the kind of conversations that advance the craft.