Showing posts sorted by relevance for query smartbear. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query smartbear. Sort by date Show all posts

September 4, 2026

Testing the Swagger Petstore: Reviewing API Documentation Formatted in OpenAPI 3.0 with Swagger UI

For this next project, we will be examining the test site Swagger Petstore - OpenAPI 3.0 at https://petstore3.swagger.io/



If we wanted to really dive deep into creating API documentation, we could use:
... But that goes too deep for this blog post. 

Before we begin, let's get into some background information. 

What is Swagger?


According to OpenAPISpec.com's article, Who Created Swagger?, Swagger was created in 2010 by Tony Tam, the CTO of Wordnik, an online dictionary company that leveraged so many APIs, it was difficult for the six person engineering team to manage and scale them, writing API-clients and documentation by hand. After a 3 AM conversation, they thought... what if the API documentation could describe itself? 

September 4, 2017

Watch Gregory Hanson and Jeffrey Martin host SmartBear's State of Testing 2017

A few months ago, SmartBear, maker of automated testing tools such as ReadyAPI, SoapUI, sponsored a Ministry of Testing - Boston meetup, encouraging us to spread the word on their new survey about the State of the Software Testing Industry. Over five thousand people filled out the survey. The results are ready to be revealed!

"Did you know that 63% of testers are responsible for testing both the frontend and backend of their applications? Or that API tests are more likely to be automated than GUI tests?

"Discover what your peers are doing today in testing - the applications they’re building and the techniques they’re using. Learn more about modern test environments and how many teams are at the ‘tipping point’ of shifting left.

"SmartBear collected insights from thousands of developers, testers, and managers worldwide who are passionate about software testing. They openly shared their experiences, insights, and the challenges they face in their day-to-day roles.

"Join a panel of SmartBear experts as they walk through the 2017 ‘State of Testing Survey’ and divulge the key trends and observations we uncovered".

Watch Jeffrey Martin, Gregory Hanson, from SmartBear play host on the webinar broadcasted on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017!

Testing and Development Webinars | SmartBear

April 22, 2026

The History of Contract Testing with Pact.io

Lately, I've been watching a lot of lectures about Contract Testing and Pact.io, trying to prepare for an upcoming job interview. When diving into a new toolset I can never simply jump into the code. I need to know: Why was this toolset created? What problem did it solve? How was this tool created? How did this toolset evolve?

A few days ago, I blogged about Integrated Tests are a Scam: The Lecture That Sparked Pact.io talking about J. B. Rainsberger's 2013 lecture. Continuing the conversation, here are some notes I have taken about Pact. 

July 2, 2018

Stop Compromising Quality: Setting Automation Up for Success - Angie Jones, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Missed last Wednesday's Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup, hosted and sponsored by SmartBear? Where Angie Jones, SDET at Twitter, provides metrics that help her decide what to automated at Twitter?

Have no fear! SmartBear live-streamed the conference. It starts at the 52 minute mark.

Stop Compromising Quality: Setting Automation Up for Success https://youtu.be/WAu1gWmKp5w


Thank you so much Brianne Cordima and Bria Grangard of SmartBear for setting up this event as the Ministry of Testing - Boston's event organizers!


Slides:Which Tests Should We Automate? - Angie Jones


August 14, 2017

New Free SmartBear Webinar: "The State of Software Testing", Tuesday, August 22, 2017

A few months ago, a sponsor of the Ministry of Testing - Boston, SmartBear software, hosted a survey, "The State of Software Testing". Over five thousand people filled out the survey. The results are ready to be revealed!

"Did you know that 63% of testers are responsible for testing both the frontend and backend of their applications? Or that API tests are more likely to be automated than GUI tests?

"Discover what your peers are doing today in testing - the applications they’re building and the techniques they’re using. Learn more about modern test environments and how many teams are at the ‘tipping point’ of shifting left.

"SmartBear collected insights from thousands of developers, testers, and managers worldwide who are passionate about software testing. They openly shared their experiences, insights, and the challenges they face in their day-to-day roles.

"Join a panel of SmartBear experts as they walk through the 2017 ‘State of Testing Survey’ and divulge the key trends and observations we uncovered".

Go to https://smartbear.com/resources/webinars/state-of-testing-2017 and register today!

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

June 20, 2017

Are you a software tester? Take the State of Testing Survey 2017, by SmartBear!

Tonight was wonderful! The Ministry of Testing - Boston gathered together in Assembly Square, Somerville, MA at the headquarters of SmartBear, maker of automated testing toolsets such as  SoapUI, SwaggerHub, and TestComplete.

SmartBear walked us through their entire testing process... They gave us so much information, it was difficult to take notes!

You can watch the program yourself at https://www.facebook.com/smartbear/videos/1943658005659610/

In the meantime, drop what you are doing and fill out their survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/smartbear-state-of-testing-survey-social



























Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

March 21, 2018

Watch Seb Rose Talk About the Big Ideas Behind BDD

Couldn't make it to Day One of Seb Rose's "BDD Kickstart" course, held Tuesday March 20th, 2018 from 9:00 to 4:30 pm at the SmartBear.com Assembly Square, Somerville, MA office? Man, that was fun! Hear him summarize the class in his talk he gave the Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup, live streamed and recorded!

Catch me give a brief intro in the video!

The Big Ideas Behind BDD 
Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup: 3/20/2018
https://youtu.be/hQyXgKENDtg

Want to view his slides?



The Ministry of Testing - Boston at SmartBear.com
Thank you SmartBear for being such a wonderful sponsor for my Meetup!

Seb Rose, Cucumber.io
Thank you, Seb, after a long day teaching your class for speaking to our group!

Brianne from SmartBear, hard at work managing the live streaming
Thank you, Brianne, our newest event organizer at the Ministry of Testing - Boston for organizing the event, setting it up, managing the live streaming, and acting as emcee!

Seb Rose & T.J. Maher, Meetup Organizer of the Ministry of Testing - Boston

I just really love the Ministry of Testing - Boston. It has been so much fun the past year-and-a-half running the group!

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

October 20, 2018

April 9, 2018

So You Want To Be An Automation Developer - Guest Post on Blog.SmartBear.

Last week, SmartBear.com -- the company behind TestComplete, ReadyAPI, QAComplete, SoapUI, and Swagger -- tapped me on the shoulder. Did I want to write a guest post on their blog? How about something that manual testers could use as a guide to switch to automation?

It took me three hours, but I came up with an article: So You Want To Be An Automation Developer.

 "Are you a software tester trying to break into automation? Need pointers to get your first job? Although I only have three years of experience as an automation developer, I may be able to point you in the right direction.

"Step One: Take a Coding Class

"When you are writing automation, you aren’t simply tinkering with a new toolset or technology. You are writing software in order to test software. It will definitely help you if you start learning how to code. With your first job, you won’t need to know how to write clean code or refactor tests right away, but if your job interviews are anything like the ones I had, you will have to demonstrate some knowledge of a programming language during your job interview.

"My biggest recommendation if you are brand new to coding? Check out your local community college to see what programming classes they offer. Testing and developing are completely different mindsets. Learning from and interacting with a teacher, bouncing ideas off of students, and forming up study groups will help with the ever growing frustration as you are learning this brand new skill. You will hit wall after wall trying to understand the basic concepts. Your study group can be your wrecking crew. It also helps that everyone in the class are tackling the same concepts at the same pace".

Read more here.


Thank you so much, SmartBear for publishing my article! Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

January 13, 2016

Webinar: Joe Colantonio talks about Test Automation Trends for 2016

Test Automation Trends for 2016 and Beyond

Staying Employable In Changing Times

Sauce Labs Webinar
1/12/2016: 2:00 pm: 
Joe Colantonio, TestTalks.com

Coding isn't the hard part of my role of being a brand-new automation engineer. Although I'm in my forties getting into development for the first time, I am actually doing okay -- in spite of always stressing out about the fact that grad school was a decade ago. I’ve now been writing automation scripts in Java and WebDriver for a year coming this March. Do anything for a year and you start becoming more comfortable with it.

It's keeping up with the latest trends in automated software testing, now that is the hard part!

July 12, 2017

Q & A with Angie Jones @ Ministry of Testing - Boston, Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Have you ever been to a film festival where after a film screening the director comes out for a Q & A session? Imagine if we did that with someone from the automated testing lecture circuit? 

Last night, members of the Ministry of Testing - Boston gathered together at Cengage Learning to watch a lecture of automated testing, followed by a live Q & A session by the lecturer.  The lecture for the evening? "The Build that Cried Broken". 

The Speaker:

Angie Jones"Angie Jones is a Senior Software Engineer in Test at Twitter who has developed automation strategies and frameworks for countless software products. As a Master Inventor, she is known for her innovative and out-of-the-box thinking style which has resulted in more than 20 patented inventions in the US and China. Angie shares her wealth of knowledge by speaking and teaching at software conferences all over the world".

Speaker Contact Details:

Angie Jones – Senior Software Engineer in Test, Twitter
Twitter: @techgirl1908
LinkedIn: Angie Jones
Website: AngieJones.tech


Care to read about Angie Jones' recent job search? Read her latest TechBeacon article,
Recruiting diverse engineering candidates: What tech companies still get wrong
at 

November 3, 2018

MOT Boston - Matt Wynne Talks About How To Fail at BDD - Nov 1 2018

Thursday, November 1st, 2018 Matt Wynne of Cucumber.io spoke to the Ministry of Testing - Boston while he was it town teaching his BDD Kickstarter class at SmartBear Software.

Watch the YouTube streaming video below:

Bring on the BDD @ SmartBear Software
https://youtu.be/JyZO-GnpYyI

Want to see other MOT Meetups near you? Check this out!


March 8, 2018

Ministry of Testing - Boston: An Origin Story

For most of my twenty year career, I have been searching to become a part of a software testing community. To find myself running one after so long of a search absolutely astounds me. 

Ever since I became the Meetup Organizer of the Ministry of Testing - Boston I have been having the time of my life! I really have given my all to the group, having a heck of a lot of fun planning events, meeting people, and trying to build a community of software testers here in Boston. I love the challenges of growing the membership, running fun social media campaigns, finding interesting speakers, and making connections here in Boston. And all of this has been in the past year! 

So much has happened since we moved from being the Greater Boston QA and Testing Group to under the umbrella of Rosie Sherry and Richard Bradshaw's Ministry of Testing:

March 19, 2024

Stepping down from being a Meetup Organizer of Ministry of Testing - Boston

Today is a hard day. I just stepped down from being a Meetup Organizer of the Ministry of Testing - Boston. Life has been so busy the past year, I haven't even been able to host even a virtual Lunchtime Discussion.

I first encountered Conrad Holloman's Greater Boston QA and Testing Meetup when he hosted a Meetup event back in 2016 when Fitbit - Boston, where I was a budding automation developer. Before I knew it, I was organizing events, volunteering to be on discussion panels, and giving presentations to the group. When Conrad moved the Meetup under the Ministry of Testing banner at the end of that year, he encouraged me to take over as organizer.

As Meetup Organizer, I have had so much fun recruiting speakers such as Angie Jones, Seb Rose, Matt Wynne, Lisa Crispin, Moshe Milman, Eran Kinsbruner. Thank you so much, SmartBear and Mabl for always hosting us!

Everything came to a halt due to Covid. I tried switching to virtual Meetup events in 2022 for this group, but that came to a halt when my kiddo was diagnosed with ADHD + Autism. All of my time and energy from that time forward has went to my family, shuttling my son to new schools and doctor appointments, and it hasn't let up.

I have really enjoyed being a Meetup Organizer! It has been a thrilling ride!

-T.J. Maher

MassMutual Boston, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

February 16, 2016

RESTful Testing with Stripe: Brief introduction to REST APIs

Before launching into a discussion how to test REST APIs such as Stripe's API used to process payments, I wanted to take a step back and talk about what they are and their early history.

With the RESTful API webservice, software developers allow web apps to interact with their software products as easily as you and I interact with a web page.
  • GET Methods: To access Adventures in Automation, your browser made an HTTP Request to the web server at http://www.tjmaher.com/, which in turn served you the HTML code that your browser interpreted as a web page. 
  • POST Methods: When you enter a message into the Comments textbox at the bottom of this page, then hit the "SHARE" button, the information entered is posted to the web server for processing. 
RESTful APIs are quite common. Fitbit has one. Amazon has a whole suite of them.  Even Boston's subway system, the MBTA has, one. But where did this idea come from? And what is an API?
"API (application program interface) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. The API specifies how software components should interact and APIs are used when programming graphical user interface (GUI) components. A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks. A programmer then puts the blocks together".
- Webopedia

July 1, 2018

Notes: Day Two of Agile Testing Days USA - Wed. June 27, 2018

This is Part Two of Two. Care to go back to the beginning?

Lean Coffee


Unicorn Held For Ransom


I noticed there was something different on Day Two of the Agile Testing Days USA conference immediately. Where was the giant inflatable unicorn??



September 9, 2026

The thoroughness of Tom Johnson's free Documenting API's course on OpenAPI 3.0 and Swagger UI

While researching information for my job about the Swagger UI and how it can be used for testing, I came across this free course, called Documenting APIs: A guide for technical writers and engineers at https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docapis_overview.html written by Tom Johnson, a technical writer based in Seattle who works for Google. 

The course looks intense, containing 17 chapters talking about Introduction to REST APIs, using APIs like a developer, Documenting API endpoints, the Open API spec, Testing API docs, Publishing API docs, and more.

From the Course Introduction: "You’ll first learn about API documentation by using a simple weather API to put a weather forecast on your site. [...] As you use the API, you’ll learn about endpoints, parameters, data types, authentication, curl, JSON, the command line, Chrome’s Developer Console, JavaScript, and more. The idea is that rather than learning about these concepts independent of any context, you learn them by immersing yourself in a real scenario while using an API. Immersion in real scenarios makes these tools and technologies more meaningful.

"We’ll then transition into standards, tools, and specifications for REST APIs. You’ll learn about the required sections in API documentation, analyze examples of REST API documentation from various companies, learn how to join an open-source project to get experience, and more.

March 7, 2026

Need a Software Developer in Test? #OpenToWork

Anyone looking for a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) for any full-time perm remote positions, or hybrid to the Boston / South Shore of Massachusetts area? I am #OpenToWork.

I’m a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) specializing in building web, mobile, and API automated test frameworks - from initial proof-of-concept through CI/CD integration, reporting, and team mentoring and training. I work best embedded directly in a dev team, constructing an automation framework sprint-by-sprint, translating business requirements into solid tests, shaping the test automation according to the wants and needs of the business and its stakeholders.

Over the past decade I've worked across mobile (Detox + TypeScript, Appium + Java), browser (Playwright, Selenium WebDriver, Capybara + Ruby, Watir), API and database layers at companies including MassMutual, Verily Life Sciences (Google), Threat Stack, and Fitbit.

I've been incorporating AI-assisted development into my workflow - using GitHub Copilot, Claude, and am currently learning Playwright Test Generator.

Being part of the software testing community is important to me. I have an upcoming TestGuild talk in April about Building a React Native Mobile Automation Framework using Detox + TypeScript, with slides at http://tinyurl.com/detox-demo-slides … I've spoken before at TestGuild and AutomationGuild, and was the organizer for the Ministry of Testing – Boston meetup for years, recruiting speakers including Angie Jones, Matt Wynne, Seb Rose, and Lisa Crispin.

Blogging for me is part of the learning process. I tend to document as I go, creating toy projects to deepen what I am learning on the job. My blog, Adventures in Automation ( tjmaher.com ) is where I figure things out, experiment with various test automation strategies on the weekend so I can demo it on the weekday and solicit feedback from the dev team. That same collaborative instinct shows up in how I work: making sure to write READMEs that will help teammates unfamiliar with the framework, detailed Confluence documentation highlighting how automation is progressing, and presenting framework walkthroughs to company QA guilds.

Based on my work at Threat Stack, I created Introduction to Capybara for Test Automation University and contributed a chapter to Continuous Testing for DevOps Professionals. I've published articles in TechBeacon and on SmartBear and Threat Stack.

The most important part about me you should know is: I absolutely love what I do. I love figuring things out. Collaborating with people. Bouncing ideas off teammates. Figuring out the cracks in the software process, the edge cases. Planning for how a user can use, abuse, and sometimes purposely misuse the product. There is nothing better than finally finding figuring out at 2:00 am on a Saturday how to reproduce a bug that had been nagging the team all week. My job is a lot of fun!

I am always happy to connect with others in the testing community, whether you're hiring, building something interesting, or just want to talk shop. Let's jump on a Zoom call!

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Software Engineer in Test

BlueSky | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

August 12, 2019

Come see Angie Jones, fresh from her world tour at the Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup on September 23, 2019

Angie Jones, International Keynote Speaker, blogger at angiejones.tech, Director of TestAutomationU.com is on a world tour for her latest talk Visual Validation for Test Automation:
Live or work in Boston? Come meet Angie Jones in person on Monday, September 23rd, 2019!
Image result for angie jones
Angie Jones


Sign up, here!
Thank you, http://Applitools.com for having Angie speak to us!
Thank you, http://SmartBear.com for hosting!


Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

July 11, 2017

New MoT-Boston Meetup with Angie Jones tonight!

Right now, I am heading to another Ministry of Testing - Boston meetup. Tonight's special guest will be Angie Jones!

Like a director hosting a Q & A session at a film festival after a movie has been screened, after watching her April 2017 "The Build That Cried Broken" http://youtu.be/VotJqV4n8ig Angie Jones, newly employed at Twitter, will be giving a talk via webconference. 

We have 20 people signed up. I hope at least 15 show! 

I swear, we have four hundred new members since January 2017 (700 total) and only ten might show on average. I wonder if it is the location, if iZotope or Cengage Learning are too out of the way? 

I have an enormous bag of swag to give away. SmartBear hoodies, pens and stickers. Sauce Labs T-Shirts and bike reflectors. Ministry of Testing stickers and pins. I just have more swag than attendees!

It was a good day today. I gave an hour presentation and demo on this Summer's Appiuum projects. I think it went well!

Here's hoping!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"