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A community of testers who
meet up monthly

to share knowledge and learn from each other in the IT industry.

This Edition's Theme

Community & Cognition: Keeping the QA mind sharp

As testing evolves with AI, our greatest assets remain deeply human: how we connect to learn and how we critically analyze systems. This edition of Tabăra de Testare focuses on two essential pillars of our profession: the power of community and preserving critical thinking. First, Mikko Paloheimo, QA Coach and co-organizer of the Finnish Testing Meetup Group, takes us behind the scenes of running a massive testing community. By bridging the Finnish and Romanian testing scenes, we’ll explore how communities keep testers learning and what we can adopt from each other. Then, Stefan Bratosin, Senior QA Engineer, challenges the current AI hype. While automation accelerates work, over-relying on predictive text systems can quietly erode a tester's most valuable tool: critical thinking. Stefan will dive into the "Black Box Effect" and introduce a practical framework to ensure AI remains just a tool, not a substitute for our analytical minds.

📅 4 iunie 2026 • 18:15📍 Zitec

165 Splaiul Unirii, TNO2 Building, 6th floor, 3rd district, 030133 București

Who's presenting?

Speakers

Mikko Paloheimo
talk

Mikko Paloheimo

Freelance QA Coach @ Paloheimo QA Mentorworks

Mikko Paloheimo is a QA Coach and community builder with ~20 years in testing and QA. He runs the freelance brand Paloheimo QA Mentorworks, focused on competence development, mentoring, and QA culture. In his day job he works full-time as a QA Lead. He also co-organises the Finnish Testing Meetup Group (1000+ members) with three close friends on a voluntary basis. Mikko does QA as a hobby as well as a profession, and enjoys coaching, sharing, and bringing testing people together.

Stefan Bratosin
talk

Stefan Bratosin

Senior QA Engineer @ ING Hubs

I am a Senior QA Engineer and Functional Analyst with over 15 years of experience specializing in bridging the gaps between business requirements, complex technical architecture, and reliable software delivery. Having spent my career testing high-stakes environments at organizations like ING Hubs, Oracle, and Deutsche Bank, I’ve built a reputation for uncovering the critical edge cases and hidden documentation gaps that others miss. My core professional mission has always been to 'make the unknown known

Schedule

The Testing Plan

🕐 18:15-18:30

Welcome & Gather

🕐 18:30-19:15

How Communities Keep Testers Learning

Mikko Paloheimo
Mikko Paloheimo

Mikko Paloheimo, QA Coach and co-organiser of the Finnish Testing Meetup Group, takes us inside how FTMG actually works - from finding speakers and securing venues to handling no-shows and keeping momentum after years of monthly events. The session draws a direct comparison between FTMG and Tabăra de Testare, looking at the topics both communities have covered over the past year and what we might learn from each other.

🕐 19:15-20:00

We all know AI is moving technology at an unprecedented pace, but it is also changing the way we think?

Stefan Bratosin
Stefan Bratosin

Join this discussion on how AI—a highly advanced predictive text system that lacks real world understanding - can quietly undermine a QA professional's most valuable asset: Critical Thinking. We will examine the real-world trade-offs of over-relying on automation, from skills erosion to the dangerous "Black Box Effect" where we lose our deep understanding of why our software and systems work. Finally, we will introduce a practical "Daily Check-in" framework to ensure we are using AI strictly as a tool, not a brain, keeping our analytical and engineering skills sharper than ever

🕐 20:00-21:00

Networking & follow-up discussions

Pizza, beers and testing discussions.

Thanks to this month's host

Zitec

Save your spot

Fill in the form below to register for the event.

Location

Zitec

165 Splaiul Unirii, TNO2 Building, 6th floor, 3rd district, 030133 București

From the archive

See what we discussed in previous editions.

📍 BucurestiRegistration closed

Panel: Testing in the Age of AI

Software development has changed faster in the last two years than in the previous ten — code is generated in seconds, features ship with built-in chatbots, and AI copilots have quietly become part of almost every team's workflow. QA hasn't stood still either, and on this panel we'll dig into how the craft is shifting in practice: writing tests with AI, generating test data on demand, and rethinking what a test suite even looks like when half the tooling can think back. But the harder questions remain — how do you test systems that don't behave the same way twice, written partly by machines that don't explain themselves? And underneath it all, the one nobody loves saying out loud: if AI is writing the code and helping test it, where does that leave us in two years? Three panelists, one moderator, and a room of QA people figuring out what testing actually looks like now — bring your questions and disagreements, because half of this conversation belongs to the audience.

📍 BucurestiRegistration closed

Agents & Empathy: Build Smarter Tools, Test Like Humans

What happens when you give your AI agent access to any tool it needs — and when you turn user empathy into a quality engine that never stops? At this meetup we explore two sides of the same coin: how to extend AI agent capabilities through Model Context Protocol (MCP), and how to combine authentic manual testing — where you truly feel the user's experience — with smart automation that turns discoveries into action. Whether you want to build your own MCP server or bring a culture of quality to your team, you'll leave with concrete ideas and tools you can apply starting Monday. Presentations: 🔧 Extend Your Agent's Toolbox — What Are MCPs and How to Build Your Own 🧪 Test Like a User. Automate the Rest.

📍 BucurestiRegistration closed

Shift-Left Strategy & Testing Misconceptions

For this edition of Tabara de Testare, we are putting textbook theory aside to discuss the realities on the ground. We are addressing two essential topics that every QA team faces daily: the misconceptions that slow down our work and the eternal "Shift-Left" promise - something many companies preach, but few actually apply properly. We will discover how to dismantle the most common misconceptions about software testing and explore practical strategies to bring testing much earlier into the development process, with a focus on static testing. We believe that no one holds the absolute truth, so we look forward to having you join us for an evening of open technical discussions, experience sharing, and, of course, the traditional networking!

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