Free community meetup in Midrand to explore testing talent, career reinvention and the real impact of AI on software quality.
Inspired Testing, a leading specialist in software quality assurance and testing, will host its Johannesburg Software Testing Community Meetup on Thursday, 3 September 2026, bringing together QA engineers, test leads, and technology leaders for an evening of practical insight, honest debate and networking.
This is the second year BrowserStack has supported South Africa’s software testing community by sponsoring the meetup series. Following successful meetups in Durban and Cape Town in June, the series continues in Johannesburg in September. “We’re proud to help create an accessible space for software testing professionals to learn, connect and grow as the profession evolves,” says Velmurugan Balasubramanian, Senior Lead – Developer Relations at BrowserStack.
The meetup takes place in the Siya Kolisi Auditorium at Telesure Investment Holdings in Dainfern, Midrand. Doors open at 17:00 for networking, drinks and snacks, with the formal programme running from 18:00 to 21:00. Attendance is free, but registration is essential.
The evening will be hosted by Mathew Zungu from Inspired Testing and will move from a long-running question about what makes a strong tester, to a keynote on the profession’s changing role, before closing with a panel that puts the impact of AI under closer scrutiny.
Testing talent, theory and the courage to evolve
The first session, Testing Talent vs Testing Theory, will be presented by Ntsako Makaringi, Software Test Manager at Telesure Investment Holdings (TIH).
Certifications and testing frameworks give practitioners a valuable foundation, but they do not automatically create an exceptional tester. Makaringi will explore the qualities that often make the difference in practice: curiosity, critical thinking, communication, business understanding and experience gained from working through real delivery challenges.
The session is aimed at a question that testing teams and hiring managers regularly face. How should formal knowledge be weighed against judgement, aptitude and the ability to ask the awkward question at exactly the right moment? Rather than dismissing theory or credentials, the discussion looks at how they work alongside the human capabilities that cannot be reduced to a certificate.
Award-winning technology leader Fikile Mekgoe, Head of Technology: Delivery & Testing at Bidvest Bank, follows with the keynote, Beyond Testing: The Courage to Evolve from Testers to Trusted Advisors.
Mekgoe’s session considers what happens to the quality profession as AI takes on more technical and repetitive work. The value of a quality professional, she argues, will increasingly be measured not only by the defects found, but by the confidence they inspire, the business risks they help organisations navigate, the customers they protect and the decisions they influence.
The keynote moves the discussion beyond the familiar question of whether AI will replace testers. A more useful question is what testers need to become in order to remain indispensable in an AI-enabled environment. The answer requires leadership, influence, reinvention and a willingness to keep learning — not simply a longer list of tools.
Taking AI beyond the hype
The evening closes with a panel discussion, Beyond the Hype: The Real Impact of AI on Software Testing. The panel brings together Jéhan Coetzee, Chief Technology Officer at Inspired Testing; Stephen Platten from the UK, Principal Consultant at Inspired Testing; Makaringi; Mekgoe; and Ernst Grosse-Heitmeyer, CoE Head: Automation at Momentum Group.
AI is already influencing how teams generate tests, maintain automation, analyse failures and assess risk. The panel will look past the easy claims to examine where these capabilities are producing value, where human judgement remains essential and how the tester’s role is likely to change as AI becomes embedded in delivery teams.
The combination of practitioner, technology leadership, banking, insurance and enterprise automation perspectives should make for a grounded discussion. Attendees can expect less crystal-ball gazing and more attention to the decisions quality leaders need to make now: how to use AI responsibly, how to protect confidence in testing outcomes and how to develop people for work that is becoming more strategic.
Why this meetup matters
South Africa’s software testing community is navigating a period of rapid change. AI is reshaping automation, complex distributed systems are stretching traditional testing approaches, and expectations of QA professionals are moving well beyond test execution.
The Johannesburg meetup takes place six days before Software Tester’s Day on 9 September. It provides a space for practitioners at different stages of their careers to compare experience, challenge assumptions and learn from peers working through many of the same questions.
“Software testing is about more than following the software development cycle, it’s about continuously learning, adapting and improving,” says Leon Lodewyks, Managing Executive at Inspired Testing. “By sharing insights from our peers, we can collectively strengthen the QA profession.”
New tools and frameworks can be learnt online; the judgement behind when and how to use them is often developed through candid conversations about what worked, what failed and what a team would do differently next time.
Register now
The meetup is open to QA engineers and SDETs, automation engineers, test leads, QA managers, heads of quality and software testers at any stage of their career. Attendance is free, but spaces are limited.
Johannesburg | Thursday, 3 September 2026 | Doors open 17:00; programme 18:00–21:00 | Siya Kolisi Auditorium, Telesure Investment Holdings, Auto & General Park, Dainfern, 1 Telesure Lane, Riverglen, Midrand | Register today
The quality assurance profession is evolving at pace — join the conversation that is helping to shape its future.
