SauceCon Speaker Profile: Andy Knight

You may know Andy Knight as the “Automation Panda”—an engineer, consultant, and international speaker who builds solutions for software testing problems. 

Andy is the lead software engineer in test for a company named PrecisionLender, owned by Q2. Precision Lender helps bankers make better loans, specifically commercial loans. Three years ago, when he started there, there was no higher-level testing or automation. 

The company started with some unit tests, but they wanted feature-level testing. “The nature of a banking application is that it’s very heavy on the front end with so many forms and fields,” he says. “We built up some end-to-end test coverage that could mimic the user experience effectively. Since that time, I’ve had the privilege to build a team and a fairly large-scale test automation solution. We are pushing thousands of tests on a daily basis now. We’re seeing developers starting to automate tests as well while they’re doing new feature development. The mindset has really shifted and it’s great to see.” 

At SauceCon Online 2021, Andy will present on “Managing the Test Data Nightmare.” “One of the biggest barriers to entry for people trying to do test automation is the test data,” says Andy. “And it really can be a nightmare to manage. It has to be prepped in advance, loaded before you test, and then cleaned up afterward. In my talk at SauceCon, I will cover strategies for managing each type of test data effectively.” 

Andy wants first and foremost for SauceCon attendees to recognize that it’s important to truly understand test data. “My job here is to identify the world for what it is and help give strategies so that testers out there can know what they're up against and they can make the best decisions and build the best strategies based on their needs,” he says.

Andy is well known in the testing community for his tech blog at AutomationPanda.com. In the rare times when he’s not working, writing, or speaking on all things testing, Andy and his wife stay busy renovating real estate projects and being AirBnB hosts.  

If you’d like to learn more about Andy and other SauceCon speakers, check out the agenda and make plans to join us from your home office April 20-22.