Join Bas Dijkstra as he shares his journey from early fascination with computers to a thriving career in software testing and automation. With over a decade as an independent contractor, Bas reflects on pivotal moments, the importance of community, and advice for future tech professionals.

Can you share a bit about your background?

When I was 11 or 12, we got our first computer at home, and I was immediately fascinated by it. I decided then that I wanted to study Computer Science and be a computer programmer when I grew up.

When I started university, though, it quickly showed that I wasn’t the best programmer, and I made it through most of the courses that involved programming by picking the right lab partner. I loved the courses on mathematics, though, and that’s what I mostly focused on throughout the rest of my time at university.

When I was looking for my first real job I, like so many people in the software testing field, sort of accidentally stumbled into that role, but I really liked it from the start and haven’t looked back since. I was introduced to test automation quite early on, somewhere around 2006-2007, and that turned out to provide the perfect mix between working with people, analytical and critical thinking and software development (that 11-year old boy was onto something after all…)

I started my career in testing with a large consultancy firm, moved to a much smaller firm after three years, stayed there for five, and then an opportunity presented itself to become an independent contractor, which was something I had been considering for a while by then.

This year, I’m celebrating 10 years as an independent contractor, and in those years, I’ve transitioned from mostly being an individual contributor in a development team to being a consultant, trainer, mentor, workshop facilitator and public speaker on many things related to test automation.

Did you come up through a “traditional” techie route or has your career taken twists and turns along the way?

As you can read above, I think my career has followed a pretty ‘traditional’ route, maybe with the side note that not many of my peers in university have moved into the software testing field. Most people with a Computer Science degree go into development, at least at first, so I’m a bit of an outlier in that respect. I started my career in software testing with a bootcamp-like program with 25 others, and I think there was one other person who had an education in Computer Science.

Reflecting on your career, is there a specific moment that stands out as pivotal or defining?

The biggest change for me personally (and for my family) was when I moved from being an employee to being an independent contractor. While my day-to-day with clients didn’t change much, at least initially, I suddenly had a lot of additional responsibilities: finding new projects, taking care of insurance and my pension, invoicing and taxes, and so on.

What I didn’t really realize then was that going independent made it much easier to change what I do and what I can offer my clients in later years. I am sure that I could not have built the career I have now, with all the flexibility, working on different projects, with different clients in different countries, if I would have stayed an employee.

What piece of advice would you give your younger self as you embarked on your professional journey?

Go for it! Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes, even those you look up to.

Looking ahead, what’s your big prediction for the tech landscape in 2025?

I am really, really bad at predicting and following trends and hypes, so I’ll repeat what I keep saying to others here: if you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals, you’ll find it much easier to pick up a new tool, language or technology, so focus on learning and understanding those fundamentals.

Considering your involvement in Silicon Brighton and community-building, what does the concept of ‘community’ mean to you personally? How important is it in the tech industry?

Community is incredibly important to me. Most things I’ve learned over the years, I’ve learned from people in the software testing and software development community. These days, I get most of my projects through my network and through that community.

I don’t think I’d be where I am without that community, and that’s why I try and give back what I can to the community, through sharing knowledge, helping others and helping out with conference organization, for example.

How do you balance staying updated with the latest industry trends while ensuring continuous personal and professional growth? Any specific resources or practices you find particularly valuable?

As I said, I stink at following and keeping up with trends. Or, to put a positive spin on it, I’m happy for others to try their hand at new technologies and trends and then learn from their experiences. It saves me a lot of time, time that I can spend on other things I find valuable, including learning more about the fundamentals of software testing and development, for example.

As someone who has contributed significantly to the community, how do you see mentorship playing a role in the development of the next generation of tech professionals?

Having a good mentor is invaluable. I’ve learned a lot from people with experience when I was younger, and now I’m trying to ‘pay it forward’ by helping and mentoring others, too.

Sure, there is a lot of good content out there, in videos, blog posts and online courses, but having a good mentor helps to separate the wheat from the chaff, to focus on the things that are truly important and to avoid falling into the same pitfalls that ‘the previous generation’ fell into.

Is there any additional wisdom, experience, or anecdotes you’d like to share with our audience?

If you’re looking for a library that helps you write tests for your HTTP-based APIs in C# in a more efficient way, I maintain RestAssured .Net (LINK: https://github.com/basdijkstra/rest-assured-net), and I’m always looking for feedback and ways to further improve that library.

If you’re interested in learning more about contract testing, the topic I spoke about during the Brighton JUG meetup, feel free to check out my brand new self-paced course (LINK: https://ontestautomation.teachable.com/p/practical-contract-testing-with-pact/).

Anything else you would like to promote to our community?

There’s no better way to make sure you truly understand something than by sharing it with others. No matter if it’s running a workshop, writing a blog post or doing a talk at a meetup or a conference, you’ll learn so much more in the process by sharing your knowledge and experience with others.