Dragons Out

I recently had a chance to write in the magazine of math teachers. Mathematics is one of the natural stepping stones towards software development and software testing. The association of math teachers (MAOL) has been interested in cooperation with me. They considered software testing to be an interesting angle for anyone interested in mathematics.

I wrote about my book writing project and how software testing can be taught to children via a fantasy book. The article is in Finnish here:

https://www.dimensiolehti.fi/opetetaan-lapsille-ohjelmistotestausta-fantasiakirjan-avulla/

I am very happy that my employer Knowit always likes to play an active role in society. Now with the book I am writing, Knowit has issued a challenge for all IT-companies to participate in donating my software testing book for children to schools in Finland and around the world. 
The challenge has been published adjacent to my interview in the largest IT-magazine in Finland, Tivi, here.  
Knowit sees that now with such a book, it is time for the challenge. Finally, there is a book, with which school teachers can educate children about software testing. IT has an increasing lack of software developers and testers. Next generations need to start learning early.
Knowit will donate a minimum of 30 books and wishes other companies to give the same or greater donation at (https://igg.me/at/dragons-out-book).
Books in Finland will be given to the Minister of Education, who will distribute them to Finnish schools. For other countries, we look for volunteers to deliver the book shipment to local…

I'm interviewed for my book and crowdfunding campaign in the biggest Finnish IT-magazine Tivi. I'm humbled by this great interest, and very happy! Why don't you support the book, too at https://igg.me/at/dragons-out-book

The article is in Finnish and can be found in the link below https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/lapset-koodaavat-miksi-eivat-myos-testaisi-koodia-bugit-ovat-lohikaarmeita-joukkorahoitusta-keraavassa-kirjassa/81751ba9-67e1-4494-837e-d68ccb74f0a8

And the whole text is copied to here:

Testauksen perusteita lapsille opettava satukirja kerää parhaillaan joukkorahoitusta. Kari Kakkonen aikoo kääntää saman tien kirjansa englanniksikin. Koodausta opettavat lastenkirjat ja työpajat ovat kasvaneet suosituiksi viidessä vuodessa. Kari Kakkonen kertoo pitävänsä näitä tärkeinä tapoina kasvattaa nuoria nyky-yhteiskunnan odotuksia varten. Mutta koodaus on vasta puolet ohjelmisto-osaajan taitosettiä. Siksi Kakkonen rupesi miettimään, miksi testausta ei esitellä lapsille.
Kakkosel…

I was very happy to give a presentation at #TAHelsinki conference concerning my future book about software testing for kids of 10-99  : ) with dragons and knights theme. Lots of great feedback. Many people indeed want to give children some Testing knowledge, and not only Coding knowledge : ).

I presented the main characters and explain how testing knowledge is explained in interesting terms. All the attendees also got to draw their own dragon - a most outstanding and interesting software defect they have encountered. It was lots of fun! And some great ideas for the book : ).

The book is almost ready in Finnish, but crowdfunding is needed for illustration and making it hardcover, and also I need to translate it to English on the same go. Share this campaign and back it yourself at Indiegogo portal https://igg.me/at/dragons-out-book   #softwaretesting #children #book #dragons

View my presentation in English and in Finnish.

A big milestone. The crowdfunding campaign is now live and I got the first backer in just 5 minutes! Wow. This is going to be great. I've been sharing my views in Finnish software testing community like this: Learning software testing should start as a kid, like learning to code, would you agree? To enable this, I’m going to publish a book! Help me create this book about dragons, knights and software testing, for children and adults. Help bring more testing into the world. Share this and pre-order the book @indiegogo https://igg.me/at/dragons-out-book I sincerely hope we can get plenty of kids around the world interested in software testing. This is really for the better quality of IT in our world. Please share this in your IT, coding, testing, agile, DevOps etc. communities. Let's make it a movement!

Last month the book has been in beta reading with many testers, teachers, friends, and children. Many an evening I've been editing the comments into the text. Amazing beta rea…

I got my first idea for a book that would combine fantasy and software testing years ago. I wanted to find a way to make software testing interesting to kids. People in the software testing industry understand very well that there is always a shortage of software testing. It usually stems from not knowing enough about the importance of testing. Testing is easily considered a necessary evil. However, it is enormous fun and a profession of its own. Why not tell about the fun of software testing already to children in an engaging way? Dragons and knights found their way into my book.

Finally, my sabbatical year gave me a chance to put some words together to make the story. I wrote the first draft of the first chapter in Finnish in late 2018 and sped up with the other chapters during the rest of my sabbatical in 2019.  There are many more steps to take, including deciding about the extent of illustration, negotiating with book publishers, and editing the book. But we'll get there soon…