"What I do is click around and try to break things. I write loads of test cases and track how many pass or fail. I can't tell you exactly what I'll find, how long it'll take, or what value I'll bring. Sometimes I'll do such a good job you won't even notice. But I promise, me and my work are valuable and important. I'm asking for ninety grand a year and a seat at the table."
You'd be out before you finished the sentence.
The brutal truth is that this is how most testers pitch themselves every single day. Not in a boardroom with cameras rolling, but in standups, in planning sessions, in conversations with stakeholders who are quietly deciding whether quality engineering actually matters.
We are knowledge workers who have been selling ourselves like manual labourers. We speak in features when we should be speaking in benefits. We describe what we do instead of what gets better because of us. And when no one invests, we blame the organisation.
This talk is about fixing that.
Drawing on Jobs To Be Done theory, the principles behind great consulting, and the uncomfortable reality that selling is just education done well, this session will show you how to reframe what you do in terms your stakeholders actually care about. You will leave knowing how to surface the right problems, articulate genuine value, and build the credibility that earns you a seat at the table rather than polite applause on the way out.
The Dragons are waiting. Time to give them a pitch worth funding.