"Testing Is Not a Specialism" - You keep using that word…

Vernon got triggered. A bold LinkedIn post declared "PSA: testing is not a specialism. Thank you for your time." Mic drop, walk off stage, no explanation. And it wasn't just one person. So Vernon did what any self-respecting tester would do: he asked why. And didn't get an answer. In this episode, Vernon and Richard dig into why some developers seem to find the idea of testing as a specialism genuinely laughable, what happens when you confuse a skill with a role, and why, in a world where everyone's building agentic workflows, nobody seems to notice that they're writing skills.md files full of testing knowledge. They also explore how AI is already reshaping what's expected of every role on a software team, why "knowing what good looks like" has never mattered more, and what skill stacking means for testers who want to stay ahead of the curve.

Chapters

00:00 - Intro

01:17 - Vern's welcome rant

01:42 - The topic: Is testing a specialism?

07:17 - Rich gets a chance to speak 😅

07:29 - Good Testers vs Bad Testers

11:15 - Aren't we all developers now anyway?

13:06 - There's testing and there's Testing

15:01 - Testers communicating their value

18:34 - If testing isn't a specialism, where does that leave agents and skills?

20:30 - The lads cook up a new way to reframe the situation

23:53 - Who should do testing?

32:27 - Vern believes these folks are saying one thing and doing another

35:02 - Rich wants to know what happens to the 0.5x Testers?

40:02 - Skill Stacking

45:36 - The thing most people haven't done but need to

50:04 - Are we all Domain Translators now?

54:23 - Wrap up

Links to stuff we mentioned during the pod:

01:42 - Paul's interesting LinkedIn post that triggered Vernon
03:34 - The question I asked on LinkedIn about why "people" get so triggered about testing as a role
05:33 - Greg's interesting post about test management and levels of competence
06:31 - Jade Rubick's post questioning whether QA should exist at all!
10:46 - Angie Jones (the only thing Angie is terrible at is being terrible!)
- Angie's blog
- Angie's LinkedIn
14:11 - The episode When Everything Sounds Like Testing… How Do You Explain What You Really Do?
14:46 - Funnily enough, Vernon is giving this talk at Agile Testing Days 2026!
- It's called If Testers Had a Dragon's Den Pitch, Would Anyone Invest?
- DM Vernon if you would like a discount code for the conference!
15:07 - The very cool GreaTest Quality Conference
27:25 - Jason Bourne a fictional character from some of the best movies ever (especially the first two ^VR)
28:29 - Anne-Marie Charrett
- The excellent book in digital or physical versions
- Anne-Marie's website
- Be sure to check out the blog which is no longer pay-walled 🥳
- Anne-Marie's LinkedIn
28:29 - James Bach
- The Test Jumper description we refer to
- James' blog
- James' LinkedIn
51:02 - Nate B. Jones (Shout out Martin for putting Vernon on to it 🙏🏾
- The post about developer roles mentioned in the episode
- Nate's newsletter
- Nate's website
- Nate's YouTube
- Nate's LinkedIn
56:52 - Vernon did write Vernon Version 3 - Now with added AI! all about the skills he thinks he needs to develop going forwards
- Please like, subscribe, and share 😊 ^VR

Got thoughts on whether testing is a specialism? We genuinely want to hear from you. Vernon still doesn't have an answer to his question. Run it past a friendly developer and let us know what they say. Drop us a message on LinkedIn and if Paul or Greg are listening, the invitation to come on the pod is very much open.