Do I still recommend ISTQB?

Test Automation is Dead. And We Have Killed It.

Nietzsche once said that God is dead. In 2026, I look at our CI/CD pipelines, our flaky tests, and our bloated frameworks, and I can't help but feel the same way about Automation. It’s dead. And we are its murderers.For years, the industry has sold us a lie: that coding is the highest form of testing. We rushed to master syntax, locators, and infrastructure, but in the process, we lost the very thing that made us testers in the first place - our hunter’s instinct. We’ve traded critical thinking for a maintenance manual, becoming operators of complex machines that are perfectly tuned to look at the world through a keyhole while the rest of the building is on fire.In this essay, I’m breaking down the "Automation Delusion" and why the technocratic definition of seniority is a dead end. If your only value is translating a manual step into a line of code, AI is already faster than you. It’s time to stop apologizing for "just testing" and return to the core of our profession. 📺 Prefer the visual version? Watch this episode onYouTube: https://youtu.be/NJsYu6tTNHw [https://youtu.be/NJsYu6tTNHw] 🤝 Join the discussion and connect with me onLinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/]

Why Your UI Tests Take Forever (And How To Fix It)

Are your automated tests taking hours to run? Do they fail randomly because of a UI change on the homepage? In this episode, we tackle the #1 architectural mistake junior Test Automation Engineers make: using the UI to set up test data. Learn why mirroring manual testing steps in your code creates a massive bottleneck, how false negatives destroy trust in your framework, and how you can use API requests to inject session tokens and make your UI tests 10x faster and more reliable. 📺 Prefer the visual version? Watch this episode onYouTube: https://youtu.be/GEpjApads_c [https://youtu.be/GEpjApads_c] 🤝 Join the discussion and connect with me onLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/]

You Don't Need a QA Portfolio

Every bootcamp tells you to build a massive test automation portfolio on GitHub to get hired. Here is the reality check: hiring managers do not have the time to clone your repository, install your dependencies, and review your code. In this video, we debunk the portfolio myth. Learn why copying tutorial frameworks will not make you stand out, and how you should actually use your personal projects to practice for technical interviews. 📺 Prefer the visual version? Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g7Sse7YjAhg 🤝 Join the discussion and connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/

Do I still recommend ISTQB?

You passed the exam, memorized all the definitions, and got the certificate. So why are you still failing technical interviews? In this episode, we break down the reality of QA certifications in 2026. We discuss why hiring managers care more about your ability to solve real problems and defend your architectural decisions than your ability to pass a multiple-choice test. A certificate is not a golden ticket. Do not let it give you a false sense of security. 📺 Prefer the visual version? Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tYXm0UqWknA 🤝 Join the discussion and connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/

Stop learning random QA tools (Do this instead)

Youknow the syntax, you watched the tutorials, but you still cannot pass the technical interview. In this episode, we break down why learning testing tools is not enough to get an automation job. We cover system thinking, the importance of continuous integration, and why communication is the ultimatefilter during interviews. Stop wasting time on the wrong things 📺 Prefer the visual version? Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBHUHHQLRw 🤝 Join the discussion and connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciepielewski/