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Grafana and k6 work
Ivan Szkiba, our latest grafanista, joined us at k6 Office Hours to update us about the latest developments on xk6. Before joining Grafana, Ivan was one of the most active contributors to the community! He created popular extensions such as the xk6-dashboard, xk6-prometheus, xk6-faker, and more!
We also celebrated the 100th episode of k6 Office Hours! I still can't believe that we hit 100 episodes! We dedicated this episode to reflect back on how k6 Office Hours started, our favourite episodes, and even talk about the challenging ones! 😄
My contribution to DZone was also published. I spoke about how you can achieve a continuous testing approach to performance, which is heavily inspired by Dan Ashby's continuous testing in the DevOps model.
The k6 Champions program was also in full swing this month. We accepted three new amazing contributors - Huzaif Asif, Bartosz Ciach, and Monish Correia. Huzaif, Bartosz, and Monish have been big advocates of k6. They’ve advocated for k6 in different formats, such as video content, blog posts, and in-person workshops. I'm looking forward to seeing how our new champions continue to engage and get involved with the community! 🙌🏼
To continue my learning of Grafana Faro, I wrote a blog post about the importance of lab and field data, which is scheduled to go live in the Grafana blog in October. I wanted to connect both k6 and Grafana to show how the two tools can work alongside together when it comes to web performance.
Community work/Side projects
We've been busy this month at Adobo and Avocados! To start, Nicole and I talked about essentialism, how we set boundaries, and how we manage our time. Essentialism was a term I recently learned, and if you're also looking for a book recommendation, check out Essentialism by Greg Mckeown, which I also mentioned in last month's monthly review.
We also spoke with the one and only Sophie Küster to talk about imposter syndrome (or imposter phenomenon), which is a topic that resonates with us all. Sophie also shared tips on how we can win over imposter syndrome. 💜
Finally, we also spoke with Maaret Pyhäjärvi to discuss the benefits and dangers of public speaking. This topic resonated with me a lot because of negative experiences in the past when I was starting my public speaking journey. When we talk about public speaking, we only see the positive aspect, but there is another side to it that needs to be talked about.
I was also invited to speak at Transcend Tech meetup in Leeds along with Yousaf Nabi and Callum Atkinson. I spoke about a hybrid approach to performance testing, and it was great connecting with the speakers and attendees afterward. It was my first time visiting Leeds as well!
TestBash UK
I was given the opportunity to present at TestBash UK this year. I was originally going to attend just as an attendee, but due to last-minute speaker cancellations, the Ministry of Testing team asked if I could present instead. I talked about the psychology of web performance, an activity, an ask-me-anything session, and a hands-on workshop with Grafana k6. The feedback I received was great, and I even received a few constructive ones from a good friend, which I will make sure to apply at future conferences.
I met a lot of people that I know from the community and also new people that I met for the first time. It was also great to see a few Filipinos at the conference! I also met our k6 champion and good friend, Jas Manigundan, who flew all the way from Melbourne! 💜
I'm personally excited for TestBash UK 2024, which will be held at Nottingham. Tickets are also now available!
Personal development
🏋🏻♀️ My average steps for this month was higher than last month! 💜 I've also continued going to the gym and tried a few cycle classes.
📚 This month, I finished reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. This book provides a different angle because it explains the behaviour that people have when it comes to money. Morgan shares that our relationship with money is mostly due to our upbringing and personal experiences. I highly recommend this book!
🎧 Back to listening to my favourite podcasts consistently this month. Estoy escuchando un podcast en español también a me ayuda con mi aprendiendo.
🗣 Estoy aprendiendo lecciones de español pero no en Duolingo. Estoy practicando hablar más con mi amiga. Ella me ayuda entiendendo el lengua más. I'm not sure if the phrases are all correct! 😄
September favourites
I've had the most amazing Italian food during my short trip to Italy. Their ingredients are just so fresh! I would love to come back there.
Attended a beautiful wedding in Battipaglia.
Enjoyed the networking sessions at TestBash UK and Leeds meetup.
Gabby's back to school, and she's now in year two! How time flies. 💜
