At this point, many of you are likely tired of reading the countless ‘year-in-review’ retrospective posts about what made 2012 so great – so I will spare you the nostalgic recap of 2012 highlights from the uTest Community. I won’t mention that we reached a major milestone of 70,000+ professional testers, nor will I share that we witnessed record-breaking payouts and launched the new HTML Platform (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). Instead, the Community Management Team is looking onward at the exciting improvements our community of testers can expect in 2013. Here are several highlights:

Learning

In past years, uTest has been known to testers as a place to get vetted and, if qualified, get invited to test the latest and greatest apps. We also recognize that becoming ‘vetted’ is never an end state, but rather a process. In the past year, there has been a great deal of knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer training and mentoring within the community. Moving into 2013, we will be building upon this momentum by developing a training curriculum that allows testers to further hone their skills. In addition, we will be offering a variety of advanced ‘sandbox programs’ to vet testers in specific segments and sub-segments of testing, as well as different roles that are available to qualified testers and team leads. These new programs will offer opportunities for testers to become more knowledgeable and offer them various paths that will benefit their career – both within and outside of uTest.

Platform

As I may have mentioned above, uTest wrapped up 2012 with the launch of an entirely new HTML platform for our testers. What I didn’t mention is that this launch is only the beginning! This year, we will be rolling out new features that enhance your testing experience, including enhancements to support additional testing types and workflows. There will also be a major update to the tester profile, which will enable us to better match testers with the right projects and training opportunities – all of which will help you learn and earn more than you did in past years.

Engagement

I’ll be the first to admit: the uTest Community Management Team loves to engage with testers from all around the world. As such, the uTest Forums have been a great environment for testers to engage with fellow members of the uTest Community. While the uTest Forums is not going away any time soon, we want testers to be able to connect in even more ways, fitting with their preferences. Moving forward, we plan to branch out and expand tester engagements to a variety of social platforms. We encourage you to make it your New Year’s resolution to Follow, Like, Link, Circle, and Subscribe to uTest Community. Doing so will enable you stay up to date on everything related to the uTest Community, including upcoming uMeetups around the globe, contests, awards, recognition programs, and training opportunities.

As you can see, there are big things in the horizon for the uTest Community this year, and to be honest, this is only the tip of the iceberg. While we could divulge more information about other programs, we want you to stay connected to hear more about upcoming announcements. Until then, Happy New Year and Happy Testing uTesters!