Pallavi Sharma
To see the runes in the ruins... to breathe in the between of let it be and let it go is a life I live | तत् त्वम् असि | ਸਬਰ ਸ਼ੁਕਰ | #BeKind
Delhi, India
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I am a multifaceted professional with extensive experience across technology, education, and leadership spanning two decades. Throughout my career, I have contributed in diverse capacities including individual contributor, technical product manager, scrum master, intellectual property rights coordinator, and coach specializing in open-source test automation tools and programming.
As the Founder of 5 Elements Learning, an e-learning organization, and Mosaic Words, a green literature publishing company, I combine entrepreneurship with technical expertise. I have authored five technical books and two works of fiction.
I contribute to FOSS and open-source projects, serving as a Selenium committer.
I actively participate in the global testing and automation community, contributing to international conferences on Testing, Automation, AI, and related fields as a reviewer, jury member, organizer, and speaker. I hold multiple certifications aligned with my professional expertise and personal interests.
Beyond my professional endeavors, I enjoy writing, reading, travel, nature watching, and conservation initiatives. I am committed to contributing positively to society and the environment through both my expertise and resources, guided by the principle of #BeKind, beginning with self-compassion
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Area of Expertise
Begin your journey to be a Selenium Committer
Selenium recently celebrated two decades of its existence. Through all these years many highly motivated individuals and a dedicated community has kept the project alive and kicking. Multitude of companies big and small use Selenium. Companies are also built around Selenium and doing quite well for themselves. Selenium an open source project which provides solution to automate the browser for your various requirements can be implemented using the programming language of your choice.
The talk aims to help motivated individuals who would like to give back to Selenium, by contributing to the Selenium Documentation. Through my personal experience I would like to share and help people who attend this talk get started with their journey of helping and supporting Selenium Documentation, and become Selenium Committers
Global Testing Retreat 2025
Part of Program Team.
As Speaker, my topic was - From Flaky to Fixed: A Design Thinking Framework for Common Test Automation Challenges
It is 2025, and we are still struggling to find the right set of tools and technique to overcome common test automation problems, teams across globe face. We changed our tool set, our strategies only to realize that sooner or later we come across the same pitfalls. We fail to address the root cause of misery and keep thinking that some divine tool out there exists which will take away all the challenges of test automation, like the bugs of the product we are testing, and all be well in this world. Reality strikes hard when yet another time the strategy to fix all the problems with the magic AI solution also ends in a disaster, this time maybe we might want to go back to the board and ask Why?
The idea to apply Design Thinking principles to ideate to build better products isn’t something new. It has been always there, but maybe we as Test Automation developers and architects failed to see Test Automation as a product, as a development project. Even today, just like testing, test automation is an afterthought. And with that comes the struggles for the team to build the perfect connotation which will identify all issues build after build without itself needing any support or help. This talk aspires to help achieve a shift in mindset of teams enthusiastic to explore, adapt and build strong test automation solutions and be open to ask Why, when things don’t end up as they should.
Design thinking offers a human-centered approach to problem-solving that emphasizes understanding root causes before generating solutions. When applied to test automation, it shifts our focus from fixing broken tests to understanding why our automation approach is failing. In this talk we will explore few of the most common problems we face when building test automation solutions, and how we can use the principles of Design Thinking which are – Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. We will explore solutions like 5Whys and Conflict of Interest to explore possible root causes of problems commonly faced and how we can resolve them.
Having said that, we need to understand that there exists no one solution for designing test automation project. A lot depends on what exactly is the problem, we are trying to solve, what resources we have, what is our ability to build that capacity and what solutions already exists in the market. It is also time to understand and accept that no one solution fits all bills. For some projects maybe record replay approach of scripts works well, whereas for another project, more code architecture and framework design of approach is required, whereas for some solutions of AI agents are more viable.
IIT Madras-Kanha House
Browser automation with open standards.
PNSQC 2025
The Test Automation Toolbox: Exploring Frameworks Built on WebDriver - The API for Browser Automation.
Behind the success of any Web Application lies a robust testing strategy. Automation is integral to the success of testing of web applications, as the sheer versions, modes of browsers and operating system complexity is significant. As the browser complexity has grown, so too has the ecosystem of frameworks and tools that simplify, and scale test automation built on it. One of the significant milestones in browser automation testing was the recognition of WebDriver protocol as a W3C standard. While Selenium WebDriver provides the foundational API for browser control, numerous frameworks have emerged across different programming languages to simplify test automation and address common challenges. This paper explores the ecosystem of test automation frameworks built on the WebDriver protocol, examining how they enhance productivity, reduce boilerplate code, and provide specialized features for modern web testing. In this paper we will analyze frameworks in five major programming languages - Java (Selenide), C# (Atata), Python (SeleniumBase), Ruby (Ruby Raider), and JavaScript (WebDriverIO) - demonstrating how each addresses language-specific needs while leveraging the same underlying WebDriver standard. Through code examples and comparative analysis, we show how these frameworks abstract complexity, provide built-in best practices, and offer enhanced reporting capabilities compared to raw Selenium WebDriver implementations. This exploration reveals that while WebDriver provides the universal foundation for browser automation, the choice of framework significantly impacts development velocity, maintenance overhead, and team adoption. Understanding the strengths and trade-offs of different frameworks enables teams to select tools that align with their technical stack, expertise level, and project requirements.
Test Festival 2025
The Test Festival Conference, by Bug Detective is an African Software Testing Conference.
I joined the conference as a speaker.
My topic for the talk was - Unlocking the power of open source contribution for Modern Career Growth.
CAST 2025
The CAST 2025 is an annual testing conference which is organized by the Association of Software Testing.
I was part of the conference as a reviewer.
TestMu 2025
Topic- Code it Forward, Making your mark in Open Source
Linux, was my first exposure to the world of Open Source. It was non frivolous, easy to use and did the job of the OS without all the frills of being one. And similar to it, there exists a plethora of tools out there which fall under the umbrella of open source, no not free, open source, yes they are different. Well this conference for example is build around one such tool, Appium.
As human, we are all quite self – centered people. We always have excuse of not doing something, which goes beyond our comfort level. This is especially true when I talk about giving back to open source projects. But what if we learn that contributing to open source can open multiple doors for professional growth in terms of collaboration, networking, business and visibility.
I would like to showcase some of the open source projects and how you can contribute to them. You may feel encouraged to pick one, or chose any other to start. I hope through this talk people are encouraged to make an investment which returns manifolds for their professional growth in terms learning, networking, staying afloat with current trends and technologies, shine out in crowd and through all this also build a feeling of self worth, which is the highest goal in Maslow hierarchy of needs.
Through my own personal experience, and with permission from one to many open source creators and contributors, I would also show case some real life examples to learn from.
Please note most of the examples will be from the field of automation, testing, and related areas to which I have been exposed in my career.
Continuous Testing Meetup
The test automation toolbox: exploring frameworks built on WebDriver — the API for browser automation.
This session explores the power and versatility of WebDriver, the standard API for browser automation, and its broad adoption across programming languages. We’ll dive into the WebDriver ecosystem, examining open-source frameworks built in Java, C#, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript. Attendees will gain insights into how these frameworks leverage WebDriver, the challenges of cross-language implementation, and best practices for choosing the right tool. We’ll also assess framework health using key GitHub metrics and discuss ways to contribute to the open-source automation community. Whether you’re a tester, developer, or QA engineer, this talk will help you navigate the test automation toolbox more effectively.
Pallavi Sharma
To see the runes in the ruins... to breathe in the between of let it be and let it go is a life I live | तत् त्वम् असि | ਸਬਰ ਸ਼ੁਕਰ | #BeKind
Delhi, India
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