Hi all, 
Today, letās welcome the second winner of our Katalon Community Award 2024: Mike McVeigh (@grylion54) for winning the Solutions Extraordinaire award! 
This award celebrates the most helpful member of our community, one whose Katalon expertise & technical knowledge have enabled them to provide the most solutions throughout 2024. 
We also got a chance to hear Mike reflect on his experiences supporting others on the Katalon Community forum. 
1. As another year comes to a close, how would you describe your journey on our forum in 2024 compared to 2023?
This year brought its own set of challenges as our company implemented changes to our network, which impacted my testing processes. I had to update my scripts to ensure successful logins and ālearnedā dynamic pathways to run a newly updated application. Along the way, I encountered several issuesāmany of which I discovered others on the forum had already faced and resolved.
As the saying goes, āBeen there, done that,ā and while it wasnāt me who had been there, I greatly benefited from the solutions shared by others. To everyone who takes the time to provide answers, mark solutions, and contribute to the community, I sincerely thank you. 
2. Youāve consistently been one of our top contributors on the forum. How do you feel now that youāre receiving your second award?
Receiving my second award is a truly rewarding experience. Though, seriously, for me, contributing to the forum is simply my way of giving back to the community members that have supported me in my testing journey.
3. As a veteran in the testing field, can you share with us a few tips that youāve collected along your testing journey or from technical challenges that youāve faced?
One of the most important things I often share on the forum is that testers should NOT rush when automating their tests. While I do understand that tools like Spy are helpful for beginners, however (not trying to preach) itās also important to stay in control and keep learning.
Using āwaitā statements effectively can make a big difference in test stability. For instance, instead of setting your ātimeoutā to zero, opt for a reasonable value like 10. Remember, weāre not like Dr. Whoāwe canāt manipulate time, so patience and planning go a long way.
Regarding challenges with Katalon, earlier this year our network team upgraded our system and caused my tests to fail when they tried to login. After some investigation, we discovered the tests required a second call to the applicationās website to establish a proper connection. I resolved this by using a third-party application to perform a global āFind and Replace,ā which streamlined the fix.
Elsewhere, Iāve been moving towards having in-line TestObjects instead of Selenium objects. This approach ensures that when the pathway changes, tests donāt completely fail but instead provide me with a warning.
As I stated in #1, I have had to create test scripts for an application that has dynamic attributes. This has been a ssloooowwww process as each object has had to be manually changed, however, seeing the tests run was very beautiful. Very Sageā¦āsometimes we just need to spend the timeā.
Last but not least, WebDriver issues are a recurring challenge. Hence, learning how to update the driver both through Katalon and manually is a big asset to all.
4. Your dedication & expertise have earned you the Solution Extraordinaire award. How do you ensure your answers are as helpful to others as possible?
My so-called āexpertiseā comes largely from the mistakes Iāve made along the way. By learning from those errors, Iām often able to anticipate what others might be doing wrongābecause Iāve likely done it myself! I also write down issues and their solutions in my personal wiki, which enables me to refer back to them in the future.
I also owe a lot to other members in our community, especially @kazurayam and @Russ_Thomas, whoāve helped me improve by pointing out where I was āalmostā right. Their guidance has been invaluable in shaping the quality of my responses.
5. The testing field is always evolving, how do you stay current with the latest testing practices & trends? Are there any resources youād recommend to other members?
Normally Iād go on the forum for updates and discussions, but Iām also on other sites for industry news as well to broaden my perspective.
Iāve also been keeping an eye on development in AI, even though I believe its widespread practical adoption is still a few years away. Itās fascinating to see how AI concepts, which I first encountered over 25 years ago in university, are evolving. Back then, we studied Prolog, a rules-based engine, and discussed applications like diagnostic tools for car engines, and Iām pretty sure that they are still around today, too!
Thank you Mike for your relentless drive and dedication to support others thus far. We hope youāll continue to be such a valuable member in our community in the future!
Katalon Community team
