Leading a QA Workshop: From Appium Basics to a Mini Automation Framework

I recently had the opportunity to lead a QA workshop for my colleagues from the office in Skopje, and it was an incredible experience! The goal of the workshop was to share knowledge about mobile automation testing with Appium and guide the team through creating a mini automation framework.

The workshop was structured into three interactive sessions, and here’s what we covered:

Session 1: Introduction & Project Setup

In the first session, I presented the basics of Appium:

  • What Appium is and how it works

  • The architecture of Appium tests

  • How it interacts with mobile apps

After the presentation, we set up a new Appium project from scratch, configuring everything necessary to start testing. By the end of the session, we had:

  • Created a new Appium project

  • Added the first test file to perform a login test in the app

This session gave the team a solid foundation and a hands-on start with mobile automation.

Session 2: Building a Mini Framework

During the second session, we focused on refactoring and improving the initial project:

  • Implemented the Page Object Model to organize code

  • Added helpers and reusable methods

  • Integrated an HTML reporter to generate readable test reports

We also created two full end-to-end test cases, and I assigned a homework task for the group: implement two additional test cases at home to reinforce their learning.

By the end of this session, the team had a working mini automation framework ready for testing more features.

Session 3: Presentations & Scaling Up

In the third session, the participants presented the test cases they implemented at home, which sparked great discussions on best practices and challenges.

We also explored how a real Appium framework looks on larger projects:

  • Typical challenges in scaling automation frameworks

  • How to manage reusable components and tests efficiently

  • Best practices for maintaining a large test suite

The session gave the team a realistic view of automation on a professional scale.

Key Takeaways

Leading this workshop was a rewarding experience, and the key outcomes were:

  • Hands-on experience for the team in creating and running mobile automation tests

  • Understanding of framework design, reusable code, and reporting

  • Insight into scaling automation projects in real-world scenarios

It’s always great to share knowledge and see colleagues grow in their QA skills. I’m looking forward to running more workshops in the future!