Joel Oliveira

Performance testing at scale is not about tools, scripts, or pretty reports. It is about surviving complexity, imperfect environments, unclear ownership, and constant trade-offs.

Drawing from real experience in a large-scale digital transformation, this talk shares what went right, what went wrong, and the hard lessons learned while dealing with 50+ applications, distributed teams, fragile KPIs, and painful troubleshooting.

Above all, it shows how performance testing can provide decision-makers with the right data to make better, risk-aware decisions — even when certainty is impossible.

If you have ever wondered why performance testing fails in large programmes, this session will sound uncomfortably familiar.

Joel Oliveira's career has been a thrilling journey through the exciting world of software development. With over two decades of experience, he has tackled a variety of roles, including developer, tester, technical and project manager, quality and engineering manager, and everything in between. Throughout his career, Joel has led teams of engineers in a diverse range of industries, from telecommunications and government to finance, defence, and aerospace.

Driven by his dedication to improving the recognition and proficiency of the testing community, Joel founded the first online testing community in Portugal in 2009 and went on to establish the PSTQB – Portuguese Software Testing Qualifications Board the following year. His expertise in the field has earned him a place in the ISTQB working groups since 2011.

As a mentor, Joel finds joy in sharing his experiences and knowledge with others. You can often find him giving talks and workshops on a variety of topics, including software testing (manual, exploratory, automation, mobile, performance, security), engineering processes (waterfall, agile, continuous improvement, and CMMI), and career management (for testers and beyond).

Currently, Joel holds several positions as Head of Quality Assurance at Celfocus, Governance Chair at ISTQB and General Assembly President at PSTQB.