Traceable exercises
Repos ship with failing tests, partial pipelines, and READMEs that state intent—not just happy-path demos.
[metrics_strip]
7 years running blended QA labs
2,100+ documented mentor review hours
18 organisations referenced in case packs
92% recent exit surveys would suggest a colleague
6 Australian cities represented last intake
[value_stack]
Inside every cohort briefcase
Templates you can fork, facilitator critique on real artefacts, and explicit boundaries on what automation will not catch.
Cross-role language
We practise explaining risk to PMs and engineers without diluting technical precision.
NSW-first scheduling
Live blocks default to AET with rotating slots so Perth participants are not an afterthought.
Refund clarity
Pricing references AUD totals; Returns & Refunds spells cooling-off and transfers.
[surface_hero]
2,100+
Guided lab hours logged reviewing real QA artefacts
Excel Core runs software testing and QA automation programs for manual testers, junior QA engineers, and product teams who need crisp communication—not slide decks that age overnight.
Browse programs[flow_horizontal]
Five beats from enrolment to retrospective
- 01Diagnostic form + tool access checks
- 02Async readings with annotation prompts
- 03Live lab with shared screen critique
- 04Peer review swap using rubric cards
- 05Retro note archived with your managers optional
[programs_preview]
Programs open for enquiry
Defect Storytelling for Manual Testers
Turn raw findings into concise narratives engineers can act on, with severity rubrics and evidence habits.
Playwright Labs: UI Automation
Author resilient selectors, parallelise suites, and integrate HTML reports into team rituals.
API Contract Testing Intensive
Design contract checks between services using practical schemas, negative cases, and observability tie-ins.
[voices_mixed]
Signals from recent cohorts
“The Playwright trace viewer lab forced me to delete half my redundant waits. Sharding homework stopped our overnight job from timing out without buying bigger runners.”
“Defect storytelling week two’s triage script now anchors our daily review.”
★★★★☆ — Strategy deck template survived our CFO questions.
Helena (API cohort): negative matrix travels with every release ticket now.
[field_notes]
Latest field notes
Designing flake triage that engineers actually open
Rename your CI artifacts so on-call engineers see intent, not just job numbers.
API contracts when the backend team is underwater
Smaller batches of schema checks beat a big-bang contract suite nobody runs.
Request the syllabus pack
We email a PDF outline with tooling prerequisites and sample rubrics—no payment step, just a clear view of expectations.
Thanks — we will reply from hello@excel-core.digital within two business days.