> Working as a tester means living with permanent cognitive dissonance. Let me explain. When your main task is to find problems, that might not feel so nice. It can feel negative, like you are not truly working on the product because you are not building like a developer. #blog #testing

> Quality isn't engineered, my god, there's barely any quality at all. It's not even a focus for most companies. They say that they care, but actions speak louder. They only care about money, and focus on extracting as much of it as they can in the short term. www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/quality-is-e...

Why do so many testers think they aren’t enough? That they should be ashamed of their role? That they should be called something different in order to get the respect they desire and deserve? Well, I can venture a guess! www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/why-do-so-ma...

In my last post about testing, I told you to stop thinking that testing can find all the issues. Today, I want to focus on what I do, instead of saying what you shouldn't do. Walk the talk, and such. What is my main job as a test consultant? #testing #tech www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/my-software-...

> Be a better person, so you can be a better person to the people around you. Without reading self-help books, or doing conscious personal development work, I have managed to take big steps this year. I am accepting myself as I am, and trusting myself to be good enough as a human being.

New YouTube video! Explore Utrecht from the comfort of your couch. I'm walking next to the Catherijnesingel, a lovely bit of water where people come to chill, watch boats, walk their dogs... #urbanism #walking www.youtube.com/watch?v=FePt...

Newsletter: My 16,000 word opus - How To Argue With An AI Booster, a comprehensive guide to arguing with AI boosters, addressing both their bad faith debate style and their specific (and flimsy) arguments as to why generative AI is the future. www.wheresyoured.at/how-to-argue...

How to make "the most" of my life? (A question that makes me slightly ill just by writing it down.) I don't believe that life is there to be squeezed like a lemon, to get the maximum amount of juice out of it. On the other hand, just loafing about on a couch ain't it, either.

Pen and paper are superior are your AI bullshit. www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/pen-and-pape...

I've written this straight from the heart: Humanity hates people. www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/humanity-hat...

Many people choose to watch short videos on their smartphones for hours on end, willingly. What are the consequences of this behavior? Why do so many people choose to let their minds be colonized instead of doing something else with their limited time? www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/dont-let-the...

RIP the Internet as we have known it. You were great while you lasted, until big tech came along and fucked everything up with SEO and ads. "AI" is just the thing that finally tips the balance over to "most of the internet is unusable", but all this bullshit was in the making for years.

On international women's day, we train for the apocalypse 💪 thanks for an awesome session @maaikees.bsky.social

Happy to announce that I've found a new IT assignment, thanks to the power of my network and serendipity. Thank you all for sharing my posts about looking for a new assignment and the "don't put me in a box"-blog <3 www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/thank-you/

Spilling the tea for MoT, soon.

@fionaccharles.bsky.social closing her fantastic keynote at #TestAutomationDays with a shoutout to @maaikees.bsky.social, showing a drawing of her.

A Guardian article inspired this blog post, in which I will once again lament this Catch 22 situation: you cannot truly prove testing has worked. The closest we can come to proving testing works is to be exceptionally clear about its process, its results, and also its limitations. #blog #testing

Blogged: "Don't Put me in a Box". I share my personal frustrations about finding a job as a tester. I don't neatly fit in any of the testing roles but a bit in all of them. #blog #testing #tech #IT www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/dont-put-me-...

New article alert! My hatred for all things AI forced me to consider the lovely drug that is cognitive dissonance once again. In the article, I present a visual metaphor that explains cognitive dissonance clearly: the cognitive dissonance pyramid. #blog #tech

It's maddening to me how many people in the software testing community are blindly using AI tools in their work. Promoting these tools! Are you a parrot for big tech? Weren't we supposed to care about quality? How is a tool that is fully based on stolen work a quality solution!?

"You still look feminine", is not the compliment you think it is. A short rant about stuff people say to me now that I'm more muscular than average. #blog

Uhm, I’m almost embarrassed to ask this, but how do you call a Tweet on this here platform?

Ticked off a lot of to-do's today. I really wish that would make me feel good, but as I explained many times by now, it does NOTHING in my brain. There is no reward, no relief. Damn it. One big task remains: TAXES. Of course, I left that one as the last task. *takes a deep breath* HERE WE GO

Was using Obsidian a ton last year, but then I made a switch to more analog note-taking. Not using a computer turns out to remove barriers to get started, even though Obsidian as a tool tries to not be in your way. Picking up a notebook and starting to write is even easier. YMMV

I thought the final boss of software testing was the organization structure, aka: management. We can go one level deeper, to the secret fifth level! Once you know, it cannot be unseen. #blog #IT #software #testing www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/the-secret-f...

You use white noise to calm yourself. I use atmospheric black metal to calm myself. We are not the same.

I found a silly little baby on my walk today. She meows back if you meow at her!!

Oliver and I took the day off to work on Healthy Living for Desk Dwellers. Either today or tomorrow, we'll email our Early Members with the next steps for the platform and community, which involves all around YOUR qualitative feedback. There's still time to join and get involved early! 👇

I need energy for writing. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate main menu theme music delivers. This song SLAPS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yepz...

Gemini AI crap was just turned on in my Google Workspace against my will. Sigh.....now I need to spend precious mental work capacity to figure out where I can host my email and docs SANS BULLSHIT. I hate this timeline. @testpappy.bsky.social at least it correctly identified you as Grumpy Pappy

Crows & Haybales - my original fountain pen ink drawing from the pages of my sketchbook ✍️

Hate it when ppl start a meeting one minute early xD Needed that minute for my mental health

Again, a tech worker like you or me is the one implementing shit like this after management decree. Sure, you can stop using Meta products. But also be aware that someone implemented this, and that someone probably just needs to earn a paycheck. How can we get out of this awful situation?

Cannot get my ass into gear this morning, ugh.

Fighting the millennial urge to put at emoji at the end of each sentence

The words were flowing, and boy, they are not pretty! I am pissed off, and when I am pissed off, I curse a lot. I found a post from 2021, and I compare my words from 4 years ago with how I feel about it today. It being: the focus of the testing community on "quality" #blog #tech #IT

I feel like many people working in tech, as testers or developers, are like the violin players on the Titanic. Only they don't realize they're on the Titanic, they think they are on a cruise.

I have a lot of useful thoughts (if I do say so myself), but I neglected to note them down this weekend. Now, the next day, I want to act on those thoughts, but they're gone! Blissful silence in my brain, 404, thoughts not found. Morale of the story: write down actions based on ideas at once 🤡

Absolute shitshow at work, so basically, just an average day.

I think I'm officially old and from a different generation, but I just cannot see the appeal of consuming hours of short form video content. I don't understand the appeal of TikTok and the like, at all. Reading seems so much less violating to my attention span 🤷‍♀️

I will publicly build out Healthy Living for Desk Dwellers, so you can have direct influence over the content and goals. Read the manifesto and sign up as an Early Member (free) to become involved and receive updates.

Next week in concerts: Mahler 9th symphony in the Concertgebouw on Tuesday. I'll sit there quietly and indulge in highbrow classical music. Cattle Decapitation in the Melkweg on Saturday. I will break my fucking neck from headbanging, probably. Perfectly balanced. #music

Reject modernity, use fountain pens. Honestly the difference writing makes for me is palpable. It's like old time medicine using leeches for getting rid of vile humours.

Blogged: the paradox of being a decent person I feel that indecent people are growing in number, yet I don’t know what we can do about that without also descending into the realm of indecency. This creates a paradox if you care about being (or being perceived as) a decent person.

Body feels extremely shaky today. Either I’m getting sick, or it’s because I trained legs yesterday

My current IT assignment will end in February. I'm going to resume working on my Healthy Living for Desk Dwellers initiative again. I want to help people who work an office job live healthier lives in a gentle and positive way. Read the manifesto and goals on the website. Sign up for updates!

We have failed as testers & developers to make software better. It's simply not up to us, and I think we should be honest towards ourselves about how little impact we have on quality.... read the post and make up your own mind. You can also keep sniffing the copium if that's what you prefer.