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Maaike Brinkhof

@maaikees.bsky.social
702 followers 165 following 693 posts

Jack of all trades, master of none: Tester, Developer, Powerlifter, Nutritionist, Writer. I do too many things, and I can't help it.

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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
> 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
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Inside you are two wolves
Let me jump on a trend for once, yeah? For some reason, I'm seeing the "two wolves" meme making a comeback over on Mastodon, which is admittedly pretty niche as far as social media platforms go. But i...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
> 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...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Quality = Engineered + Experienced - explained with fountain pens.
I'm about to make a huge mistake by publishing this post, as today's topic is: quality. Is there a concept, a word, that's more divisive in the software testing community than quality? I have to admi...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
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...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Why do so many testers have an identity crisis?
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...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
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-...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
My software testing approach
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. ...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
> 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.
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Acceptance of the self
The theme that Hobonichi chose for next year is "you love you?". At first, it sounded cheesy to me, but follow the link and read what Shigesato Itoi has to say about it. A small excerpt: “I Love Me” ...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
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...
youtube.com
Taking a walk in Utrecht POV: Catherijnesingel
YouTube video by maaikees
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Reposted by Maaike Brinkhof
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 25/08/2025
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...
wheresyoured.at
How To Argue With An AI Booster
Editor's Note: For those of you reading via email, I recommend opening this in a browser so you can use the Table of Contents. This is my longest newsletter - a 16,000-word-long opus - and if you like...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
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.
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Being erratic
This has honestly been the question that I've been dealing with for almost my entire life: How to live when my "output" is so erratic? How to make "the most" of my life? (A question that makes me slig...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
the paper is very good! Works with all types of pens
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Pen and paper are superior are your AI bullshit. www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/pen-and-pape...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Pen and paper are superior to your AI bullshit.
There are currently 5 notebooks on my desk. Actually, I'm lying! There are 7 notebooks on my desk if you count the 2 Rhodia scratch pads I use for throw-away notes. If there's one thing that "AI" and...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
I've written this straight from the heart: Humanity hates people. www.maaikebrinkhof.nl/humanity-hat...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Humanity hates people.
We could have made our environment welcoming to cyclists and pedestrians, but we didn't. A car centric environment is the norm in many parts of the world, making it dangerous to be outside if you cann...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
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...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Don’t let them colonize your mind
In the disturbing film, A Clockwork Orange, the protagonist's eyes are being forcefully kept open, and he has no choice but to watch the most horrible scenes in order to “rehabilitate” from the awful ...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
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.
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Why I don't want to be in a WhatsApp group with boomers
Almost everyone I know is in at least a couple of group chats on messaging apps. Here in Europe, WhatsApp (by Meta) is still the most popular choice to run a group chat. My second orchestra also put e...
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Reposted by Maaike Brinkhof
Alex Schladebeck @alexschl.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
On international women's day, we train for the apocalypse 💪 thanks for an awesome session @maaikees.bsky.social
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
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/
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Thank you
Many thanks to everyone who liked and shared the posts on my blog and LinkedIn where I was announcing that I was searching for a new IT assignment and where I was asking people to not put me in a box....
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Were there examples given on how using AI judiciously and sceptically can grow your skills?
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Spilling the tea for MoT, soon.
A ministry of testing tea mug that holds 0.5l tea
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Reposted by Maaike Brinkhof
Christian Baumann @chrissbaumann.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
@fionaccharles.bsky.social closing her fantastic keynote at #TestAutomationDays with a shoutout to @maaikees.bsky.social, showing a drawing of her.
Don‘t outsource your thinking.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
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
maaikebrinkhof.nl
The real reason we need to invent a time machine
I was reading a very interesting article in The Guardian: 'All people could do was hope the nerds would fix it': the global panic over the millennium bug, 25 years on. At the turn of the millennium, I...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
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-...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
Don't put me in a box
I'm trying to find a new assignment as a self-employed Test Consultant, and this confronts me with some facets of job searching that I don't really enjoy. My main complaint is that most roles try to ...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
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
maaikebrinkhof.nl
The cognitive dissonance pyramid: one hell of a drug.
We are all wrong from time to time, it's part of the human condition. Even smart people can be wrong. True wisdom is being able to admit you were wrong, and then actually change your mind. However, th...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
We're just excusing stealing at this point, just because we think it makes our work easier or more "productive". WIDEN YOUR SCOPE when thinking about quality! JFC!
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
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!?
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
LOL
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
LMFAO, that's a good one
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
We're just people, doing hobbies. I'm not agender, but I understand those people DEEPLY. Look at me as a person, first and foremost. How is that so hard? My gender is irrelevant 99% of the time anyway
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
I'm under no illusion I will never get a comment from some random person (or person that I know!) ever again, so I've learned to just let it glide off me. Can't change other people's minds. But it was great to write it down xD
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
"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
maaikebrinkhof.nl
"You still look feminine", is not the compliment you think it is
Let's talk about the female body. The female body is not allowed to just exist without garnering opinions from others. Surprisingly, not only from men. Women also love to comment on other women's bod...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Mastodon has “toots”, Bluesky has….”skies”??? Nah that can’t be it.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Uhm, I’m almost embarrassed to ask this, but how do you call a Tweet on this here platform?
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
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
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
That's the best part!! xD
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Wish I could retire from the "need money grind". I would never stop working, but it would be so freeing to actually make a meaningful difference in other people's lives without that pressure to earn my existence.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
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
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
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...
maaikebrinkhof.nl
The secret fifth level of testing
The following drawing was the inspiration for my Testing RPG talk. Excuse its quality, I have never left the "drawing people as figure sticks like a toddler"-stage. I have contemplated recording the ...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
music.apple.com/nl/album/%D0...
music.apple.com
Поки Зникнем У Млi - Till We Become the Haze by Drudkh on Apple Music
Song · 2022 · Duration 15:31
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
You use white noise to calm yourself. I use atmospheric black metal to calm myself. We are not the same.
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Reposted by Maaike Brinkhof
shu @shuyawns.com · 23/01/2025
I found a silly little baby on my walk today. She meows back if you meow at her!!
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
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! 👇
deskdwellers.town
Healthy Living for Desk Dwellers
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
I have the same hahaha I watch a ton of Japanese video's and the translated Dutch titles are super weird. My devices aren't even set to Dutch so wtf is it doing that for.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
I need energy for writing. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate main menu theme music delivers. This song SLAPS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yepz...
youtube.com
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Menu Music Extended
YouTube video by ItzRudes
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
So tired of this crap...
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
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
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Reposted by Maaike Brinkhof
Harry Frost @harryfrost.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Crows & Haybales - my original fountain pen ink drawing from the pages of my sketchbook ✍️
A blue ink drawing illustration on a white paper background.  Crows fly over a field of haybales with clouds drifting overhead.  The drawing is monochrome blue and created with a fountain pen line hatching shading technique.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Hate it when ppl start a meeting one minute early xD Needed that minute for my mental health
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
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?
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Cannot get my ass into gear this morning, ugh.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
They are in the same boat as us. You could say “the one with the compiler wins” but the “one with the money always wins”.
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Fighting the millennial urge to put at emoji at the end of each sentence
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Maaike Brinkhof @maaikees.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Yes, and it doesn’t stop there. That is the topic of my next post
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