Maaike Brinkhof
@Maaikees
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19,080
software tester | developer | nutrition coach. I can help you get healthier and I can help you make and test your software: STONKS.
Utrecht, Netherlands
Joined October 2008
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Pinned Tweet
2018: the sad story of a poo emoji in a tech stack 💩
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After 7 years in IT, I'm finally working with a female developer. It's nicer than I could've imagined. It feels safe to talk to her and she helps me improve my coding skills without making me feel like I'm stupid for not knowing things
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Heavy metal calms me down, if you understand you understand. The bigger the wall of sound or the heavier the riff, the better🙏
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My
@EffinBirds
postcards arrived. This one describes perfectly how I feel when some people around here talk about software testing 😂
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Truly, working “agile” is a dogma these days. The whole point of it is lost on too many people. It’s waterfall chopped up in 2-week blocks of work and being forced to talk about “improving” in retrospectives with very little change.
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I'm here at home crying now. I tried to explain why these words "your not techincal, do you want to be at this meeting" hurt so much and I was shut down at once. "yeah it wasn't meant like that. You don't show empathy for us". I have no idea what to do now.
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Let me repeat once more, as a tester your primary concern isn't to find bugs. It's to work with your team to increase confidence in what you're building. Confidence that you're building the right thing and that you're building it right.
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This year marks 10 years in testing for me. I'm still explaining the same basic concepts to people, over and over again like a fkn broken record. No, testing doesn't give guarantee, no testing cannot be complete, nor can it be completely automated.
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The whole “testers must code” is so cringe when the main problem in tech is communication fuck ups and lack of empathy. Rock on, all types of testers
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Many people have mocked me for “only” having a Bachelor degree from university. Saying it’s an unfinished education. Fuck em. I learn better in non-formal ways.
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My
@EffinBirds
merch has arrived and it’s fucking glorious. I FEEL this shirt in every fiber of my being goddamnit.
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I suggested to delete a flaky test and people reacted with shockedpikachu.jpg faces. Just because I'm a tester doesn't mean I want MORE TESTS. That's dumb. Flaky tests are a waste of time. Figure out what risk they cover, if they're even worth, else = toss em
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Imagine you can "level up" as a tester. I'll explain what I mean with these levels and excuse me for my horrible drawing skills.
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So many people falsely believe story points are part of Scrum. Originally, they aren't! Just got dragged into another needless discussion of 'how many story points we could deliver'. ARGHHHH. I want to deliver value, not story points ffs
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What I don't like about test automation is that it has shifted the focus from quality of tests to quantity of tests. It gives the impression that testing is easy because it's easy to add more tests. But more tests != good testing
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10 points if you’re not Dutch and you understand what I’m doing here.
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Passive agressiveness in Jira: create bug ticket and assign it to someone without talking to them.
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I swear it sometimes feels like no one is interested in testing until shit goes wrong and then it's like "why hasn't this been tested more".
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Fuck it I’m gonna do it. I will create a talk around the bullshitization of software testing. Inspired by the book “Bullshit Jobs”, I’ll map the main arguments to testing.
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My mental health really improved when I stopped focusing on improving myself on stuff that other people said I was "bad at", but focused on improving in the areas that I enjoy improving on and accepting the fact that I can't be a perfect human.
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I can't be the only tester who's been called "negative" just for doing my job (pointing out where the problems are).
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Testers are still out there being treated like second class citizens and it makes me pissed as fuck. And it’s extra hard if you’re also a minority in tech, it’s like a double whammy
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Still the funniest software development talk ever:
I must have watched it at least 20 times and I still cackle like a crazy person while watching it.
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I absolutely hate it when someone says to me "are you sure you want to be in this meeting? It's going to be quite technical". Like, as a tester you can't be "technical"? Like I'm not also a developer? It's really insulting.
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Yo the tester role isn’t meant to point out flaws in developers work. I just do my part to make working software that satisfies users needs, finding issues is a small part of that and the issues found are often not coding faults.
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Someone please type “API_key” in GitHub AI Programmer and see what it autofills.
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To all the people claiming that developers can't test their own code, when I become a developer after 10 years in testing, do you really think I forget how to test well? This ridiculous idea has to stop.
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Hey developers, do you often do manual programming? Or do you prefer automated programming?
Do you think this Tweet is ridiculous? Substitute the word "programming" for "testing". This is what testers hear all the time and yeah, for us it also makes zero sence.
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Wrote down why I'm feeling frustrated as a tester recently, it's not 100% coherent I'm afraid but these are my raw thoughts around the subject. (Audio version included in the article)
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I care too much. I care too much that work gets done well. Funny thing is, I often suffer for it. I suffer when other people don't seemingly care as much as I do. Which, in turn, let's me go off a deep end of "why should I even care".
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Kinda hard as a software tester to focus on quality if everything and everyone around you is focused on output, speed, deadlines, KPI's.
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Holy shit, I'm crying with happiness here. Oliver is out on a walk and I managed to do a code refactor by myself. Google was of no help too, and I struggled immensly, but the code works now! This is a victory for me, on many levels.
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a lot of Scrumboards have this workflow -> to do || doing || testing || done. I have a problem with this. Why is testing a separate category? Is testing not "doing"? Why is it a phase? Nuke it and accept the reality that testing is omnipresent (and even done beyond "done").
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Let's please stop the "testers don't trust developers" thing. I trust my developers to do their best given what they know. We all make mistakes, that includes me. They find bugs even though I tested something. So they shouldn't trust me?
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Software Testing is basically feeling anxious for things going wrong with: systems, people, user satisfaction etc. And then having little control over it. This is what testing feels like at its worst. I wonder if my job has made me a more anxious person in general sometimes.
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Dear god no I don’t want to become an agile coach. I’m not good at debugging people and I’m sure as hell not diplomatic enough
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Companies: "let's hire a tester so we can improve our quality!"
Tester: tries to do just that, by pointing out where stuff goes wrong, where the risk is, what the problems are
Companies: "no, not like that!"
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Yesterday was my last day at the client. I'm done being "just a tester" for now, I'm looking forward to doing my own thing and not having a role, just doing what is needed. It's going to be a mix of developing, testing, designing, creative thinking and lots more. AUTONOMY!
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1Password + 2 factor authentication = chef's kiss.
@1Password
is one of the few software tools I absolutely enjoy using.
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Lay off season? I got fired once when I was still a junior (bad economic times) and it taught me the lesson that I don’t owe shit to my employer. They don’t give a damn about you when things are bad. Do your job, do it reasonably well and leave it at that.
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It's been awhile, but I'm writing blog posts!! I'm gonna rant about what I've learned in 10 years in testing, and I hope you're gonna like it.
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If your daily stand up is “every individual team member explains their task in progress” and you think that’s okay I have news for you. You have a bunch of individuals lumped in the same group, not a team.
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Yes, I AM a test automation sceptic and it's a good thing because I'm often surrounded by fanatic believers. If I don't challenge them, no one in my context will.
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Testers often end up doing a lot of emotional labor in the team (putting ourselves in the shoes of the dev, the customer, the business….we basically have to feel empathy for everyone around us) and we aren’t appreciated for it. We are told that we should turn into a dev as well.
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This is going to sound epic, but strength training has literally changed the way I think. I started in September 2018 with no upper body strength to speak of. Yesterday I managed to do my first unassisted pull-up. I’m so proud! I think anything is possible now!
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I became a tester “by accident”. I needed a job with perspectives and I needed money. Testing has never been my passion (I don’t know what that even means). I stayed because of the nice people in the community and because it pays well.
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Trying to optimise the process of cranking out software as fast as possible while most software is just waste is insanely funny to me.
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This is what max effort looks like. 170kg/375lbs deadlift. Also did 135kg on squat. Benched 70kg. I’m DONE with heavy weights for a bit now. Next competition: October. This total would qualify me for Dutch nationals.
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I'm so tired of being a tester, y'all. Tired of dealing with peoples' expectations of what that means because it never aligns with how I fill in the role. I'm an IT generalist, I want to do what is needed to make a product successful. Product, not software. Software is dumb.
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Anyone can become a software tester. This means that, in IT, testing is affected by gatekeeping the least. We are a diverse crowd. This is our strength and we should keep it that way.
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A month at my new client and it is truly healing some Scrum trauma I had. I was used to my team being a "coding factory", but now I'm actually involved from A to Z. My Product Owner truly *gets* it and I'm thankful.
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I'm a technology skeptic working in IT and it sometimes feels as if I'm a non-religious person in church. Dealing with the cognitive dissonance I experience when people rave about the newest flashy tool that will solve all the problems is tough.
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Turns out this testing thing is something you do in between meetings
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And so it begins: the survey to ask if we want to go back to the office. 0 days isn't an option in the survey. Anxiety increases. I LOVE my quality of life right now, why would I want to commute again to sit in an environment that's totally terrible for me to concentrate in?!
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Seriously feeling like a second class citizen again now in my team. Goddamn, as a tester it's so hard to get developers to truly respect you and take you seriously. Fuck
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Microsoft "MyAnalytics", what in the actual fuck is this.
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Last edition of guys commenting on my body: That same dude from orchestra asked me last week if Oliver was okay with me having "so much muscle". I think next week I'll ask this dudes girlfriend if she's okay with him having such a beer belly.
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One of my biggest Aha moments was when I realized I don’t have to follow a standard career path where “the way up” is becoming yet another manager. I prefer working in a team as developer/tester, thank you very much.
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If everyone hates meetings so much, why the fuck do we have so many of them?
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Me as junior tester: sure I’ll test this software, what do you expect from me, I’ll try to do my best! 👩🏼🎓
Me as senior tester: Ho, I have an opinion about what we are building and how we are working, please listen to me and appreciate my input. 🥷🧛🏼♀️
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Testers being obsessed with test cases is like developers being obsessed with lines of code. This is NOT what matters.
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Some people reacted weirdly when I said that software testing is about increasing confidence, saying that confidence is a feeling and that is too vague or hippy-like to be useful for a team.
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Qualified for Dutch nationals powerlifting!! 370kg total. 122.5kg squat, 72.5kg bench and 175kg deadlift. The difference between my squat and deadlift is meme proportions. Gotta work on my squat 😂
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Thought: As modern testers, it is our job to get software live with the least testing possible. The real test is in production. Observe the use there, fix mistakes quickly and move on. Stop adding all these extra things like test strategies and e2e tests.
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I remember people telling me “listening to heavy metal is just a phase”. Sure, this phase will end when I die.
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PR's are a symptom of a "keep every individual busy at all costs"-culture. Fight me.
Wow, clinging to PRs as a quality totem is the new clinging to feature branches. It's almost as though trunk-based development didn't have a ton of academically defensible research behind it.
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As a software tester it matters a lot that people in other roles make space for you. Yes you need to be proactive, but no proactivity can help if you’re shut out by others. Testing can’t be done well in a vacuum.
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I have no job, I'm living like I'm on Universal Basic Income. Sadly, this income is coming from my savings acocunt and this period of my life will end when I run out of $$. I've never been happier though. I'm learning how to code and I can dive into whatever I strikes my fancy.
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I figured out why I’m so frustrated in the tester role lately. Writing it down right now
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I honestly have no idea what options I have left if they don't even listen to my feelings. The PO and Scrum Master are both off today and I feel fucking alone.
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We are moving from REST to GraphQL and it's making me grumpy. I feel like a boomer, what's wrong with REST. I know REST, it's an old friend at this point.
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The whole tendency to have testers more and more be like devs and testing to be more and more about automation is the wrong solution for a wrongly perceived problem.
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Contrary to popular belief, it's not the testers job to "improve quality".
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It's about 6 months now that I've been working from home thanks to COVID. This is the single best thing that has happened because of this virus. I don't think I ever want to work in an office again.
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If you follow me for testing insights, sorry. The well of wisdom is quite empty right now. My last assignment really scarred me. I feel I added nothing of value as a tester there as I was mostly screaming into the void. Being ignored as a tester is not unique, sadly.
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And what's up with that UI E2E automation fetish, why isn't that shit dead already. Soooooo much effort for so little value.
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I did it. The bodyweight bench press (70kg) is in the pocket. Quite a milestone for female lifters! Worked 2 years for this while my bodyweight went up from 63kg to 70kg lolllll
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Why am I so upset that JIRA is pushing an update that lets you estimate with decimal precision. Estimate + precision == does not compute.
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I just wrote a blog post about "learning how to code for the seventh time". It's incredibly personal, not sure if it's worth publishing or not. I feel like this is a struggle some people can relate to, but I fear for the ...judgment from the "coding bros"
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Them: "What is the ROI for test automation? Can you provide numbers please"
Me: "Software is terribly expensive and a liability. Testing only costs money, but you shouldn't look at it as a separate thing from software development as a whole. I don't have numbers. Bye"
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Breaking news: I felt joy for the first time ever during programming. 😳
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What's beyond "Agile"? It's SAFe, isn't it....I hate SAFe more than I hate Waterfall. SAFe pretends to be something it is not and I hate liars.
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I scored a new assignment without having to update my resume. Got a call from my someone in my network, interviewed for the position and that was it. I also already know 2 people in the team I’ll join. They recommended me as well. Power of the network ya’ll!
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Solved the bugs in my Calculator app with TDD, ya'll are proud of me now?
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There it was again. The random unsolicited advice from a man that “it is such a shame” that I gained 7kg of muscle. I want to be a muscle tank, my gender has nothing to do with it. It is something *I* want, as a person.
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How often I've been hired as a tester with the idea that I could change the team and how often that has failed could be a keynote idea. The idea that one person has to change a group of people by themselves is hilarious.
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I guess I'm a test automation sceptic because I think that not a lot of test results are boolean, but rather open ended. When I'm testing, the value is in being able to see a lot of context at once, formulate questions, using my judgement. That's impossible to codify.
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10 Years in Testing, 10 Lessons - Lesson 4 "automated GUI tests don't mimic what a user does"
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Working in tech has been interesting. I love working with my peers, I love making software that is truly a team effort. I just think that most companies are awful, most managers suck, most agile environments are a joke.
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First blog "10 years in testing - 10 lessons, lesson 1" is up. I'll post a new one every couple days or every week, not sure yet.
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No amount of test automation can help when a user doesn't understand your application. I'm helping customers who get stuck in our app (all in very surprising ways) and it's very humbling.
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