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Maaike Brinkhof

Maaike Brinkhof

Software Tester. Dev. Writer. Strength training & Nutrition coach. Urban Explorer. Cycling. Idk wtf I’m doing in life, I’m just making it up as I go along.

My tribe.

My tribe.

Right now seems like the perfect moment to write about my mission as a test consultant because it seems that a lot of people in tech simply stopped caring. They swallowed the proverbial red pill and are droning on about tools, technology, "AI", speed, productivity. I thought technology

Favorite albums of 2025

Favorite albums of 2025

Heavy metal warning! I don't exclusively listen to heavy metal, but yeah, it is my preferred genre. Here are my personal favourite releases of this year, in no particular order. Buried Realm - The Dormant Darkness This was a very good "play it in the gym"

Inside you are two wolves

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 it made me think! It made me realise that

Do you enjoy working in the shit factory?

Do you enjoy working in the shit factory?

Let's get this out of the way. AI isn't a technology, it's an ideology. You also cannot separate AI from fascism, eugenics, environmental destruction, imperialism, theft and growing wealth equality. These are my beliefs, and I'm not alone in saying no to

Quality = Engineered + Experienced - explained with fountain pens.

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 admit, I have considered writing a book about it.

Why do so many testers have an identity crisis?

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 can venture a guess! Many other people in our work context hold testing

Visual Thinking learning journey, Day 2 - Play

Visual Thinking learning journey, Day 2 - Play

Yesterday, I devoted almost the entire working day and beyond to get my learning journey started. Today, I didn't have this luxury. I had a lot of to-dos for my IT job, but I managed to sneak some practice in. Because I had so little time, I decided