Maaike Brinkhof's blog

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Articles about software development, testing, coding and IT in general.

Sad smoke alarm noises

Sad smoke alarm noises

At LLEWT book club yesterday, Sanne Visser said: "Nobody ever gave a smoke alarm an award" and I laughed so hard tears streamed down my face. I think it's recognisable for many testers. There are times when we are warning of what could happen if we

Thank you

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. Don’t put me in a boxI’m trying

Harmful Software Collaborators

Harmful Software Collaborators

Looking for bugs in code that has harmful intentions is like trying to make a shit sandwich taste good. It's futile. It's the wrong focus. I get it, it's easy to be a harmful software collaborator. Maybe you are still at a point in

The real reason we need to invent a time machine

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 was a mere 14 years old, and did not know

Don't put me in a box

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 fit you into a neat little box, and I don&

The cognitive dissonance pyramid: one hell of a drug.

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, that is very difficult and mentally painful. Many people avoid it

Dear software testers, is your critical thinking ability even alive?!

Dear software testers, is your critical thinking ability even alive?!

First, there was test automation. People who were not particularly blessed on the critical thinking (and intelligence) front thought this would solve the pesky testing problem, once and for all. Manual testing would no longer be needed. There was lots of talk about the ROI of test automation as a