The occupational hazard of being a tester
06 May 2026
When you have done a job for a while you start taking some of the habits from work into your personal life. In Belgium we lovingly refer to this as 'beroepsmisvorming', which I believe translates to 'occupational hazard' in English.
Like when you have to fill in a form and have to fight the urge to write Tester McTestface in the name field and put the 30th of Febuary as a date of birth.
Or when you are discusing holidays with friends and start to think in terms of sprints. Like the time someone said I'll be going on vacation for three weeks and I thought "An entire sprint?" (sprints in my team are three weeks).
Or when you use an everyday site or applciation and come across a bug and start investigating or mentally writing the bug report.
When do you notice that the tester part of you is coming out outside of work?
Like when you have to fill in a form and have to fight the urge to write Tester McTestface in the name field and put the 30th of Febuary as a date of birth.
Or when you are discusing holidays with friends and start to think in terms of sprints. Like the time someone said I'll be going on vacation for three weeks and I thought "An entire sprint?" (sprints in my team are three weeks).
Or when you use an everyday site or applciation and come across a bug and start investigating or mentally writing the bug report.
When do you notice that the tester part of you is coming out outside of work?
Demi Van Malcot
Test engineer, Test lead, Quality manager
she/her
I've been in testing since 2023, since then I never stopped learning and taking every opportunity I've come across. From becoming test lead not long after I started, to being a community lead for testing and for AI in at the company I work at. Nowadays I'm learning the ropes of leading with quality as I have added the role of quality manager of my department to my growing list of titles.
Simon Tomes
Ha, this is brilliant and so true!
I practice beroepsmisvorming all the time.
Online form filling for sure. Reading menus in a pub/restaurant and trying to spot accessibility issues. Questioning false claims in TV adverts like a false claim on a website, requirements doc or story. UX issues in hotel lifts and signage. And of course looking for 99, 404, 200, 301 and 503 in pretty much everything in the real world.
So much beroepsmisvorming!
Ady Stokes
This is so me. Get it in the glossary please
Gary Hawkes
Love the word, but I won't use it in front of you in case I mispronounce it and say something else by accident! 😂
I hate to enflame the stereotype of testers, but I do have a gift at noticing spelling mistakes fairly instantly usually relating to journalism, window signs, menus etc. and I will rudely interrupt anyone thats speaking to me to flag it 😬. I'm always exploratory testing and looking for patterns of behaviour. Proud to be beroepsmisvorming!
Nadja Schulz
Beroepsmisvorming is my second name.
Nadja Schulz
And I know enough Dutch already to dare to say it in front of Demi!
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