The Tester. Context: 20+ years & counting

The life of
a tester.

Testing has never been a single role for me. It's a way of reasoning about systems, risks and decisions — one that turned out to be the perfect lens for the AI era.

Clay Jochim as The Tester, inspecting through a magnifying glass

trust, but verify.
then verify again

Clay Jochim, arms crossed, confident

I'm a testing professional with over twenty years of experience. Over the years I've worked as a test analyst, test automator, test coordinator, test manager, and as member of a Test Competence Center — and represented testing in several cross-domain competence centers.

Today my work focuses on AI-related quality topics, including contributions to AI Competency Centers, innovation networks, and Software Process and Quality Improvement initiatives. I'm also involved in QA for a range of public-sector projects, including projects related to Vlaamse Sociale Bescherming.

Testing is a way of reasoning about systems, risks, and decisions.

The Track Record. Context: Professional experience

Where the years went.

AI Competence Center Member
Smals
Jan 2025 — present

Focusing on AI-enhanced testing and prompt engineering across OpenAI, Gemini, Claude and LangGraph — turning experiments into practices teams can actually adopt.

Transversal Test Lead & Testing SPQI Member
Smals
Jan 2019 — present

Supervising test analysts and coordinators, aligning testing with delivery goals, and continuously evaluating new testing tools and technologies to raise efficiency and effectiveness.

(Lead) Test Automator / Analyst / Coordinator
Smals
Nov 2006 — present

Long-term pillar of the testing department: master test plans, multi-project test coordination, and robust quality assurance processes.

The Toolbox. Context: Skills, competencies & tooling

What's in the kit.

AI & Automation

Generative AI Prompt Engineering AI-Enhanced Testing Agent Skills

Testing Methodology

Agile Testing Test Management Test Automation ISTQB Test Analysis TDD BDD

Languages & Formats

SQL XML / XSD JSON / Swagger UML SOAP REST

Project Tooling

Jira Confluence Git SVN Jenkins GitLab CI

Test Tooling

JUnit Selenium Cypress Playwright Cucumber RestAssured Postman SoapUI Katalon Spring Boot Test Mockito EasyMock Zephyr Appium TestLink

AI Toolset

The full, living list has its own page:

📡 AI Radar tools
The Homework. Context: Courses I completed

Always be learning.

AI & Data Science

A Data Odyssey: Explainable AI (XAI) Elements of AI Elements of AI: Building AI Fast.ai: Practical Deep Learning for Coders Hugging Face: Agents Course Hugging Face: MCP Course LangChain Academy: Introduction to LangGraph

Testing Tools

Appium: Mobile Testing from Scratch + Frameworks Cypress: Modern Automation Testing from Scratch Testing Spring Boot: Beginner to Guru Katalon Studio: Automation Step by Step Python for Testers
The Paperwork. Context: Education & certifications

Stamped & certified.

Ghent University
Master in Computer Science
2001 — 2006
ISTQB Certified Tester — Testing with Generative AI
iSQI Group
Credential 25-CTGenAI-269315-12
Nov 2025
CTAL — ISTQB Certified Tester, Full Advanced Level
iSQI Group
Credential 17-CTALF-21593-05
Jan 2017
CTAL-TM — Advanced Level Test Manager
iSQI Group
Credential 17-CTAL-TM-106566-03
Jan 2017
CTAL-TTA — Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst
iSQI Group
Credential 15-CTAL-TTA-80138-05
Oct 2015
CTAL-TA — Advanced Level Test Analyst
iSQI Group
Credential 14-CTALTA-56974-NL
May 2014
CTFL — ISTQB/BCS Certified Tester Foundation Level
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
Credential sr2437506
Nov 2013