All my life, I have been curious, interested and drawn to things I don’t know or understand yet.

I’ve first came into contact with computers when I purchased my own Commodore 64 from a Summer job. I taught myself how to program and learned to understand computers, the way they work and “think”.

My first “job” was in 1987 when the university swimming team wanted to connect the time registration in the pool to the scoreboard on the wall. Back then, scores were copied by hand from one system to another. It seemed it bit backwards, even then!

At the office, my dad wanted a smart way to send the right marketing and advertising materials to potential buyers and interested parties. So I wrote a small program in dBase III and implemented what is now known as a Direct Mail or CRM system.

Computers and Technology (Internet, Robotics, A.I., VR/AR) should help people. It should make your life easier in some way and do the mundane tasks for you, so you have time for other more important or challenging tasks.

I have a vast knowledge of various industry’s applications and systems. I’ve worked in R&D, Business Development, Post and Pre Sales, Consulting, Gaming Platforms, System Administration, System Engineering and System Architecture.

I have experience with legacy mainframes but also Web Technology, Cloud Platforms and JSON APIs used by node.js. I know Relational Databases such as Oracle and MSSQL, but also “new age” CouchDB, MySQL and AWS Aurora. I can handcraft websites using HTML, XHTML and CSS3 or use CMS systems such as Drupal, WordPress or Joomla. I can read and write PHP and debug JavaScript. I can design an on-premise network for a small business but also have experience designing a billing platform for a mobile phone operator that supports 500,000 customers, sends electronic invoices and has a large scale online self-service portal in the cloud. But I can also integrate modern web APIs into a custom API-driven application that scales to demand and uses no physical servers, aka “serverless technology”.

Having grown tired of IT halfway through the first decade of the new century, I ventured into Food & Beverages and worked part-time as a chef in various high-end beach clubs in the Netherlands, upscale restaurants and even led cooking workshops with groups of 25 guests. My degree in Chemistry helps me understand the cooking process and the science behind it. In 2010, I decided to get professionally qualified and took a course at the leading Dutch food academy where I was rated as a level 3 independent chef (out of 4). I received a WSET2 sommelier certificate and started a private dining restaurant in 2011.

I can help prepare walking dinners or buffets for 600 people or create a sumptuous 5-course menu for a chef’s table with excellent food-wine pairing for each course. I can do lunch or dinner, make soups and sauces, grill fish and meat or slow-cook a 15 pound cut of Angus beef in a sous-vide for 8 hrs until it almost falls apart. I’m able to prepare classic dishes and salads but I shine at improvising a delicious dish with what’s readily available.

I specialize in knowing a little bit of everything and learning the rest on-the-job

During my adventures in restaurants, I started to notice the advent of the “Third Wave” in coffee around 2008. Having been a “espresso, black” type of guy all my life, I noticed the arrival of better coffees, new flavors and the general availability of a good espresso just about everywhere. This led to my interest in working as a barista in a coffee house and eventually resulted in my certification as a Barista from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) in 2017.

So you see, I can really do a lot and am not bound or limited by one particular craft or industry. I’m always eager to learn something new and love to share my experience!