I began to code because...
My mom was a programmer. In our house, punched cards were a thing to draw on when I was a kid. She quit her job when I was 3 and never went back, but every time I was asked who I want to be when I grow up, I answered: an astronaut or a programmer, like mom.
Despite that, I saw a real computer when I was 13. I struggled with a mouse a lot, and had troubles with MS Paint.
At 14 I was reinstalling Windows for all my friends. I was also bringing them music on floppy disks, 3 diskettes for one song.
At 15 I signed up for a programming course, and after my first line of code (a green button showing a modal window saying "hi", written in Delphi) I was hooked.
I found my first job on my 3rd year of the university because I felt like I needed real experience. It was a C++ position. I loved C++. I argued with the interviewer about some tricky template question, and at home figured out I was right. Never told the interviewer though.
It's been almost 10 years since I've been writing code for money now.
I'm an expert at...
- All things Geo: storing location data, spatial databases, spatial operations on geometry. I actually developed a GIS-system from scratch.
- Maintaining data quality with smart tools and validations.
- Translating from users' language to technical and back.
- Project management.
- Writing good code: read about it here, here, and here.
- Refactoring.
- Learning technologies on the fly.
I want to brag about...
WordCloud app
I proudly present to you my Android app WordCloud. I wrote it for myself and didn't expect much, but I have 1 million users now, and last month I got €1315 revenue from in-app purchases. I sell themed packages of shapes: Love shapes, Halloween, New Year.
Articles
My most popular articles are:
But I have much more! Check out my personal website smartpuffin.com and subscribe :).
Outside of work I do...
Photography. Travelling. Rock climbing. Gym. Playing the piano. Skydiving in a wind tunnel (once). Learning Dutch. Running pet projects and writing articles.
My advice for allies to support women and non-binary folks who code is....
- Be not only mentors, but also sponsors: advocate for them to help them move to the next career level.
- Trust in them and show it.
- Believe them.
- Educate yourself about biases and correct yourself.
- Ask them what you can do to help them personally.
Oldest comments (2)
Your article about How we checked road graph correctness was awesome.
It was interesting that you had to change from the recursive version to the iterative of the algorithm because of scale. And the flowerpot problem was hilarious. This project looks like it was mega fun and challenging. Now I want to get into GIS!
Thank you, Maurice! Im happy you liked it:). It was the best project ever, and I really miss it a lot.