A 29-year-old Software Engineer with a passion for Web, Java and Writing
I'm a Software Engineer at Accurate, working on customer-centric projects that can actually help people and organisations forward
Most hours of the day, I'm thinking about code, integrating architectures and how to solve our next big problem. When I'm home, I dabble in several side-projects and hug my dog and cats. I also wrote a Lovecraft-inspired thriller called Whitewood
Read more on my current skills or my work experience so far
I enjoy working, and learning, on projects with a strong focus on technology. I really value feedback, and perform exceptionally in both "two-pizza" teams and independently.
Languages
Born in Cologne, Germany
Living in culturally diverse Antwerp, Belgium
Speaks English, Dutch and French
Certified Java Expert
All work experience includes Java development
mostly with Enterprise Edition 7 and Standard Edition 8
Officially Oracle Certified by Pearson Vue
Certified in EJB 3.1
Years of experience with Enterprise Java Beans
Also Oracle Certified by Pearson Vue
Highly proficient in Web
All work experience includes work with the latest
technology used to build and maintain the web
Skilled in HTML5, CSS3, PHP,
Thymeleaf and JSP
Both for desktop and mobile applications
Spring Enthusiast
Loves to work with the Spring Framework
Has professional experience with
Spring Data, Spring Security, Spring Mobile, Spring Boot, ...
Angular, jQuery and Javascript
Has professional experience introducing client-side code into web applications, making use of your browser's built-in capabilities for AJAX and local storage, and writing Angular components and jQuery plugins
Skilled in databases
Loves to work with relational and nosql databases
Has professional experience with
MySQL, MSSQL and MongoDB datastores.
Knows how to wire these efficiently to
applications
with Hibernate, JPA and QueryDSL.
Officially JPA certified by Pearson Vue
Works with state-of-the-art tools
Strongly familiar with concepts such as Continuous Integration, Version control, using Software as a Service and utilising an Agile methodology. Has professional experience with git, Subversion, Maven, Jenkins, Bamboo, JIRA, Omnitracker and Heroku
Real value for your team
During my career, I've gone out of my way to help team members at every opportunity. My experience as both a developer and someone closely working with maintenance engineers has also provided insights into architecture, robustness and substainablilty of applications.
One unified civic integration platform was ambitious and difficult, but the work experience will stay with me for my entire life.
Civic Integration Platform
Client: Flemish GovernmentKBI Connect is a project which unifies 4 different user groups, which have historically worked seperately, into a single application. It connects a large number of government services together and provides a UI for the user to view and manage the immigrant's dossiers.
This proved to be an incredibly challenging project, taking several years of development with 3 major staged releases. In addition to being one of the developers of the project, I joined up together with the maintenance team to provide continued assitance. This allowed me to see how a project evolved beyond the development stage and the unique challenges it faces. It allows me a closer look at performance, architecture problems, maintenance ease, code documentation and application monitoring.
Eventually, our project also provided civic integration during the Syrian refugee crisis, providing an extra strain on our systems.
Project statistics
Lines of code (Java, JSP, JS, ...)
JUnit tests
SIMULTANEOUS government employees active
Early on in my career, I was tasked with building a number of prototypes. These focussed on the specific requests of a client. They allowed for creativity in approach and taught me a lot.
PLANT MANAGEMENT
PROTOTYPE
Client: 3E, Alternative Energy
This prototype was built to enable easier management the different energy plants for 3E. It was a tool built in Spring MVC, which allowed our client to manage and monitor the state of their plants and provided statistics. The focus of my prototype was to develop a system that allowed them to visually build up dynamic filters for their search engine.
As the range of possible elements to search for was restrictive, but endlessly extendible, the system allowed users to dynamically put together a structure that would retrieve all the information they wanted.
The continued honing of my skills is very important to me. Devoxx talks, self-study books and side projects have kept me engaged with my field outside of work.
I also end up learing about things that I otherwise wouldn't get into contact with. New frameworks, new tools, architectural solutions to problems, how to be professional in trickier situations. They're of a smaller scope, but so very important.
Bachelor of Computer Science, Application Development
Studied my bachelor at Thomas More (then called Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen)
My course specialisation focussed on Application Development.
During my coursework, I wrote a thesis on Analyzing Flow Cytometry Data Using KNIME Workflows. Additionally, I did an internship during my last year with the medical research company Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Beerse, Belgium
I graduated Cum Laude in 2011
2008 - 2011Start at RealDolmen, Accademict Program
I started, right after my graduation, at RealDolmen with their Accademict Program. This bootcamp for recent-graduates aimed to bridge the gap between college and the current ICT work field. We went through several weeks of lessons on coding, frameworks and tools.
I was able to start as a Junior Software Engineer after this course.
End of 2011OCJP Certified
Achieved my first certification at the start of 2012 and became a Java Standard Edition 6 Programmer Certified Professional (1Z0-851).
Start 2012JEE 6 JPA Certified
Finished my second certification and became a Java EE 6 Java Persistence API Developer Certified Expert (1Z0-898)
Mid 2012Promotion to (Medior) Software Engineer
For continuous good work on a difficult project, I was promoted out of my Junior status into a full-fledged Software Engineer.
Mid 2013JEE EJB Certified
Finished my third certification and became a Java EE 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer Certified Expert (1Z0-895)
Mid 2014Started as a Senior Software Engineer at Accurate
Joined their Shared Services team, working on a combination of back-end cloud microservices and Angular UI components.
October 2018Started training as a Solution Architect
Evolving from my role as a Senior Engineer, I started working more on research and holistically creating systems. I still have my feet firmly planted in the code, but I am on the path to becoming a Solution Architect.
Mid 2020Promoted to Principal Engineer at Accurate
Promotion due to ongoing work on Core Engineering team
March 2021-
Kevin's understanding of our work at Civic Integration is good. Very good, even. He can often find solutions or answers to problems very quickly, mostly because he always seems to understand the inter-connectivity of our work.
He will always try to find a solution himself, or investigate the problems, before coming back to us, or even his colleagues.
Despite the often technical descriptions, his documentation of solutions is very extensive. I've found this to be (very) positive.
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I can always present a problem or question to Kevin and be assured I will receive a solution - relatively fast. I also find it important to note that, with any such solution, he will accompany it with the correct kind of communication. This allows me to understand what caused the problem, how it was solved and how we proceed from here on out.
His speed and quality are, I think, Kevin's strongest points. I see him as a strongly motivated employee who is very serious about his job.
During meetings, I feel like he knows well what he is talking about. He will eagerly share it with the rest of the team, but is also keen to pull things into question.
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I have worked with Kevin in a few projects. He was very motivated and willing to help another student, member of his team whenever he could.