Jan

With over 25 years of professional experience in diverse fields of computing and the internet, I have acquired an understanding of computing that is unparalleled in both breadth and depth. From helping friends and small businesses employ computers as a productive tool rather than a source of frustration, to ensuring the seamless, round-the-clock operation of heterogenous, highly complex mission-critical systems, I've seen it all. Starting with little more than my curiosity, I soon developed an important habit: computers do what I want, how I want. No exceptions. This allowed me to learn a lot of things most people will never know, thereby elevating my expertise and technical resourcefulness.

Thanks to the opportunities I had working in such diverse environments as I had, I have developed a unique ability to understand and simplify the entangled interactions occurring within and between highly complex networked computing systems. This has enabled me to become highly effective in adapting, running and fixing these systems, always minding even the slightest details.

Unlike most web designers and developers, I have a vast and profound understanding of everything that makes a Website work in the first place. When you program a website by yourself or when you create a web publishing system, there are some things that are both absolutely basic and essential to have a profound understanding of. These include things such as proper unix server administration and operation, including physical installation and cabling, as well as file systems, networing protocols on all layers, storage systems, access controls and privacy.

Why are they important for web development? Because even the simplest website directly builds on, leverages and interacts with all of these, and more. A web developer not versed in any of these is akin to an architect oblivious to the sediment upon which his plans are to be built. You may end up with a plan for a house to be built on quicksand. Or a website that is broken from the inside, even though at first glance it may seem to work. And then there are higher-order topics that must be taken into account when building a website. Some examples include familiarity with different languages and scripts, understanding of cultural differences, the many ways in which people access a website, the reasons they do so and what is important to them. A web developer not versed in these is akin to an architect ignorant of local climatic and weather conditions. You may end up with a plan for an igloo in the Sahara desert. Or a website that falls apart when trying to use a language in a non-latin script, or when you can't use a mouse.

And through all of this, from my earliest attempts at conquering these electronic machines, I have always striven for the utmost excellence, reliability and simplicity.