Where it started

I started using computers at a very early age. When I was 10, I had a Commodore 64, then an Amiga 500, and eventually a computer running Windows 3.0. I played games on them, but I also wrote some basic code. I think my first program was something that added numbers.

My love for science grew, but I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I moved from major to major, from veterinary medicine to dentistry, until one day I was introduced to the book Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. That was the start of my journey into computer engineering.

My fascination with data, how we turn data into information and how information becomes knowledge, led me to focus on information retrieval and data mining. It was also the age of search engines, which made me even more interested in the field. For my master's thesis, I built an information retrieval system based on the vector space model.

Academia

I liked research, and I enjoyed debates and smart conversations, so for a while, I thought I would spend the rest of my career in academia. I taught a wide range of computer engineering topics to undergraduates, from Introduction to Computers to Introduction to Information Retrieval, a course I developed and offered for the first time. When I look back at what I developed, I think it was an amazing accomplishment. I also advised many undergraduate students on their final projects.

I never thought I would leave academia, but I was eager to find out how I could transfer theoretical and academic knowledge to business applications. I also found out that my problem-solving skills could be an asset in the business world.

Today

Today, I work as a technical lead and software architect. I use AI in my work and engineer AI-powered products. My research background still shows up in how I approach problems and make architectural decisions, and I still get to do a lot of research and work on interesting problems.

I'm opinionated about software craftsmanship, curious about AI, and interested in how new technologies change the way we design and build software. With AI around, I'm not sure people still read blogs to learn, but I like having a space to figure out how to live side by side with AI without becoming obsolete.

Away from the keyboard

When I find time, I enjoy photography, especially landscape photography.