Who are you?
I am Michiel and I am the principal backend engineer at techspire. I am living in Alkmaar and have been in the IT services industry for most of my career. Both in work as in my private life I am a very active person. I like many outdoor and indoor activities. At techspire you can find me at the boardgames nights which I enjoy a lot. I play different musical instruments and have mastered new languages. (editorial note: not programming languages)
what would you like people to know about you?
Well, if you ask me, as little as possible. I enjoy real connections with people in real life. A lot of things are happening in the online world these days but I value the offline connections, talks and activities in the real world as much more interesting.
In those situations I am an open book and I wont stop talking and discussing on many different topics because (you probably have guessed already) I have a broad interest in many different topics.
Do you have a life motto? what is it?
Be curious, ask questions and dare to make mistakes.
editiorial note: and with this answer, we are now left with many questions and are even more curious about Michiel. Thanks dude! 😉
What is the most “nerdy thing” about you?
Where to start, love Tolkien, played Magic the Gathering way to much, love math, science and physics. Still have a library card (which I use). I love to code and experiment with new technologies in my spare time. Do volunteer work learning children to code. Oh yeah and I “hacked ” the company christmas tree. I guess I am a full-time nerd.
Do you have interesting hobbies?
Yes, I have a broad interests in many different things and activities. I am a lifelong learner who enjoys making music, playing video and board games. I also like to play snooker though this game is very hard to master. I like to go on long trips to hike in different parts of the world. I love animals and care about my planet for which I’ve changed my diet.
editiorial note: though “yes” is a correct answer to the question, we took the liberty to “improve” that answer a little bit. 🙂
Any bloopers in the past you would like to share?
In the beginning of my career, I once accidentally destroyed a production database. We had a server that had storage problems, so I created a script that would clean the log files with a nice regex. What I learned that day is that:
1. Oracle has some files named *.log that are important
2. Having up-to-date back-ups is crucial
3. Always test on a test environment first and let it run for a longer time
With what problem should the person who read this, contact you immediately, as you cannot wait to solve it?
Any as long as it is tech related. Especially compound, complex problems spanning multiple responsibilities.
Tell us any (weird) fun fact about you?
I went on my honeymoon to the North cape by motorbike.
Why do you (want to) work for Techspire?
When I was approached, or more correctly tricked into a meeting with the founders, in December 2018, I had to really think about it. I liked my then current employer and assignment. And I was focusing on becoming a security expert. However joining a start-up from the start also intrigued me. A completely different set of challenges, and other skills I could develop.
After thinking about it for a while and discussing the pros and cons with various people, I decided to take the leap.
