Me, myself and I according to Christophe VG

“Passion makes the world go round.” Well, in my world it really does. Lack of passion is not something you can accuse me of and I tend to incorporate it in everything I do. On a professional level I’m passionate about software architecture, about doing the right thing in the right way.

Professional might be an understatement, because in my not so copious spare time I also tend to enjoy the company of my MacBooks to work on some fun project. Most of these are available in the open through my GitHub repositories ↗.

In 2011, at the age of 37, I decided to return to full time studying at the University of Leuven, seizing the moment to take a step back and try to find a (professional) life that I can be even more passionate about. After about a year it became apparant that embedded systems seemed to lure me their way. The hardware world became a very important counter-part to my interest in software.

But, there is more than computers in my life. My daughter Eline ↗ and son Arjen ↗ really brighten up every day of my life. Cooking, digital photography and catamaran sailing complete the initial picture of my world. Each of these have their own section on this site and contain information at various levels - mostly notes, sometimes in depth introductions.

In this section I collect topics that add some more personal details. Some of them are tagged “thing”. These are small write-ups about some thing I seem to have an opinion about.

Other pages are just plain informative and/or practical.

Thing

50 Shades of Ceremony

20 minute read

This thing is the third instalment in a triptych about me being a software architect. Some time ago I started out by explaining what I consider a good softwa...

Thing

A-Social Networks

2 minute read

Note: This thing is already quite old and just like social networks, I’ve also evolved and moved on. So I’ve annotated the first paragraph (only) to represen...

Cookies

less than 1 minute read

Sorry, my website doesn’t use any cookies, no invisible pixels or whatever tracking mechanisms the web is littered with these days. It also doesn’t hot link ...

Fri3d Camp

3 minute read

In de vroege uurtjes, bij het opkomen van de eerste zonnestralen over OHM2013 , het vierjaarlijkse Nederlandse hackerkamp, vonden Anthony  en ik dat de tijd ...

Thing

Holiday Mode

5 minute read

As a consulting nomad, I’m confronted with two kinds of holiday: the one most of us have, a break from the busyness at work, and then I also have the in-betw...

Thing

I, Software Architect

12 minute read

In the information technology industry, we’re in an eternal naming game. Working actively in this industry for over 20 years, I’ve seen many methodologies, i...

Thing

Leadership 101

26 minute read

I believe in full transparency and open communication and I always try to practice what I preach. I do not pretend to be a leadership guru, nor do I write th...

Mijn Commitment als Team Lead

3 minute read

Ja, ik geef het toe: ik heb altijd gezegd dat ik “bij mijn leest ging blijven”. Dat ik de rol van software architect puur ging houden, omdat daar mijn kracht...

Muziek

1 minute read

Favoriete song (tekst) van het ogenblik …

Thing

No Excuses

4 minute read

While visiting The Good Home  exposition in Aalst, I had a great chat with Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino  and Dries De Roeck  about the intersection of design,...

Thing

Problem Seeker

36 minute read

Hi, my name is Christophe... and I'm a problem seeker. Don't you mean you're a problem solver?! 😅 ...

Thing

Revisiting Higher Education

11 minute read

Having decided to return to full-time studying presented me with an incredible opportunity to make a personal evaluation of our education system and academic...

SPAM

3 minute read

Deze pagina mag dan wel meer dan 15 jaar oud zijn, ze blijft meer dan relevant. De spelregels rond SPAM zijn in al die tijd echt niet veranderd, bewijze h...

Thing

The Virtue of Technology Agnosticism

19 minute read

When I tell people that I am technology agnostic, they open their eyes a little bit more. Usually something along the lines of: “But Christophe, you’ve been ...