About

This is the blog of Andrej Koelewijn. I work as an architect for Mendix in the Netherlands. You can contact me at [email protected] or [email protected].

Some of the things I do:

Technical architecture for Web, SOA and database applications using Java, Oracle, and Open Source software.
Object Oriented Design.
Technical Team lead on software development teams.
I’m also a Certified Scrum Master and Product Owner, and a big promoter of Lean and Agile methodologies.
Frequest speaker on all sorts of software related topics, from java to open source, from Web 2.0 to Enterprise 2.0, from semantically correct HTML to CSS to SEO.
I’ve given JEE trainings on topics like JPA, EJB3 and Oracle ADF.
Guest lecturer at Universities on JEE, SOA and Architecture topics.

I’m a strong believer in KISS. Simpler is better. I’m always looking for ways to make software development simpler. Not by hiding complexity, by simplifying it. Code is good, less code is better.

I’m also a strong believer that presentation slides should contain visual support for a presentation, not notes for the speaker. So i always try to have zero words on my slides. Also, I’m very unhappy with the current state of presentation software. Powerpoint is bad, OpenOffice impress is worse, and Keynote is also not all it’s made out to be. I long for the day when i will be able to use my computer as a whiteboard, with a screen the size of my wall, being able to sketch and move around the different slides on the wall.

I also think software development is an R&D process and that new products cannot be completely designed on paper or in a document. If you do not test your prototypes on users and update your design based on the results, you will end up with a bad product.