This is adriaan.me.

Talking to recruiters and potential employers, I often get asked the same questions. Because I understand that these questions are important to create the right expectations for both parties, but also because I value my time and don't like to repeat myself, I decided to write this letter to try and answer some of those questions up front. Hi, I'm Adriaan and I'd like to introduce myself!

Dear Mr/Ms.

I'm a dev-ops engineer with most recent experience building, maintaining and deploying (primarily) web applications. As a result of the wide range of customer applications that I have supported these past years, I have familiarity with a variety of programming languages such as Java, Javascript, Clojure, etc. I'm also fluent in automation and deployment tools such as Kubernetes, Helm, Ansible, Terraform as well as familiarity with multiple CI/CD solutions.

Most of my professional experiences so far have been in product development. I appreciate the sense of building up to a bigger goal over a longer period of time, however I don't exclude working on shorter-term projects either. Besides being a full-time employee, I also work as a freelancer on a variety of side projects which include maintaining websites/software for non-profits and I enjoy working on open source software.

I'm based in Roeselare, Belgium and I prefer to work in close proximity to my home (up to a 40 minute commute is ok). I will not consider relocating. I have a drivers license, but don't own a car myself so usually I use my bike and/or public transportation to get around. Working remote (either fully or some days) is definitely an option for me, as I greatly appreciate the flexibility that gives me to balance my professional and home life. I have three young children and try to play an active role in their caregiving. As such, the ability to pick my own working hours (within reason of course) is very valuable to me.

How I experience my work environment is no doubt the primary contributing factor which determines how productive and valuable I can be. My expectation from a work environment and group of coworkers is to cooperate based on three principles: mutual respect, trust and openness. This can manifest in a variety of ways: honesty (to be able to share your opinions or ideas without fear of derision), flexibility (as long as you fulfill your commitments and don't undercommit, you don't have to follow a strict schedule or too many procedures), team spirit (coworkers support each other, make decisions together, refrain from gossip, ...) But rather than going in depth on this subject here, let me sum it up by stating that I subscribe to the core commitments. (If you haven't heard of them, I recommend this read!)

What do I have to offer?

  • a broad skillset (client/server/infrastructure) with a willingness to learn,
  • a critical mind that isn't afraid to give honest yet constructive feedback,
  • a talent for software architecture with familiarity in a wide range of techniques and paradigms such as design patterns, functional programming, declarative programming, REST, HATEOS, microservices, serverless, containerisation, service meshes, event sourcing, ...
  • a passion for creating quality over quantity, preferring to do one thing and do it well rather than giving in to feature creep. I believe in delivering quality code through test-driven development, pair programming, peer reviews, automated testing, continuous integration,...

I hope this has given you some insight into the type of professional I am. Of course, I am not perfect and neither is my writing. I'm sure I have forgotten some vital piece information about me that you are still hoping to find out. You can find some more detailed practical information in my resume and I cordially invite you to reach out to me with any specific questions you might still have.

Kind regards,
Adriaan Callaerts