From the drawing board to the web

After the drafting work came a period that, on paper, had little to do with building — but everything to do with the computer.

From 2007 to 2011 I worked at an advertising and internet agency in Eerbeek. Graphic design — business cards, banners, flyers — but above all building and maintaining websites.

Programming certainly wasn't my daily work here, but I learned an enormous amount: how networks fit together, how to build and maintain websites, and how to work with content management systems. Each step took me a little deeper into digital technology.

Alongside that I handled system administration and the helpdesk. Exactly the kind of jack-of-all-trades work that suits me: designing, building, and keeping it all running.

In hindsight, an important link. All that knowledge — networks, websites, databases, systems that have to work for a user — would serve me well years later when I started building my own software.

The common thread grew clearer and clearer: building and digital, always together.

Next: 2011, after the summer break — my first encounter with a laser scanner.