About

Peter Backx' profile pictureHi, welcome to the blog of Peter Backx. I use this blog to document the stuff I make and the things that blow up.

I started life as a techie. Playing with that C64 my dad bought and those Radio Shack electronic 100-in-1 experiment kits. Eventually, I ended up in engineering, the computer science department.

Bedazzled by all that hardware and especially the miles of network cables, I stuck around after my Master of Science and went for a PhD. I built application clusters, I built grids, I wrote management software and I automated all that. I customized JBoss to support hot reloading and load balancing before every server had that.

I also became a big picture thinker. Preferring to think about methodologies instead of practicalities. But eventually I wanted to prove my theories were right, so I learned to enjoy both the practical and the thought experiment.

In 2005 I felt it was time to try something new, I had to move and discover new frontiers and see how people actually use software. I became a consultant with a stint of employment in between, while I helped to create and support Belgian’s most popular news site. Experienced in J2EE, I have an in depth knowledge of all layers of web applications. From high performance data access to maintainable and speedy JavaScript.

I run a small SaaS for small businesses in Belgium and I’m now obsessed with the maker movement. I love how, for instance, 3D printing perfectly bridges the gap between the digital and the real.

Regularly, I send an e-mail out to whoever is interested with my latest projects and from time-to-time a special item for subscribers only.

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