Monthly Archives: October 2008

Equens merger

RoleDescription: Tridion web programmer
Techniques used: Tridion, VBScript, CSS
Period: 09-2006

In the days before the merger of Interpay and Transaktionsinstitut I was called in to help a colleague to do some last minute template tweaking. The goal was to reuse the existing website template’s to create 3 internal websites and 3 external (Dutch, English and German) websites.

The deadline was met with three hours to spare (no champagne for me: a go live for the UWV in the wee hours of the night). The day after the Equens merger we were presented with a magnum bottle of champagne for a job well done. Within one month and with very little effort we were able to create 6 new websites by effectively using Tridion blueprinting.

In addition to this showcase of Tridion blueprint Strength (6 websites live within one month) I also added a few small features to the site.

UWV external and internal websites

RoleDescription: Tridion web programmer
Techniques used: Tridion, XSLT, VBScript, JavaScript, Sharepoint 2003, Utraseek, C#
Period: 09-2005 until 11-2006

The goal of this project was to continuously improve and develop new functionality for www.uwv.nl and the UWV internal website. It was a classic ASP website where the Tridion templates were written in XSLT. The publication model was the “static” type where complete pages were published to the webserver.

One of the bigger projects was concerned with importing manuals into Tridion. There were in total about 80 manuals that needed to be imported with some books taking up over 20K components in Tridion. The biggest challenge here was in generating the navigation in Tridion. Most Tridion implementations suffer from the time it takes to generate navigation files. Where a typical implementation does not contain more then 20K content components the manuals alone contained over 150K content components. I found a solid solution to this problem which generates the navigation files over 100 times faster.

Yamaha Motors

Role description: Web Editor
Techniques used: Tridion, HTML

My first Tridion experience was in restructuring exisiting content (Italian, german, french) and importing it into Tridion. Very much a last minute effort which started one week before the go live and finished in the nick of time.

Philips CFT Robocup

RoleDescription: Programmer (intern)
Techniques used: C++, Programming patterns, Real Time Linux, Motion Control
Period: 02-2002 until 06-2002

In the final phase of my first bachelors education I took part in a research project at Philips CFT. The goal was to find out whether it was possible to create Runtime Configurable Motion control using RT linux and C++. It was part of the Philips CFT Robocup project. An initiative which goal it was to make things better. During this project I learned that motion control and embedded software engineering is not my piece of cake and I found myself struggling to keep my attention focused.

However my efforts were fruitfull and I was awarded a very nice grade and received my bachelor’s degree.

Sail Simulator

RoleDescription: Programmer (intern)
Techniques used: Delphi, DirectX, VRML, 3DS
Period: 09-2000 until 01-2001

During my first bachelors degree I did an internship at a small but innovative company called Stentec. Stentec is a small software firm which is heavily specialized in simulation software. Their most successful product, by far, is Sail Simulator. During my internship I was given the opportunity to work on their DirectX simulation engine which makes it all possible.

It was a turbulent time for the company in which it struggled to get the alpha demo of Sail Simulator to the markets. The project was delayed by a considerable amount of time and the investors were keen on seeing results.

In spite of all the turmoil my counsellors, Ramon Beiboer and Egbert Bron, found the time to guide me on my path of discoveries in the realm of 3D programming, DirectX and general software team skills. I admit to a lot of mistakes in pointer programming and rebooting my system at least a dozen times per day. It taught me to be precise when it comes to taking care of the small details.