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Hi, I'm Marco. I've been working professionally in software development since 2009. During my studies, I worked at a small software company. In 2010, I earned my Bachelor of ICT degree, graduating with an average of A+ (9,3) at Zuyd University.
I grew up in the small town of Banholt in the south of the Netherlands. Although I worked in various locations in the Netherlands as well as France, my home remained in the south of the Netherlands. Down here, we have hills, unlike the rest of the country. Today, I'm living in Bunde, a small town close to Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands.
Have a look at my resume.
Besides coding, blogging, and contributing to open source, I also like scuba diving, traveling, and photography. For me, these are ways to truly disconnect from my daily job and everyday life.
Imagine floating in the water, 18-30 meters below the surface, completely disconnected from everything happening above. Without a sense of gravity, you're floating there with a couple of other divers. Minutes feel like hours as green sea turtles swim above and beneath you. While searching the reef for shrimp and other small sea creatures, you stumble upon a clownfish among the anemones. Is that a rock? Watch out: that's an octopus, completely blended into its surroundings. In a small cave, you find a whole bunch of trumpetfish. As you move deeper into the cave, you catch a glimpse of a small reef shark shooting out of the darkness, escaping from these strange creatures with tanks on their backs, wearing goggles and flippers.
As we move back towards the boat, we hear all these burp-like sounds and some kind of singing. Floating there in the open water, I'm thinking: are those whales or dolphins? Curious and excited, we start looking around to see where the sounds are coming from. Nothing!?
Eventually, we're back on the boat, still excited about our dive, talking about what we've seen and wondering what those sounds might have been as we take off our gear. Then there's a big splash in the water, about 20 meters from the boat. Whoaaaow! It's a small humpback whale. As we move closer, we notice there are three of them: a baby with its Mommy and Daddy. For a while, we follow the whales as they give us a lovely demonstration of jumps and splashes, about 5 meters from our boat.
That is really disconnecting and being in the moment.
When traveling, I usually prefer places with a tropical climate. I really enjoy the temperatures, nature, and landscapes. I also like to take lots of pictures. Pictures of landscapes, pictures of animals, pictures of nature.
During my travels across Kenya and Tanzania, I had the opportunity to photograph lions, elephants, thousands of wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, hyenas—you name it.
As we set up camp, we hear lions roaring in the distance. Just before dark, we quickly gather as a group to collect some more firewood for the campfire. As soon as it gets dark, we hear the giggling sounds of hyenas and realize our camp is surrounded. When we shine our flashlights into the bushes, we catch glimpses of eyes here and there. Excited but also a bit anxious, we stay close to the campfire.
As night falls, we find ourselves in total darkness, with a beautiful view of the galaxy. Without light pollution, it looks completely different. We all head to our tents and settle down to sleep, enjoying the sounds of nature around us. Then, all of a sudden, we hear this rumbling sound, more or less like the sound your stomach makes when it's upset, just a bit louder. Slowly, I unzip my tent to have a peek and discover a group of elephants passing by.
Sometimes I wish I lived in Africa with a tribe, completely back to basics in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature and enjoying those beautiful moments every day.
I also traveled to Costa Rica, which has a huge variety of birds, as well as sloths, caimans, monkeys, snakes, and more. The diversity of its landscapes is amazing too: from jungle to moonlike landscapes with boiling mud on volcanoes, to secluded beaches.
Then there's Asia, with its diverse cultures and beautiful landscapes. I traveled through China, Malaysia, India, Bali, Lombok, and the Gili Islands. The food in Asia is absolutely fantastic, and so is the curiosity of the locals when you travel to really remote areas in China. I remember being surrounded by groups of up to 20 Chinese girls and women, all holding selfie sticks and cameras, wanting a picture with me and my travel companions. The serenity of the temples and walks through the rice fields are also something to enjoy.
I'm realizing I could go on and on with stories and anecdotes about my travels, but I'll leave it here for now. Maybe I should dedicate a few blog posts to some of my trips in more detail? Would you be interested in that? Let me know on one of the social platforms where I'm active. When I first wrote this, we were waiting for the pandemic to be over so we could travel again.
Want to reach out? Here's an overview of my online profiles:
Enjoy reading my blog.