Blog.

About Me

Hi I'm Marco. I've been professionally in Software development since 2009. During my studies I worked at a small Software company. In 2010 I got my Bachelor of ICT degree, I graduated with an average of A+ (9,3) at Zuyd University.

I grew up in a small town Banholt (in the South of The Netherlands). Allthough I worked in various locations in The Netherlands as well France, my home remained in the South of the Netherlands. In the South we have hills as opposed to 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 (out of pandemic times) and Photography. These are for me ways to truly disconnect from my daily job and life.

Taking you with me for a dive

Imagine floating in the water at 18-30 meters below the surface. Completely disconnected from everything happening at the surface. Without a sense of gravity you are floating there with a couple of other divers. Minutes feel like hours when some Green Sea turtles are swimming above and beneath you. While you are searching the reef for Shrimps and other small sea creatures you stumble on a Clown fish in between the Anemones. Is that a rock? Take care that is an octopus completely blended into his surroundings. In a small cave you find a whole bunch of trumpet fish, and while you move deeper into the cave you catch a glimpse of a small reef shark shooting out of the darkness when it escapes the cave for these strange creatures with those tanks on their back, wearing those goggles and flippers.

While moving back towards the boat we hear all these burp like sounds and some kind of singing. While floating there in the open water I'm thinking, are those whales or dolphins? Curiously and exited as we are, we start to look around us if we can see where the sound is coming from. Nothing!?

Eventually back on the boat, as exited as we are about our dive talking about what we have seen and questioning what those sounds might have been, we take of our gears. Then there is a big splash in the water, about 20 meters from the boat. Whoaaaow! It is a small humpback whale. As we move closer to the humpback whale we notice it is three of them. A baby together with his Mommy and Daddy. For a while we follow the Whales where they give us a nice demonstration of jumps and splashes, about 5 meters from our boat.

That is really disconnecting and being in the moment.

Traveling

While traveling I usually prefer to go places with a tropical climate. I really enjoy the temperatures, nature and landscapes. While traveling I like to take lots of pictures. Pictures of landscapes, pictures of animals, pictures of nature.

During my travels accross Kenia and Tanzania I had the opportunity to photograph Lions, Elephants, 1000ths of wildebeast, zebras, giraffes, Hyena's and you name it.

While we setup camp we here the roars of Lions in a distance. Just before dark we quickly collect as a group some more firewood for the campfire. As soon it turns dark we here the giggling sound of Hyena's and figure out camp is surrounded. While we point our flashlights we see a glimps of eyes here in there in the bushes. Exited but also a bit anxious we stay close to the campfire

As the night turns in we find ourself in total darkness. Which gives us a beatiful view on the galaxy. No light polution gives you a complete different view on the galaxy. While we all head to our tents and everyone goes to sleep we are enjoying the sounds of nature arround us. Then all of a sudden we here this rumbling sound, more or less similar to the sound you hear from your stomach is upset, just a bit louder. Slowly I open the zip of my tent to have a peek and figure a group of Elephants is passing by.

Sometimes I wish I lived in Africa with a tribe, completely back to basics in the middle of nowhere/nature enjoying those beatiful moments on a daily base.

Furhtermore I traveled to Costa Rica which has a huge diversity of Birds as well Sloths, Caiman, Monkeys, Snakes etc. Also the diversity of landscapes is really amazing. From Jungle to Moonlike landscapes with boiling mud on vulcanos, to disconnected beaches.

Or Asia with its very diverse cultures and beatiful landscapes. Here I traveled China, Malasia, India, Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands. Food in Asia is absolutely fantastic as well the curiousity of the locals when traveling really remote areas in China. I remember being surrounded by groups of Chinese girls and Women of up to 20, all holding selfie sticks and cameras to go on the picture with me and my travel companions. Also the serenity in the tempels or walking in the rice fields is really a place to enjoy.

I just realize I can go on and on with stories and anekdotes on my travels, but for now I keep it to this. Maybe I should dedicate some blogs in more detail on some of my specific trips? Would you be interested in that? Let me know on one of the social platforms I'm active. For now I leave the story about me to what it is, while we wait for the pandemic to be over so we can travel again.

Online presence

Want to reach out to me? See here an overview of my online profiles:

Enjoy reading my blog.