The SPIDR Cardano Stake Pool is operated by me: Wessel. I was born and raised in the Netherlands and from an early age was always interested in electronics and computers.
I have a BSc in computer science from Utrecht University which I attended from 2009 – 2013. At the time, the computer science department of Utrecht University maintained its own Haskell compiler. Haskell was (and perhaps still is) a big a part of the curriculum and the functional programming paradigm has always been one of my favourites. Grasping functional programming paradigms can be daunting for object oriented programmers at first, but the benefits of having code that will always do the same for a specified input is extremely valuable. For anyone familiar with the FizzBuzz programming assignment, this is a one-liner written in Haskell! There are few programming lanagues as powerful as Haskell in this regard, even though it might seem very cryptic to programmers not familiar with lambda functions.
After completing my bachelor’s degree I started the computing science master’s program, but after a few months I decided the program at Utrecht University was too hardcore for me. I did not see myself getting into compiler optimizations in my career. I decided to look for work and started working as a programmer in 2014.
Since then I have developed a wide range of skills and feel pretty confident in running (web) services. Having mined my first bitcoins back in 2013, when I stumbled across Cardano’s ADA it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get involved. The protocol seems very promising and the fact that is written in Haskell sparked my interest even more.
In my current job I’m responsible for both development and operationally related tasks. A *NIX terminal is where you find me at my best.