AardlingBoard Director, Advisor
2026 - Present

• As majority shareholder, I remain involved with the company. I advise the new CEO as he expands operations and adapts to new market demands.

AardlingCEO, Founder, Consultant
2019 - 2026

• Founded Aardling, a boutique consultancy that advises on strategy, software architecture, and organisational design, with a penchant for complex environments.
• Closed deals with clients ranging from startups to F500s.
• As a trusted advisor for my clients, my focus was on strategy, ensuring that the environmental, organisational, product, and business aspects align to create successful software teams & systems.
• Created DDD Academy, a curated marketplace for software architecture & engineering courses, both remote and in-person.
• Created the Data Mesh Live conference, and acquired the NewCrafts conference.
• Kept the company profitable from day one, and grew it to 10 FTEs and a network of 50+ external consultants & trainers.

Human MusicCo-founder
2016 - 2018

• Organised Laracon, an international software conference in Amsterdam & Lisbon.
• Created the Laravel Certification program.

Domain-Driven Design EuropeFounder, Curator
2015 - 2025

• Created a conference for the software architecture & design community.
• Grew it from 400 delegates to 1300 delegates from all continents.

Freelance Consultant
2012 - 2019

• Consulted for clients on software architecture and adjacent topics.
• Trained ±1400 software engineers, architects, and analysts on Domain-Driven Design.

Various employersLead Software Engineer
2010-2012

• Ausy: Led a team to build school management system.
• iController: Led a team to rebuild the in-house debt collection app into a multitenant SaaS, and built a new product for invoicing.
• Marlon: Worked on the 4411 parking app and led a team to build an e-commerce platform.

TimbleCo-Founder, Lead Engineer
2007 - 2010

• Developed and marketed a web-based Document Management System.
• Developed and marketed a Translation Management System for websites.
• Consulted for NHS, Unicef, Belgian Police, Italian Institute of Technology.
• Contributed to Joomla, an Open Source Content Management System.

ComposerConductor, Music Producer
2000 - 2007

• Composed & produced music for pop artists, films, documentaries, and commercials.
• Orchestra Recording Engineer for Dirk Brossé.
• Founded & conducted a pop choir.

Royal Conservatory of GhentMusic Composition & Production
Graduated 2003

Magna cum laude

Atheneum KortrijkMathematics, Modern Languages
Graduated 1998

First prize for Dutch

Author
2023

I wrote "Design & Reality", a book on software architecture and leadership, with Rebecca Wirfs-Brock. I also contributed to two other software books.

Keynote Speaker
2013 - Present

I've spoken at ±100 conferences across Europe and North-America, including NDC, GOTO, DDD Europe, DDD eXchange, ExploreDDD, and NewCrafts, for audiences of up to 1500 people.

Blog Author
2011 - Present

I write at verraes.net, an influential software blog.

Open Source developer

My most ambitious open source project is Parsica, a Haskell-inspired library for parsing programming languages & DSLs. I wrote it in pure functional PHP as a pandemic hobby.

Improv Actor
2023 - Present

As a hobby, I perform improvisation theater with different theater companies.

Mensa member
2026 - Present