Monkey and Machine

I can add a new project to my personal list, and currently it is at the top: my thesis project. This is currently taking a lot of my attention and drawing it away from some of the other projects I would like to work on.

As the final part of my Computer Science degree my university requires me to complete a project for a company (not one of those fake ones they make up) and write a paper about it. This is all taking place during a 5 month period in which I have to complete the project, write my paper and defend myself in front of a committee. And I have only three words for that: busy, busy, busy.

The first battle is already won: finding a company to accept me as an intern. This wasn’t to easy since I wanted a company that does PHP, and does it well. I was fortunate enough to receive a reply on the email I send to Ibuildings and they offered me a spot at their Utrecht Office. That’s right where I live!

I wasn’t to convinced about the goal of the project since it was still a vague idea when I started on it. But after the first day at the office I couldn’t be more excited. Being at for two months now it only gets better.

I’m fortunate enough to be working on a community website called Joind.in. This website enables visiters of conferences to leave their comment(s) on session(s) they attended at a conference and allows speakers to read back the feedback. The project started with a few additions Cal Evans found usefull to add to the site, but I’m currently finding myself in the middle of developing a nice backend framework. Focussing on a new API is next.

I really (and mean really, really, really) enjoy working on Joind.in. Creating structured backend frameworks is the kind of progamming I like to do and I have the feeling the work is appreciated and I’m finally creating something that is going to be used, opposed to all the (made up) projects I’ve been doing for the past 3.5 years. The site and the idea behind the site are really cool and I think a lot more can be done to make it even cooler.