2025: Year in Review

By the time you're reading this, the plane that will land our family on Bonaire will have touched down on the tarmac at Flamingo Airport.

This year felt a bit quieter on the outside, but when I look back at everything that happened it was anything but dull. A conscious decision to chase fewer big highs and lows. More small moments that added up to something meaningful. (And we'll get to that in the end!)

The Book (final update) 📚

My book was published in the beginning of last year and has turned profitable! As stated before, this wasn't even my initial goal, so I'm very proud of that achievement. I see that sales are tapering off now. With the Marvel API (which is used in one of the chapters) having been sunset, it's kind of a sad ending. But that's expected when writing on software. The ecosystem is ever-changing and that was a risk I took at the time, especially with a varied collection of packages each chapter depended on.

For those who are interested, the book is still available as hard copy or a digital version!

Artificial Intelligence 🧠

While the AI train left the station at speed last year, this year I'm seeing more signals of the AI bubble becoming brittle in some ways. More and more opponents and critics of AI are voicing concerns and I tend to agree with that sentiment. It's still a (sometimes) useful tool, but the cost of training and using it heavily is not sustainable or democratic. I did a talk on this with kids in elementary school!

I have been leading the research for internal AI tools and while the initiative had potential, the practical results fell short of expectations. For common tasks it's usable, and it's pretty good at code assistance (beware pitfalls), but the more complex processes tend to need a lot of handholding and wrangling.

It's not going away, but I hope we'll see the hype fade away some and elevate the things that do work instead of cramming AI everywhere without much purpose.

Different talks 🎤

I didn't attend any conferences as a speaker this year. To be honest, I wasn't that involved in cutting edge and applicable topics to share from a technical point of view. I did something else instead however! I gave three guest lectures this year. 🎓

Two of which were hosted by Fontys University of Applied Sciences, where I gave a lecture on tech career paths, choices and chasing opportunities when they arise. ("Core values matter!"). I also gave a talk on Design Systems to students, on the various shapes and sizes you will encounter in the wild. Hopefully preparing them for a future in UI/UX and Frontend Development.

The best, however, was a guest lecture on AI: how it works (or not) for kids ages 10–12. We discovered how AI works under the hood and had lively discussions on all topics related to AI in general. It was super fun, with loads of engagement from both students as well as teachers and we went way over time! 🧠 My son's class was part of the audience and I even received lots of feedback from his peers in the following weeks! I've already been invited to return next year. Was an absolute highlight!

Program Committee

I've continued my program committee activities for JS Nation & JS Nation US. It's still a seat that I'm very grateful for and proud of. The venue this year was a new one, and it was a total blast again! We had great weather outdoors, and the venue is a great space to connect with people in the JavaScript ecosystem and make and meet new friends! Always great to be there!

FrontMania

Having been on stage for three years prior, this year I was an attendee at FrontMania. Saw some nice talks this year. Particularly Nir Kaufman and Brecht De Ruyte stood out! I met in real life with one of my mentees. It was great to meet her in person, after having coached her during the COVID-19 period. Met new friends, high-fived old friends and rode a mechanical bull! 🙈

Career and work 🧑‍💻

I have some big news to share here. After the summer vacation period I accepted a position at Tapp to help them grow and mature the frontend & tech parts of this scale-up. Tapp aims to make waves in the supply chain by offering fully recyclable dataloggers.

Existing dataloggers are made up of plastics, print boards and lithium batteries. Tapp does things differently with a bare minimum of electronics, encased in cardboard. Cardboard is one of the products that's easy to recycle worldwide. At our scale, we're not going to change the market on our own, but we can make an impact and be exemplary in how things can be done.

More bucket list 🪣

Since there's more to life than work alone (and the things outside of work shape us even more), this section is just as important as the learning part!

See the world 🗺️

New Years' Eve in Alsace 🏰

We started out the year continuing our stay in Alsace region in France. On January 1st, we headed for Europa Park to kick off the new year with thrills and exciting rides. It was our first time in Europa Park and we had such good fun there. I think we'll return there some time to try the rides we weren't able to do (although we ticked of a lot of rides on that day already)!

Snowboarding in Sverige 🏂

We drove all the way up to Sweden once more (this time we borrows a gasoline-fueled car). We rented a cabin at Branäs ski resort and stayed for 5 days of skiing and snowboarding. My son took snowboarding lessons and picked it up so fast! Both my kids are getting more experienced on the slopes and we were able to do somewhat longer treks down the mountains.

On the last day we booked a snowquad tour, to celebrate the birthdays of my daughter and me. It was sunny, snowy and a lot of fun to be able to traverse any terrain on snow-tracked quads!

Spring in Sweden (Sverige revisited) 🌼

We have been exploring the option of seeking out a quieter life and have been exploring Sweden as an option for a more extended visit. We love the abundance of nature: forests and lakes, mountains, wide views. We spent a week in a lakeside cabin, enjoying the sauna, forests and rowing out on the lake. The following week we spent in an old farmhouse, going on moose safari and hiking in nature. It was great to recharge there with the four of us.

Hiking in Luxembourg 🇱🇺

In May we had a short stay in Luxembourg, in the Muellerthal region. With some of the most stunning hikes of Northwestern Europe, we had a couple of active days! The hikes were very suited for our kids as well. We explored caves, forests and lookouts on the various trails. We visited the capital of Luxembourg, using the free public transport, on a hot, humid day which ended in a massive thunderstorm. We were home in time!

The house we stayed in was great: spacious backyard with chickens to tend to and a spectacular view of the rolling countryside hills! Ended our stay with a nice little cookout in that backyard with a view!

Amsterdam Conference ⛴️

As part of my activities on the program committee of JS Nation, I stayed a few nights in Amsterdam. Visited the conference, obviously! Had a super nice dinner on the Kapitein Anna boat and took some time to visit some museums as well, just aimlessly wandering through the city on my own. Particularly loved Moco Amsterdam!

Bon Bini Bonaire 🦩

This was, of course, the big one. Our summer holiday was well spent on the tiny Caribbean island of Bonaire. It's a Dutch special municipality and has had a history intertwined with Dutch colonial times. People speak Dutch there, which was a treat for our kids. While the island is small, we weren't ready to head home after a generous three weeks of exploring both the island and the coral reefs surrounding it.

We swam with (surfing) turtles, snorkelled all around the gorgeous reefs on Bonaire and even smaller "Klein Bonaire". My son got to do two introduction scuba dives (both of which my wife and I could accompany him). He was completely overwhelmed by the experience! We met a great friend there, who taught our kids to do free diving and took them snorkelling while my wife and I did the occasional dive together. Apart from diving with my wife, I buddied up with a couple of other buddies as well and did more than 10 dives during our stay. Couple of underwater highlights were the various squid, always in groups of four to fourteen, floating in a line. The swimming moray eels, big tarpons, green turtles and spotting the juvenile fish in the coral.

Another big highlight was stumbling upon (not literally) a turtle nest, spending some time with the researchers and ultimately being able to watch the last egg hatch and wish a tiny turtle good luck in its journey.

We went kayaking in mangrove forests, explored the national park Washington Slagbaai and the Indian inscriptions. Watched the big cruise ships arrive at port and leave again and our kids took surfing lessons.

Our home was a Home Exchange house, so we had a complete house to ourselves, including a spacious pool and a view of the wilderness (Kunuk) which is typical for the island. In the morning we spotted hummingbirds and in the evening, flocks of parrots would fly overhead, resting in some of the high cacti.

It was a great adventure and we weren't close to ready to leave the island. In fact, get ready for a big update!

Home Exchange 🧳

When traveling, we try to make use of HomeExchange. It's a platform where individuals or families exchange their homes with each other for a period of time, typically for a vacation or holiday. HomeExchange allows people to experience different destinations and cultures while staying in the comfort of a home, rather than a hotel or other traditional accommodation.

💡 If you're interested in this, or want to sign up, feel free to use our referral code which nets you (and us) some Guest Points to start with: lydia-b4aeb

Health 🏋️

I hit the gym more frequently this year, especially ramped up exercise during the year. I think this came at the cost of cycling, since I didn't even come close to my yearly goal! 😳 I did pick up running again and it's going fine. A few years ago I had to quit due to a painful knee injury, but all seems okay again. Have to admit, I love running because you can do it everywhere! 🏃‍♂️

With the weights in the gym, I started to lift heavier and heavier by changing my program. My legs were already strong, but I added a lot of upper body strength this year. Hope to keep that up, since my gym membership was tied to my position at Jumbo and has ended in November.

I mostly forgot about my stand-up desk and used it infrequently. Should step that up now that I'm working from home almost 100% of the time. (I'm writing this now sitting on one of those awkward ergonomic wobbly stools. Takes some getting used to! 😅)

Other random things I never did or experienced before:

We went indoor skydiving in one of those loud upright wind tunnels. It was fun! I wouldn't rule out the possibility of doing a real skydive at some point!

In Efteling, a theme park near us (which we love to frequent) I saw a call for models for a photoshoot. We've done this once before, for a New Years'-themed shoot and we signed up for this one as well. This shoot was to promote the newly built hotel and surrounding stores and themed area. We were invited to pose as hotel visitors. It was fun to do and netted us free tickets to visit the park once more. Great value! 🍄✨

The Big One

One of the things that we started to value, as a family, is getting more and getting the most out of family time. Our kids are 11 and 8 years old right now. The older they get, the less time they want to (and should) spend with their parents. With our Home Exchange adventures of the past years, we've come to value time together and shared adventure.

We found the perfect opportunity this year, where all things (work & private) aligned to make this happen. We're moving to Bonaire to live on the island for half a year. Our kids will go to school there (being taught in Dutch is a huge plus): they can slide into their respective school years. Once we return, our son will leave for the next step in education (this was his last year at elementary school) and our daughter will return to her current class.

With my new position at Tapp, I can work fully remote. I've opted to work part time for the time being, similar to my wife, so that we only have to work when our kids are in school. Once they get off, we're all set to take every afternoon, weekend and vacation to enjoy and explore the island at our own leisure.

We think it's a generous amount of quality time we can spend together before our eldest goes to middle school. Our kids will experience finding their bearings in a new country, making new friends and spend time in a more active lifestyle, aimed at watersports.

For us, parents, it's also a valuable learning experience: working abroad, finding our way around in a different country and making friends similar to what our kids will experience.

At this point, we're done with all of the necessary arrangements in housing, schools and mobility and we're almost done packing. We're bringing a lot this time (normally we tend to travel very light: just carry-on luggage), so it's high stakes Tetris at the moment. Just a few more nights and we're off. Very much looking forward to it! 🌴