I’m Rouven, software architect

I've always been fascinated by computers, after my first contact with a friend's Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 home computers in the 80s.

I taught myself how to program around the age of 13, when I got my first PC. I quickly found like-minded friends and we started building software — mostly games.

I studied Communication and English literature at university, because I felt that I had already exhausted what Computer Science could offer me, and I wanted to expand my fields of knowledge. I am convinced that the humanities are a great benefit for software engineering, especially when building games.

Over the next decades, I started companies and designed software frameworks, game engines, tools, high-end authoring software, web backends, etc, on platforms such as PCs, ancient feature phones, TV set-top boxes, game consoles, and even DVD players.

I feel a connection to all engineers through the ages. We try to deeply understand systems and build solutions, often under severe constraints of time, space, or options.