Yet another beginning

I won't be the first or the last to change and start something new. I won't be the first or - hopefully - the last to do so after understanding the challenges ahead (e.g. climate, resources, energy, biodiversity). Anyway, life could be seen as a bunch of new beginnings 🤷. Nothing new.

What's new is what I'm going to do, what I'm going to offer, and what I'm going to talk about here, on the blog. This is what I'm going to talk about this time 🤔.

First, let's remember what I've been doing since PullReview. In 2016, I joined a Belgian IT services company, Euranova. I did some consulting work, helped develop the culture and expertise of their software engineers, and looked for possible products to build and incubate. At the end of 2017, I started working as the CTO of one of them: Digazu. We built a platform for data products.

Last September 2022 I left Digazu after 5 years. It wasn't easy, especially since I really enjoyed working and learning with my teammates. I left because I was internally in conflict with the paradigm we supported with Digazu: a world of data abundance. It clashed with my desire for restraint and balance, as I believe that every ounce of energy and resources (e.g. metals, rare earths) should be used wisely ⚖️.

As scarcity comes, I even believe that the software world will have to change. Right now, most of the cost of software is the cost of people. Due to the commoditization of energy and computer hardware parts, the operating costs are quite low in comparison. You can rent a machine with 2 vCPUs, 8GB RAM and a few hundred SSDs from a cloud provider for less than 100EUR per month. The price includes management, maintenance and investment. In comparison, the time of an employee (e.g. developer, designer, marketer, salesman) costs more than that. In Europe or USA we can say at least 20 times more. I have often based my decisions on this difference. I guess I'm not the only one. Tomorrow, will we continue to use so much computing power when it could cost 10 times more to do the same job?

I don't want to wait 🏁. That's why I want to focus on projects that address basic needs (e.g., food, shelter, transportation, education, healthcare) or emerging global challenges (e.g., climate, biodiversity, resources, energy). I will then talk about these and some personal ones that do such.

I have also started to look into the energy, resource, and carbon footprints of software. This is a topic I'd like to discuss more on the blog and hopefully provide information, critical discussion, or answers to others 📣.

Cu soon 👋.

If you have any comment, question, or feedback, please share them with me.

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