I help SMEs and public institutions with the automation, digitalization and optimization of their processes by delivering bespoke, carefully crafted applications. I think that these applications should be self-hosted, based on open source software and only depend on external services where necessary.
Since 2013 I've been working on a free application platform called Promontory. It enables me to build, deliver and maintain applications for a wide variety of use cases that are functional, secure and durable.
I work on project-based contracts and my hourly rate is CHF 150. I work fully remote, but I'm available for on-site meetings. All billed work is done by me, no correspondence or code is written by GenAI.
Small to medium-sized owner/family-run businesses and public institutions are where value is added for the general good. I refuse to work for big business and anything related to advertising, crypto, drugs, fossil fuels, gambling, GenAI, military/arms and surveillance.
Applications refer to any type of software that can be built using the technology stack of Promontory: A Java-based backend running on Linux and web-based frontends running in a browser. Anything from internal tools for employees, customer facing applications, to middleware to integrate existing applications and services.
Everything essential to the operations of a business should ideally not depend on anything outside of its control. For software with predictable usage patterns, it's more cost-effective to use traditional hosting solutions and there are excellent, self-hostable open source solutions for almost all matters. Choosing a cloud provider or SaaS vendor results in various types of lock-in and these companies' incentives rarely align with the needs of their customers.
If you dont control the source code, you are not in control.Andrew Kelley
From 2001 to 2005 I completed my apprenticeship in "Informatik, Fachrichtung Applikationsentwicklung" at Winterthur Versicherungen (AXA Winterthur).
Between 2005 and 2013 I worked for a few small companies and as a subcontractor for larger companies.
In 2013 development started on the first version of my application platform. Between 2014 and 2023 I continued work on the platform and built, delivered and still maintain applications based on it for customers.
In 2023 I started to work on a completely new version of the platform under the name "Promontory". The current plan is to start building applications based on Promontory by the end of 2026.
My earliest memories of programming involve reading books on Visual Basic and Active Server Pages, as well as creating websites using FrontPage 2000 and Macromedia Flash 5. While my apprenticeship marked the end of my formal education, it also began my journey toward software craftsmanship. My current priority is creating valuable software, but I would like to focus on mentoring the next generation of developers in the final stage of my career.
The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination.Fred Brooks
Every project starts by talking to knowledgeable people. Asking questions and my keen perception help me understand the field, project and process at hand. The first goal is to evaluate if I fit the project in terms of technology and scope. The second goal is a one page written concept that contains the problem statement, solution overview and roadmap.
Applications need to start simple and everything in their design is about tradeoffs. I use an incremental and interative loop to build and deliver a high quality, robust application. This continuous loop is informed by user feedback, reevaluation of requirements and ongoing priorities of the project.
With the first version in production, the most important and longest phase in the life of any application starts: Maintenance. The first goal is to ensure smooth application operations, including monitoring, backups and updates. The second goal is to deliver evolutionary changes to the application that meet real user needs.
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.Agile Manifesto
Everything created under a contract is your property. I take full responsibility for the quality of the delivered product. If you are not satisfied with my work or decide to work with someone else, you are free to do so and I'll help facilitate the transition.
I send out a timesheet together with the invoice (due within 30 days) for my work on the last day of the month.
My best clients were those I could argue with. It wasn't about winning or being right, it was about doing the best work.Erik Spiekermann
Developing software has always been about not being restricted by anything except my own imagination. A sandbox of infinite possibilities, where a text editor and some programming language binaries are enough to get started on a skyscraper. Where I can apply my creativity and precision to a problem, pondering over minute details and naming things. The older I get, the more I want my work and its results to be autonomous with a minimal set of dependencies, especially on anything touched by commercial interests.
GenAI is not just a "faster horse", people are actively outsourcing their critical thinking to a mathematical model. A model that is deterministic, but because we are whimsical beings who like a human touch and pulling levers on slot machines, the chatbots we interact with are made nondeterministic. The need to think through a problem takes effort and focus, which causes friction and is an opportunity to learn. Removing all of this is detrimental to our cognitive abilities.
AI labs are trying to insert themselves into everything we do and extract as much value as they can. Consuming all of our collective works and selling them back to us as a subscription is peak capitalism. With hyperscalers and AI labs reserving most manufacturing capacity and suppliers colluding deciding to maximize profits by selling to them, we mere consumers are left high and dry. Next up: Can we interest you in underpowered hardware paired with a mandatory cloud subscription? The amount of money spent (and projected to be spent) on data centers (in space!) is comical compared to the value it adds for the general good.
When companies are trying to cram AI into every corner of their business, it looks like AI is going to be the next accountability sink (previously: "the algorithm"). There are also a myriad of other problems like AI psychosis, cognitive biases in the training data, deepfakes and disinformation at scale, power grid capacity, LLMs confabulating and making things up, menial work of data annotators, prompt injection, uses in surveillance and autonomous weapons and so on.
GenAI is extremely interesting and impressive technology. Pandora's box is open and we have to learn how to use GenAI responsibly. But this ain't it. The enshittification and downfall of the current version of this industry cannot start soon enough.
If you're thinking without writing, you only think you're thinking.Leslie Lamport