Sebastiaan de Waard.
Where the biggest pain is,
the biggest value lies.

I find the real problem. Not the reported one.

I come into organisations where business has been asking for things IT couldn't deliver for years. Not from lack of will. From complexity, politics, fragmented accountability. And I solve it at the root so the organisation can add value again, instead of keeping plates in the air.

That requires listening before judging. Observing before advising. Sometimes two weeks of not building, to prevent two years in the wrong direction. Counter-intuitive, but it works. 18 years running.

Creating something from that position that actually works. That's where I get my energy.

Not an ivory tower architect.

What I also love: diving into complexity and presenting it simply, so everyone can follow regardless of their level of knowledge.

I was an ETL developer myself. Dashboard front-end designer. Installed servers, solved network problems, tuned queries at 3am when the load was drifting. I know where the complexity lives, where tools excel and where you need to be careful. The details an architect never usually reaches, I've lived through them myself.

You'll notice that difference when we talk. And when your team works with my architecture.

Wageningen, not Amsterdam.

Since 2007 I've worked for multinationals across the Netherlands, but I consciously live outside the centre. Wageningen gives me space, literally and figuratively. Forest around the corner. Every morning a walk with Elvis, a 90-kilo Great Dane. No commuter stress. That gives room to think, and this profession needs room to get complex things clear.

I speak Dutch and English (C1/C2) and read professional literature in both. For Dutch assignments I'm happy to be on-site 1–2 days per week. International remote-EU works too.

18 years, six chapters.

Prefer it on paper? Download CV (PDF)