Meet Casper

Time to introduce our main man behind the scenes. Casper is 28 years old and without a doubt the most caring and down-to-earth person on the Maplix team (thank you, Casper). As the lead backend engineer of Maplix, Casper spends the majority of his time designing and implementing the tools, databases and APIs that Maplix uses to store, query and process spatial survey data. A mouthful, right? On top of that, Casper also manages most of the cloud infrastructure and DevOps. When Casper is not working, he likes to go for very speedy walks or enjoy a nice biking trip. Read on quickly to find out all about him!

Favourite quote:

“I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.” – Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) in The Office S4E2

1. What is the most exciting part of your job?

If this were a multiple-choice test, the answer would be “d) All of the above”. Maplix is literally exactly at the crossroads of the two greatest passions in my life: mobility and computer science. Our work allows hundreds of citizens, merchants, and business owners to have a say in the mobility policies of their local and regional governments. And on top of that I get to collaborate intensively with two of the kindest and most talented people I know. So, what’s not to like?

2. What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?

Casually riding my bicycle and admiring the views, but also speed walking with friends around Ghent are two ways I like to wind down and get some sports in at the end of a workday. But I also like to do some casual gaming, playing simulation games such as Euro Truck Simulator 2, Transport Fever 2, and SimCity 4. The latter was even the subject of a YouTube gameplay series I recorded a couple of years ago!

3. Are you a coffee or tea person?

Definitely a tea person! Nothing can make me happier than a delicious Japanese sencha or a Persian black chaay with saffron, cinnamon or cardamom.

4. If you could play an instrument, what would it be?

Ouch, my musical talents are really limited unfortunately! So perhaps a tambourine? All it requires is shaking it or hitting it occasionally, I think. So maybe I could pull that off.

5. What animal would you consider your spirit animal?

A deer. They are quite withdrawn by nature and avoid confrontation. But at the same time, they are highly sensitive to their environment and caring for those around them.

6. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I often dreamt about being a train driver. It seems like a really rewarding job getting people from A to B for their work or leisure, and you get to see beautiful landscapes too.

7. If you could have a career in anything, what would it be?

Probably I would still be a programmer. Nothing can make me focus and lose track of time more than sitting at my desk in front of my PC and typing out the solution of some algorithm. It is quite a creative job with lots of problem-solving opportunities.

8. What’s your favorite baby picture?

Me with one of our geese, and more importantly my favorite drinking cup. According to my parents, I pretty much only let go of the cup to have it refilled. I took it with me anywhere we went.

9. Which historical figure would you most like to meet?

Probably one of the politicians of the early Belgian state. Just to talk and see how radically different their world view would be to ours, even if it is not so long ago. Besides, who would not like to meet someone with the name Jules Vandenpeereboom?

10. And finally: where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully implementing the latest Maplix features on my laptop while riding a train across Canada and admiring the views!