Oliver Nicolaas Ponder

Developer - Ruby on Rails - Docker - Kubernetes
HTML, CSS, Javascript (React, Redux, Angular)
Rotterdam, Netherlands - oliver.ponder@gmail.com

I started programming from a 'Visual Basic 6 for Dummies' book I got on my 12th birthday. I enjoyed it so much I'm still doing it! Don't ask me about visual basic now though, I've moved on professionally to Ruby and Javascript. I also like to play around with Go in my spare time.

Please scroll some more to find out more about me

Stackoverflow Profile

LinkedIn Profile

Fietstrade - My first real Rails application

I made a website for Fietstrade where students could buy and sell bicycles. This was my first real rails app. The students running the site in the end had to focus more on their study, and there didn't seem to be enough interest generated in the site.

Dayleez - Groupon hype!

Dayleez was a site that offered very affordable meals at restaurants in Rotterdam. We had a nice run, but in the end it didn't take off.


Studyrent - Nice site for an ambitious student entrepreneur

After Dayleez and Fietstrade another entrepreneurial student contacted me to make his idea a reality. Studyrent offered a great selection of rooms for rent to a primarily international market of students. Studyrent is still active today (though no longer on my code base and design)

Erasmus Recruitment Days - Simplifying a complex workflow

The Erasmus Recruitment Days is an on campus recruitment event where 1000+ students come into contact with 100+ companies. Collecting assets like logos and event descriptions is part of managing this process. I created a rails application for the ERD to help them collect information from participating companies.

CiEP Online - Rewriting an application with some tough business logic

At Memocom my first official project was to work on the rewrite of CiEP Online, an E-Learning portal.

Memocom Launchpad - Enabling my colleagues

Launchpad represents Memocom's infrastructure of VPSes, and the automation and monitoring around it. At first the focus lied in the architecture of the infrastructure, now it lies in exposing relevant information to the rest of the business and making these capabiltiies accessible to the rest of the company.

Giant Swarm

Aug 2015 - present

At Giant Swarm I focus on implementing great and usable ways for our users to visualise and interact with Giant Swarm's product: A managed kubernetes cluster.

Memocom

2011 - 2015

Through a contact at Ponder Design I started working part time at Memocom. Eventually this became full time. At Memocom I develop in Ruby and maintain the VPS infrastructure.

Freelancing on my own at Ponder Design

2010 - 2013

I took a try at running my own business and created websites for small to medium sized companies. From here came Dayleez, Fietstrade, workships.nl, studyrent, and other sites. I wasn't very good at the administrative and commercial parts of the business and decided to stop.

Tough choice: Stop with higher education

2012

Sitting in the lecture rooms didn't match my self-taught learning style. I stopped my study and focused on programming professionally.

EFR full time board year - Marketing

2009 - 2010

I worked together in a team with 7 other capable students. I was responsible for the promotion of and placement of the association. I was also responsible for integration of EFR’s online presence with it’s CRM backend.

First job - Coolblue help desk

2007 - 2008

Got my first job at the Coolblue helpdesk. Helping callers with questions and purchases for popular online shops (pdashop.nl, laptopshop.nl, mp3shop.nl etc)

Off to study Economics in Rotterdam

2007

Having finished my high school at the British School of Rio de Janeiro, I decided to go for higher education in the Netherlands