Nick

What do you do at Wieni?

I’m part of the back-end team as a PHP developer, mainly working on Drupal projects. Occasionally I also do some pure PHP work, depending on the project.

Right now, I’m involved in projects like the Vlaamse Nutsregulator, Departement Zorg, and recently started on Play. A big part of my work is configuring fields and structures in Drupal and seeing how that translates into the actual website and adding new features.

I’m especially interested in headless development. It hasn’t come up that often yet in my current projects, but it’s definitely something I enjoy working on.

What did you do before Wieni?

I have quite a varied background. I spent about eight years working as a developer at Design is Dead, which used to be part of The Reference. After that, I worked freelance for a while on Open Social, an install profile for Drupal that works as an open source social media platform.

While working at Design is Dead, I started my own company, KLEIR. It’s an Antwerp-based textile brand focused on local dialect. After working at Open Social, I focues full-time on KLEIR. for 3 years. I'm still working on KLEIR. part-time.

Why Wieni?

There are a few reasons. One of the biggest ones is the way of working. It’s very asynchronous, with surprisingly few meetings compared to other companies I’ve worked at. You don’t get stuck in long, unnecessary meetings, which makes a big difference.

I also really appreciate the culture and collegiality. That was something I felt was missing for a while, but it’s very present here.

From a development perspective, Wieni is quite developer-driven. There’s a healthy distance between developers and clients, so you can focus on your work without constantly being involved in client communication. At the same time, your input is taken seriously.

Flexibility is another big plus. I work four days a week and can structure my hours quite freely.

How did you end up at Wieni?

It actually goes back quite a while. I worked with Steven De Boeck (who also worked at Wieni) in the past, and he introduced Wieni’s Drupal approach at my previous company. That’s also where I first got familiar with Wieni’s focus on caching and optimisation.

A few years later, I came across a Wieni vacancy, and I knew I had to go for it. It felt like a bit of a full circle moment.

What kind of work excites you the most?

I don't have a lot of experience in caching yet, but it's something that interests me, so I hope to be working on optimisation and performance soon. I also like the brainless work of adding fields and make sure they get to frontend in the right way, through our own Models or through an API.

Which tools can’t you live without?

PHPStorm is my main IDE. Recently, I’ve also been using OpenCode with Copilot a lot, which has been quite helpful.

And 1Password is one of those tools that’s easy to underestimate, but once you use it properly, it becomes indispensable.

Who is Nick outside of Wieni?

Outside of work, I’m still involved in a few ventures. I’m co-owner of Kleir, the Antwerp-based textile brand, and also co-owner of Puzzle in a Bag, which we acquired a couple of years ago.

Puzzle in a Bag creates design-heavy puzzles with local designers and themes, featuring a lot hidden references to the theme.

I also try to stay active. Once a week, I play squash and try to go running 2 times a week.

And on top of that, there’s a baby on the way, so there’s a bit of extra juggling ahead. But that’ll work out.

What’s a unique skill you have?

A bit of an unexpected one: I used to have a circus background. I could do tricks combining a pogo stick and a diabolo. That’s from about twenty years ago, but it’s still a fun one to mention.

What do you want to learn in the next 12 months?

On the work side, I want to go deeper into caching and performance optimisation.

Outside of that, I’m also working on improving production techniques for KLEIR., like transfer printing, which we recently started experimenting with.

I also want to improve my sales skills, as we are trying to sell more custom puzzles.

Lightning round

1. Stand-up or async updates? Async

2. Deep work: morning or late sprint? Morning

3. Animations: subtle or over the top? Subtle

4. Tabs or spaces? Tabs

5. Dark mode or light mode? Light mode

6. Remote or office? Remote

7. Coffee, tea, or lemon water? Coffee

8. City or nature? City

9. Summer or winter? Summer

10. Music or silence while working? Music

11. Notion or pen and paper? Notion

12. Pair programming or solo building? Pair

13. Podcast, book, or blog for learning? YouTube videos

14. Most-used keyboard shortcut? CMD + Space