Who am I
Software Engineer / 20 Years of Experience / Marathon PB: 2:27
I have been programming "forever," that is, since I was 10. BASIC, assembly, then C, C++, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, and a few questionable choices, like writing a board game in Motorola 68000 assembly: 11,000 LoC, eventually printed out on paper to finish debugging during a beach vacation; I lacked method, not courage.
After École Polytechnique, I cut my teeth as a project manager at Total. Those years were highly formative on a human level, but they left me wanting more, because I had drifted away from code. My questions about architecture, in particular, went unanswered. So I joined the consulting firms I knew could round out my training and quench my thirst. I have been working independently since 2020, keen to work for my clients to my own standards of quality.
Truth be told, that thirst has not really been quenched, and never will be, but I met exceptional developers who put the reference books in my hands and showed me a thing or two. My search for method was such that the day I first heard of Test-Driven Development remains a red-letter day. It was, quite literally, self-evident, as functional programming later was too.
Code and people
The software industry suffers from a massive skills shortage, which dooms many organizations to start over from a blank page again and again, unable to evolve their code. It is an immense waste, but certainly not inevitable: architecture, testing strategies, refactoring methods, there are many ways to keep a software asset alive for years. I had lacked these keys so badly that, over time, I made them the heart of my expertise. Today I can say, all the more so in the age of LLMs, that software quality is a matter of competitiveness for every CEO.
As someone who codes for a living, I am convinced that computing is not an end in itself. It is there to solve "real-life" problems. Remembering this is essential, because most of the architecture choices we have to make have no obvious solution. Each option comes with its pros and cons. When the time comes to weigh it all up, the business stakes are the only arbiter: pragmatism grows out of knowing the business.
Today, it is no accident that I am a consultant. The urge to pass things on has been with me since my earliest days at school. I love helping everyone, individuals and organizations alike, to create, to shape the world around them and to shake things up, but also to give their best and to grow, provided the culture allows for it.
Joy, humility, rigor, and action are four values I try to live by every day. I should probably add a certain attachment to words…
The marathon, at the heart of my life
I could not talk about myself without mentioning athletics and distance running, an essential part of my life because of how much it helps me grow as a person: as every athlete knows, our limits are mental before they are physical. Beyond that, running is an individual sport practiced together with others. In training as in competition, it is a chance to grow in how we relate to others. Along the way, I discovered the thrill of competing and took things a little further.
References: French Athletics Federation + World Athletics.
- marathon, Berlin, 2023
- 2:27:18
- half marathon, Troyes, 2024
- 1:09:56
- 10K, Aubergenville, 2024
- 31:58
Photography, a journal of my life
"It is what I do that teaches me what I am looking for," said Pierre Soulages. Nothing rings truer to me when it comes to photography: once past the joyful exploration of everything photography makes possible, past the vertigo of the infinite, after sometimes keeping the camera at arm's length for years, we come back to the essentials: what matters to us, our values. All it takes is to look at what we have always turned our eye to, closely enough to press the shutter. Our values are simply there, in contrast with everything we do not photograph.