As a software developer and founder of Wise Minds, I can combine the two things I love to do most: making beautiful things and helping people at the same time. In this blog I would like to tell you more about who I am and why I started software company Wise Minds.
Only the maximum
Developing software was an early part of my life. I have been programming since I was twelve. When all the other boys were outside playing football, I was on the computer. I spent hours tinkering with my Dragonball Z website, developing a forum and guestbook for my school. I was already busy making things that would benefit others.
Twenty years later I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a master’s degree in Software Engineering, and I have my own business. Now I can really do something for customers with my expertise. With Wise Minds I want to help companies that need technical innovation, but don’t have the budget to start their own IT department. We are there for companies that think: ‘We want to do something with IT, but we don’t know how. We don’t have the specialists or the knowledge in-house.’ We provide everything necessary from start to finish for the development of websites, platforms, webshops, apps, mobile sites or other technological applications.
What characterizes me as an entrepreneur? I can’t rest until everything looks perfect and everything works perfectly. I always want to get the most out of it. Achieving the best result for the customer. Even if the customer has to come from far. I’ve seen in my past that you can get anywhere from any position. That’s why I always keep going and keep believing that things can be better.
Kees the Iraqi
I also had to catch up in my younger years. Our family moved from Iraq to Syria, and from Syria to Amsterdam Nieuw-West. When we got here I was a boy of about eight years old. Here I was actually a minority among the minorities. I grew up among Surinamese, Moroccan and Turkish-Dutch children. They had grown up here: they spoke the language, they knew the customs, they could sing along to Dutch songs. When Sinterklaas entered the class, all the children were on the edge of their seats. I just thought, what is that old guy doing here in that crazy suit? At school I was always called ‘the Iraqi’. Now I’m joking about that. When people ask how they pronounce my name, I say: ‘Just say, Kees!’. Kees is a common Dutch name and the begin of “Irakees”, the Dutch word for Iraqi.
I’ve had to go the extra mile from a young age to keep up. Always had to work a little harder than everyone else. That now also characterizes my way of working at Wise Minds.
Chess with Wise Minds
Where Wise Minds distinguishes itself is the degree of involvement with the customer. We don’t just do the jobs. We also think along about the strategy. What is the core of the product? Which techniques are best to use? What is the most future-proof technology? And how do you create the most optimal user-friendliness? For example, if you have ambitions to distribute your app all over the world, you have to make different choices than if you only launch an app in the Netherlands. Every product is different, and every product requires a different approach.
It’s not for nothing that our logo is two faces with a chess pawn. It symbolizes us as a strategic partner. As an experienced chess player you think twenty steps ahead with every move. And that is exactly what we do when developing software.