blog: added martijn's intro post. (#447)

web/blog/2022-02-03-martijn-intro.md

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+---
+title: Meet the team - Martijn Faassen, Founding Engineer
+author: Matija Sosic
+author_title: CEO & Co-founder @ Wasp
+author_url: https://github.com/matijasos
+author_image_url: https://github.com/matijasos.png
+image: /img/martijn-intro-banner.png
+tags: [wasp, new-hire]
+---
+
+import Link from '@docusaurus/Link';
+import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl';
+import InBlogCta from './components/InBlogCta';
+import WaspIntro from './_wasp-intro.md';
+
+![Welcome Martijn!](../static/img/martijn-intro-banner.png)
+
+Find Martijn on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/faassen) and [GitHub](https://github.com/faassen).
+
+<WaspIntro />
+<InBlogCta />
+
+**Martijn, welcome to the Wasp team!** Martijn is an experienced full-stack engineer and seasoned OSS contributor and author - he is one of the early adopters and evangelists of Python, back in the day when you had to explain to other developers that Python is a cool new language they should try out (sounds familiar, right? ;)). His passion is [building and designing web frameworks](https://blog.startifact.com/posts/framework-patterns-javascript-edition/) and he has authored and contributed to numerous OSS projects such as [lxml](https://github.com/lxml/lxml), [reselect](https://github.com/reduxjs/reselect) and [Morepath](https://github.com/morepath/morepath). We're more than excited about the opportunity to work together!
+
+#### Why did you join Wasp?
+
+I have been using web frameworks since before the term “web framework” had come into common usage. I have also been building them - obscure frameworks that never became very popular, but I did learn a lot. I’ve worked on several server-side web frameworks in Python, a client-side web framework in JavaScript before it was cool, and a number of web form frameworks. I’m drawn to building frameworks. I’ve written a few blog posts about [framework patterns](https://blog.startifact.com/posts/framework-patterns-javascript-edition/).
+
+So when the founders of Wasp contacted me and asked me to join them to build a web framework together, it was easy to say yes. I’m really excited to put a lot of what I’ve learned about web frameworks to use, and to learn a lot more about them along the way.
+
+#### What did you do before?
+
+I’ve been a web developer for almost 25 years now. I was an early adopter of the Python programming language — I remember I had to explain to other programmers what it was. Over the years I’ve worked on many web applications: invoice processing software, a CMS, quite a few in-house applications for a range of organizations, and so on. I started when web development was all on the server side, and I evolved with it as JavaScript and later TypeScript became more important.
+
+#### What is your favorite language/framework?
+
+I’ve worked with Python for decades. The language has been really good to me. But I enjoy learning new programming languages, and I’ve read the manuals for many more. Of course just reading a manual isn't the same as speaking a language! As to the languages that I did learned to speak, I’ve been really enjoying TypeScript the last few years and I have also learned Rust on the side, though I haven’t used it for any customer projects yet. I like languages that stretch my brain, so getting to pick up Haskell for Wasp makes me happy.
+
+#### What are you most excited about in Wasp?
+
+Wasp combines existing systems into something new. I believe the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, and I get to be part of discovering that new whole. Wasp is an opportunity to think about web frameworks thoroughly, and work on ways to make life better for web developers.
+
+I have had my biggest open source successes not when I built something from scratch, but when I combined and extended existing systems to create something new. I believe Wasp can be huge because it takes this route.
+
+And I get to work with really nice and smart people to do it!
+
+#### How did you start coding?
+
+I started to program back in the 1980s because I wanted to create games. In the early days I could only do that on the one computer in my father’s office, so sometimes I’d go with him there in the evening and write simple BASIC programs. After a while we got a computer at home, and I played a lot with simple graphics programming, still aiming to create games. Then I picked up assembler, as it was faster than BASIC, and finally in the 1990s a whole world of software development opened up to me. I used C++ for a while, and Delphi, until in 1998 I discovered Python. This language was a revelation to me at the time — dynamically typed, bindings for everything even back then. It made me feel really empowered as a developer and I got into web development quickly after that.
+
+#### What is your dev setup?
+
+I’m using VSCode on Fedora Linux. I’ve used Emacs for years, and until recently used Vi to do quick edits, but I switched to VSCode some years ago and recently replaced Vi with Micro as a quick command-line tool. I’ve been using Linux since 1995.
+
+Last summer I experimented with my desktop a lot; I now have 3 monitors, one of which is vertical. I also started to use the i3 tiled window manager, and I’m using a split mechanical keyboard ([Dygma Raise](https://dygma.com/)). I don’t know whether any of this really makes me more productive but it’s fun.
+
+#### `camelCase` or `snake_case`?
+
+Whichever is appropriate for the language. Unless the data is produced with a different convention on the server, then I stick to that on the client as well. I’m a big fan of code autoformatters.
+
+#### What's one piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring developer?
+
+Don’t be afraid to spend time talking and thinking. You don’t have to be typing code all the time. It may feel unproductive but it’s fine.
+
+<InBlogCta />