About Gaya Kessler
I am a freelance web developer specialising in JavaScript, living in Deurne, a small town in the south of The Netherlands, close to Eindhoven.
I’ve been a developer professionally since 2006. That’s almost half of the time I’ve been alive!
Since I was young I’ve always had an interest in creating things with a computer. This varied from creating video games, drawing, making music, and eventually programming.
Because I had the possibility to learn computer science during my time in high school I got a taste of what it could be to do this for a living. I couldn’t believe something this much fun was actually a job I could get paid for.
From my room in my parents’ attic and a really slow internet connection I started learning how to code websites from scratch and program the back-end systems supporting it.
I later went to university to get a bachelors degree in Computer Science. Around the same time I got a part-time job at a local web development company, where I learned a lot more than what school was teaching. I’ll be forever thankful for the opportunity I got working there.
Because I was learning so much, I decided it was a good idea to write down what I was learning about in a weblog. To this day I still write from time to time, but rarely. It helps me collect my thoughts and share them with the world.
I’ve worked as an employee at a handful of different companies through the years. This allowed me to not only grow from a technical perspective, but also personally. In my opinion I’ve grown so much because I worked at such a variety of different companies and projects. This also allowed me to know what I am good at, and which working environments suit me best.
Through the years I always centred my work around learning and challenging myself. I love sharing this knowledge and have spoken at various meetups and conferences. Sharing knowledge and helping people improve their skills is something I get the most satisfaction out off.
One of the things I seem to like the best was JavaScript and making a web page interactive. I tried to do as much work with JavaScript and tried to utilise it for projects at jobs I had in order to hone my skills.
For the sake practising and learning even more I started a lot of side-projects. Such as Drammit where I wanted to create my own app. This project saw a few iterations where I learned a lot of new techniques which I then was able to apply in my day-to-day job.
After ten years of working at companies, I thought it was time to move on and work freelance. This has allowed me to work for awesome companies like Philips, Route42, Intoto, BrewPi, and Dekode. Whilst also creating more breathing room for my personal endeavours.
Apart from development and programming I like to take enough time off to enjoy life away from the desk.
I am a runner and cycle frequently, which helps me both physically and mentally. I created Create My Run, a small web application where runners can generate their runs based on location and distance they’d wish to run.
You can find me at loud music concerts drinking a beer and banging my head. I also play in a band called Dead Soil, and share some solo music on Youtube.
I live with three rescue cats: Dexter, Darwin, and Donnie.
I love to cook for me and my wife, friends, and family.
I enjoy a good glass of whisky (or whiskey), craft beer, or wine, with good company and a good conversation.
I believe living a sustainable lifestyle is best for the planet, animals, the people I love, and myself.