Profile

Regardless of circumstance I will adjust and make it work, whatever the technology or environment — my own projects mean I regularly start on things I have no prior experience with. And my adaptability has proven itself in professional environments just as well. After 7~ years of professional experience, and a few more as a hobbyist, I have learnt that creativity and curiosity play a central role in solving challenging, complex problems. I predominantly have full stack experience in the front-end with React/TypeScript implementations, and solid experience in the back-end with Java, combined with a deep interest in UX/UI, and a genuine fondness for legacy systems and the care they need to stay useful. Besides creativity and curiosity, I value clarity, autonomy, and a pragmatic approach within a close-knit team. Read more about who I, Alanta, am below.

Experience

  • Eindhoven Doet 2023 – present

    Volunteer IT & UX/UI adviser – Feasibility, second opinions, design proposals and feedback in an advisory role.

    Figma, UX/UI, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Technical/Functional analysis

  • Sogeti (internal project) 2024 – 2026

    Software engineer – Gave a fragmented internal app one coherent vision after several half-finished experiments and implementations.

    React, HTML, CSS, Typescript, Angular, Git, & more

  • ASML (via Sogeti) 2022 – 2024

    Tech lead / Software engineer – Legacy JSP Customer Portal cleanup and redesign, primitive components in monolith, then a modern React/Vite MVP rebuild.

    HTML, CSS, Java/Typescript, Git, React, Jira, & more

  • ASML (via Sogeti) 2021 – 2022

    Software engineer – Three teams on a ~200-person project — data selection, visualisation, and shared components including custom 3D graphs.

    React, React Redux, Typescript, Java, Styled-components, Three.js, & more

  • Sogeti 2021 – 2026

    Software engineer – Employed as a consultant; placements were ASML and the internal project above.

  • Nederland Eet B.V. 2019 – 2020

    Backend engineer – Maintained the Java API and helped build a Go successor while we ran a Python MVP experiment that did not stick.

    Java, Springboot, Golang, Echo, Python, Postman, & more

  • Freelance web development 2014 – 2019

    Software engineer – Custom sites and small tools for local businesses while studying — mostly solo, mostly static web.

    React, Typescript, Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, & more

Additional skills

Besides the experiences listed above, I also have notable experience with other topics through private activities and interests described below in the about section.

  • Development & Hosting

    Hands-on home lab experience; deploying self-hosted services and securing small-scale web environments.

    LinuxSecurityFirewallsCaddyNginxDomain management

  • 3D & Creative

    End-to-end asset creation in Blender and Godot for game development; GLSL shader development for real-time rendering.

    GodotShadersTexturingUV mappingBlenderKritaModellingRiggingAnimatingSlicing3D printing

  • Tooling & AI

    Independent ML projects and utility scripts; TTS integration for gaming; AI-assisted development and auditing.

    Accessibility pluginsScript automationNeural networksImage recognitionAgentic AI

  • Community & social

    Managing international teams across timezones; designing member-facing platforms with interactive elements.

    Cross-cultural communicationCoordinationEvent organisingCommunity managementPlatform building

  • Legacy systems & hardware

    Restoring classic vehicles and older systems; troubleshooting beyond standard replacement workflows.

    COBOLRepairSolderingSmall electronicsMechanical and electrical diagnosis

  • Lore & Linguistics

    Developing consistent fictional histories (160k+ years); creating original languages with internal logic.

    Constructed languagesCultural designLong form narrativeElaborate world-building

About

Alanta Alterna is the online alias I picked up when playing together with friends online, and it has since become my online alias for everything. I am, besides my alias, a deeply creative person who enjoys creating and working on all sorts of things, from writing lore and making videogames (and other software) to maintaining my own oldtimer. Out of curiosity I also picked up an IBM COBOL certification in 2025 and programmed on an actual mainframe provided by IBM.

  • Creative Technologies

    At my core, I am a builder who loves exploring the full spectrum of creation — from the abstract to the mechanical. My journey began with a legacy system, discovering that the care required to keep old codebases functional teaches invaluable lessons about patience and precision. That same dedication drives my work in modern subjects, like AI; I have, for instance, built a neural network capable of recognising traffic signage with 94% accuracy, proving that even complex machine learning can be approached with a hands-on mindset.

    Currently, this creativity is channelled into Enigma Eternal, an ambitious game project I'm developing with my partner. We are building not just a world, but a living history spanning over 160,000 years, complete with fully constructed fictional languages and unique cultures. While we aren't rushing towards a release—we likely won't finish for several years—if you have any interest, I invite you to contact us; we happily share with others who share our passion for deep world-building. It's a long-term labour of love where every line of code and word of lore is crafted with intent.

  • Hands-On Building

    My creative toolkit extends well beyond the screen. Whether it’s maintaining my sporty 80s vintage car or fixing a starter motor instead of replacing it, I believe in the value of understanding how things actually work. This tactile approach bleeds into my digital life as well; I use my 3D printer for everything from custom phone holders and costume props (like a light-up lightsaber) to restoring broken components and creating miniature figurines, such as a light up, moving, Guardian from Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I also have a keen interest in owning my own environment; and am working on hosting my own git server and have been running my various projects (and home PCs) on Linux for years now.

    I also enjoy solving small, annoying problems with custom software. For instance, I wrote a script to automatically resize images for websites, turning a tedious manual task into a seamless background process. These projects—big or small—are driven by a desire to make things functional, durable, and occasionally a bit magical.

  • Community and socialising

    Creativity isn’t a solitary pursuit for me. In the world of Final Fantasy XIV, I run an international free company (guild) that connects friends from Norway to Saudi Arabia. Managing this community has been an unintentional masterclass in soft skills: coordinating logistics for international meetups, fostering a welcoming environment, running and organising regular events and resolving conflicts across time zones. I even designed a dedicated website for the guild, complete with Easter eggs and a mini-game, to take our home beyond the realm of Eorzea alone.

    While cosplay and costume making have taken a more subtle role, they remain a cherished part of our interest. There is a unique satisfaction in taking a concept from a sketch to a wearable reality, complete with moving parts. Though I’ve had to scale back, the spirit of craftsmanship remains central to how I engage with the world. It has been very fun to feature on promotional material a few times over the years.

  • Adventuring

    When I step away from the workshop or the keyboard, I’m usually somewhere remote. I have an affection for quieter, out-of-the-way places — from the gravel roads of Iceland to the ice roads of wintry Lapland. My partner and I have tracked across glaciers, climbed volcanoes, and hunted the aurora borealis on freezing -20°C nights.

    Sometimes, "exploring" means getting lost on a cliff edge for seven hours; other times, it’s as simple as sharing stories with locals in a pub abroad. These experiences ground my digital work in the real world, reminding me that the best systems—whether in code, cars, or communities—are those built to endure the unexpected.