Ruben Moons
- name
- Ruben Moons
- born
- 16/10/2004, Bonheiden BE
- [email protected]
- langs
- Dutch, English
Education
Secondary education, 6 years: Modern Sciences, Science/Math, Human Sciences (Scheppers Mechelen) and IT at Busleyden Atheneum Zandpoort.
College: KDG Antwerpen, IT. Graduation track: Application Development (one programme).
Work experience
Stage IT, Exo Terra
Internship: WordPress, Shopify, plugin research, the Care Guides.#internship
Student cleaner, GOM (Fluvius)
Summer work that paid for the college laptop.#gom
CV / Portfolio
Junior developer.
Builder of things.
IT student at KDG Antwerpen. Runs a homeserver, fixes hardware, ships DIY projects. Everything built so far lives on the timeline below.
Skills / XP
Languages
- JavaConfidentAdept
- C#ConfidentAdept
- Kotlin / AndroidConfidentAdept
- TypeScriptConfidentAdept
- JavaScriptIntermediateJourneyman
- PHPConfidentAdept
- PythonlearningIntermediateJourneyman
- ClearningBeginnerApprentice
- C++learningBeginnerApprentice
Web
- HTMLAdvancedVeteran
- CSHTMLAdvancedVeteran
- CSSConfidentAdept
- SCSSIntermediateJourneyman
- ReactIntermediateJourneyman
- JavaFXIntermediateJourneyman
Data & Backend
- SQLConfidentAdept
- PostgreSQLConfidentAdept
- JSON / XML / YAMLAdvancedVeteran
- MongoDBlearningBeginnerApprentice
Systems & DevOps
- Git (GitHub / GitLab)ConfidentAdept
- DockerConfidentAdept
- NetworkingConfidentAdept
- BashlearningBeginnerApprentice
- PowerShelllearningBeginnerApprentice
- CI/CDlearningBeginnerApprentice
Hardware & Craft
- Hardware / PC buildingAdvancedVeteran
- WoodworkinglearningBeginnerApprentice
Beyond code
- Home server: old laptop turned Debian box, Pi-hole, Immich, Nextcloud, Bitwarden behind Tailscale.#post-22
- Home automation: Home Assistant wired to house battery, solar and heat pump, with a rebuilt laptop kiosk as dashboard.#post-25
- Hardware repair: OLED TV panel saved by pinning out bridged circuits, laptops rebuilt into an arcade machine.#post-25
Timeline
Every project, from the first PC to this website, in five chapters.
01
Origins
Milestone
Built my first PC
First full build: Intel i5 4-core, 16GB DDR4, GTX 1060 6GB, 2TB HDD, later a 1TB SSD as main drive.
Read moreDemo soon- The 2016 build
Milestone
Second PC build
My second PC ever, built in 2019 for a friend with an i7, 16GB DDR4 and a GTX 1070 Ti.
Read moreDemo soon- The 2019 build for a friend
02
First Code
Milestone
Busleyden and the VPW
Started IT at Busleyden Mechelen in 2021, first coding exercises, and competed in the Flemish Programming Competition (VPW).
- Java
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- PHP
- C++
Read moreDemo soon- First coding exercises
- VPW competition t-shirt
- Whack-a-Mole Arduino build
Project
Minecraft learning server
My first big school project: a full Minecraft server for interactive learning, built by a 20-person team.
- Java
- Git
- Scrum
Read moreDemo soon- The Minecraft learning server
Project
TokBook
My second big school project: TokBook, a Facebook-like platform for teachers.
- Databases
- Webhooks
- Scrum
Read moreDemo soonMilestone
Exo Terra internship
First internship at Exo Terra, working with WordPress, plugins and Shopify and helping build the Care Guides.
- WordPress
- Shopify
Read moreDemo soon- Supervisor reference name and number
Milestone
Third PC build
My third PC build, a top-of-the-line machine for a friend with an i7, 32GB DDR5 and an RTX 3080.
Read moreDemo soon- Third PC build with an RTX 3080
03
College
Milestone
GOM student cleaner
Worked summers as a student cleaner for GOM at Fluvius Mechelen, earning the laptop for college.
Read moreDemo soonMilestone
School projects with code
The next posts cover the school projects whose code survived, grouped into learning fundamentals and communication and engineering.
Read moreDemo soonSeries of 3
Learning fundamentals
Posts 13 to 15 grouped together: three college projects that were all about learning the fundamentals.
- Java album groeiproject
Java fundamentals split into milestones, from dependencies and generics to streams, persistence and threads.
GitHub - Album review in .NET
Learned C# and .NET Core by building a full-stack album review management system across 8 milestones.
GitHub - Database design with Oracle
Database design project in Oracle, split into ERD, normalisation, DDL, DML, queries, packages and optimisation.
GitHub
- Java album groeiproject
Series of 2
Communication and engineering
Posts 16 and 17 grouped together: one focused on communication, the other on software engineering practices.
- Animal specialist interview
A website project focused on an exclusive interview with an animal specialist and a webinar with a promo video.
- ShareIt24
ShareIt24, a tool sharing platform built with Java and focused on software engineering practices and BDD.
GitHub
- Animal specialist interview
DIY
Laptop repair, Linux and soldering
Repaired and upgraded my laptop, tried Linux with CachyOS, and soldered WLED-controlled LED strips for my monitor.
- Linux
- CachyOS
- WLED
- Soldering
Read moreDemo soon- Laptop taken apart for repair and upgrade
- WLED-controlled LED strips on my monitor
- WLED control board
Project
Groove Review
First Android project: an album review app in Kotlin with custom UI, light/dark modes, bilingual support and a REST API.
- Kotlin
- Android
- REST API
- Groove Review UI screenshots
04
Self-Hosted & DIY
DIY · ongoing
DIY sound mixer
Volume mixer built with a Raspberry Pi and 3D-printed parts, running the open source Deej software.
- Raspberry Pi
- 3D printing
- Deej
- Electronics
Read moreDemo soon- Mixer build with 3D-printed enclosure
Milestone · ongoing
Homeserver
Debian server from an old school laptop: Pi-hole, Docker services, Tailscale, Prometheus and Grafana.
- Debian
- Docker
- Pi-hole
- Immich
- Nextcloud
- Tailscale
- Prometheus
- Grafana
Read moreDemo soon- Homeserver setup
DIY · ongoing
DIY summer
A summer full of DIY: UniFi networking, homeserver upgrades, a repaired OLED TV, an arcade laptop, Home Assistant and WiFi CSI.
- UniFi
- CAT6
- Docker
- Glance
- Home Assistant
- ESP32
- Batocera
- OpenWRT
- Python
- WiFi CSI
Read moreDemo soon- UniFi access points and CAT6 cabling
- Homeserver hosting the UniFi controller
- Glance status dashboard
- TV panel showing a white screen during repair
- TV fully working with colour after repair
- Video of the repaired TV working
- Cardboard-cased arcade laptop running Batocera
- Video of the arcade laptop working
- Home Assistant entities and automations
- Custom home energy dashboard
- Touchscreen kiosk built from an old notebook
05
Now
Project · ongoing
Tree Company survey platform
My biggest project to date: a survey platform built for Tree Company in Antwerp.
Read moreDemo soon