Tom Cools

Tom Cools

Info Support NV | Software Engineer
Software Engineer | Conference speaker 🗣️ | Java Focussed | Teacher and Trainer 👨‍🏫 | Always looking for another nerdy adventure!

Geek in all facets of the word, including but not limited to boardgames, comic books but most of all programming. Developer without borders, both geographically and technically. Active as a consultant with a focus on Java technologies.

Next to that I am trainer and teacher who loves to share not only knowledge but also passion for our craft.

Married, No kids, No Pets, just a happy owner of a whole lot of nerdy/techy stuff.

Currently working for Info Support nv. in Mechelen, Belgium.

All talks from Tom

16:40 | Sofia

Learning Through Tinkering

In the daily drag of requirements and deadlines we often forget to take the time for the fun stuff. Yet it’s these “just for fun” projects that drive us towards greater knowledge and inspire us at our jobs. But… how do you find an interesting topic for a project? I will share the paths I have taken to inspire myself in the quest for new pet projects. Join me as I show you my attempts at: – Creating an autonomous infra-red battle tank; – Unraveling the inner workings of a certain Pocket Monster mobile game; – Driving a Lego Boost robot using Java; – Creating a mobile game using only vanilla Java; – …and some more! I will show you the code I wrote, the hurdles I faced and, most importantly, the lessons I learned, and how those insights help me in my daily developer life.