I'm Alex van Vlerken. For more than twenty years I've built software for high-tech products: from cloud services, web applications, HMIs to embedded software and machine control. I particularly enjoy the parts where those worlds have to work together.
I’m a freelance software engineer based in Eindhoven, in the middle of the Brainport high-tech region. I’ve spent my career in the R&D and IT departments of commercial companies, startups and highly regulated organizations in the healthcare and automotive sector.
I’ve moved between medical devices, battery systems and industrial printers, so I’m used to getting productive in a new codebase and domain quickly. I’ve worked as an all-round developer and as a tech lead, usually in multidisciplinary teams. My main stack is .NET/C# and Azure.
Backend, web and cloud development with C#/.NET and Azure. I’ve worked with ASP.NET Core, Angular, Blazor, REST/OpenAPI and data pipelines for product and machine data.
Software close to the hardware: embedded devices, HMIs and machine control. I’ve built this for medical devices, energy storage systems and for industrial printers, with integrations over interfaces such as OPC UA, gRPC, CAN, Modbus, EtherCAT or custom.
Architecture, code quality, CI/CD and mentoring. I help with technical decisions, unblock difficult problems and support less-experienced developers.
Development of an HMI and control system for a single-pass industrial printer that prints directly on objects. This is a .NET application working alongside a PLC that handles the real-time and safety-critical part.
Development of a web application and services that automatically read and analyze structured logging and counter data from industrial printers, and compile a maintenance work plan for the service engineers’ back office.
Development of a cross-platform tool to analyze, test and configure energy storage systems. Also brought CI pipelines, embedded tooling and automotive-grade practices to AGV battery system development.
Built embedded software and R&D tooling for the MiniCare I-20, a handheld point-of-care blood analysis device. The work followed medical device regulations and used behavior-driven development.
Other work Earlier work spans medical treatment software, smart lighting, security video and car navigation. The full history is available as a detailed CV on request.
I like being involved in the full software lifecycle, from requirements and architecture to testing, delivery and support. I work Agile by default, start from BDD where it fits, write unit tests as a habit, and set up CI/CD so that changes ship quickly and safely.
I use AI coding agents and assistants in my daily work. I review their code, run tests and put it through CI just like anything else. AI can save a lot of time, but I don’t treat its output as trusted code.
I prefer simple solutions. The next developer has to be able to follow the code, and the client has to live with it long after I’ve left.
I’m available for freelance assignments as a senior .NET developer or tech lead, for cloud software, software close to the hardware, or both. I’m based in Eindhoven and work on-site in the Brainport region, hybrid or remote.