My name is Ben den Blanken and I confess, I am a power addict. Please grab a drink, sit down, and let me tell you my story.
I am a developer and 8 out of the 10 last years I’ve spent implementing, extending and integrating Dynamics 365 and its predecessors. My employer Dynamic People has provided me with a lot of interesting projects and ample opportunity for self-growth.
The last few years I’ve taken an interest in DevOps, CI/CD and ALM, and albeit automating is one of the core principles, I’ve learned that creating teams with the same goal and empowering them is the biggest factor for success.
That for me is the basis of why I am falling for the Power Platform. It enables business teams to contribute to their own success. They can (co-) create apps, automate their processes and create their own insights. I love to engage with end-users and fulfill their wishes while I’m sitting right next to them.
Funnily enough this brings me back to my first job. I started working as an in-house application developer building in FileMaker Pro. It basically was MS Access on steroids. This too allowed me to build business requirements in a matter of days. Except it had the downfall of being a monolithic application. Due to the nature of the Power Platform and its connectors, you can design your apps in a micro service manner.
Personally, and to me this is more important than all of the above, I’m a family man. I have a lovely girlfriend called Cindy, and together we have 3 beautiful children. Our oldest, Isabella, is starting to be a real individual. Our 2 youngest are twins, Floris and Ingmar, and I’m not going to lie, they are a handful 😉