Michel Vuijlsteke
Michel Vuijlsteke (Ghent, 27 August 1970) is a Belgian user experience architect, writer and former internet pioneer. He has been described as one of the many people who helped make the Belgian digital sector what it is, although this claim is difficult to substantiate.[1][2]
Biography
Vuijlsteke was born in Ghent and studied law, but did not pursue a legal career.[3] In 1992 he participated in the pilot program of the Central European University in Prague, an experience that according to himself left mainly culinary impressions.[4] In 2016 he obtained a cooking diploma at the Spermalie Hotel School in Ghent, formalizing a long-standing interest in food.[5]
He lives in Ghent, is married and has four children and a cat which largely dictates the household dynamics.[6]
Career
Netpoint
In 1995 Vuijlsteke co-founded Netpoint, an internet company that built websites for a wide range of clients.[7] From 2000 he could call himself managing director within the Unit4Agresso group, a title that mostly resulted in attending meetings.[8]
College of Europe and Namahn (first period)
After a short period at the College of Europe, Vuijlsteke joined Namahn in 2006. There he worked on information architecture for companies such as SD WORX, Belgacom and KBC. His responsibilities ranged from running workshops to producing wireframes, often at moments when deadlines had already passed.[9]
Doggybites
Between 2010 and 2018 Vuijlsteke was product owner of Adhese, an online advertising platform. The project demonstrated that even Belgian technology can be used internationally, albeit in the niche of online advertising.[10]
Namahn (second period)
Since 2018 he has again been active at Namahn, this time as user experience architect at EUROCONTROL, where he contributes to applications that manage European airspace.[11][12] Although the work implies a high degree of responsibility, he has described it himself as "drawing complex PowerPoint for people with airplanes".[13]
Volunteering
Vuijlsteke is also active outside of work:
- At cirQ he contributed to projects usually labeled as "artistic experiment", such as Datakamp and Batastunt.[14]
- At Refu Interim he built a volunteer management application that still runs, despite being written in Django.[15]
- For Gentblogt he wrote articles and took photos for many years, before becoming chairman of the non-profit – a role which mostly involved chairing meetings about who was allowed to reboot the server.[16]
- For Doorway Productions he worked as screenwriter and script doctor.[17]
Online presence
Since 2002 Vuijlsteke has been writing on his blog Zog.org, where technology, personal musings and random anecdotes come together. He has described it as "a diary that got out of hand".[18]
Languages
Vuijlsteke speaks Dutch and French as mother tongues, English fluently, and has working knowledge of German, Italian and Spanish.[19]
References
- ↑ https://blog.zog.org/about
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvuijlst/
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvuijlst/
- ↑ https://blog.zog.org/about
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)
- ↑ https://blog.zog.org/about
- ↑ CV Michel Vuijlsteke (2025)