About me – Robert Skibbe aka RobbelRoot
👋 Hey!
I’m Robert and – professionally – a so-called „Full Stack Developer“ with more than 10 years of experience.
I originally started out as a programmer around 2011. After I’ve worked for several small and big companies in the past years, I’m self employed nowadays.
In addition to IT – which turned from a hobby into a profession – I would describe my penchant for the stock market and my interest in psychology as my (further) hobbies.
What do you offer?
Individual software development
My primary activity is the individual software development based on Windows and web environments as well. For this I use the two .NET programming languages C# & VB.NET for Windows-based applications, as well as PHP and Co. for the web-oriented software solutions. I can look back on a wide variety of projects from simple Windows applications to complex enterprise solutions on the web. You can find more details on this below under „Tech Stacks & Skillset„.
Helping hand as freelancer
In addition to the order-based development of software for companies and private individuals, I also offer my services as a freelancer. As is common for a freelancer, I usually work in small teams of 2-5 people, depending on the company and client. Like the usual work as a contract-based programmer, this also happens 100% in the home office, i.e. remotely.
Teaching
In addition to the order-based development of software for companies and private individuals, I also offer my services as a freelancer. I primarily teach the programming languages mentioned above, such as C#, VB.NET and PHP (and everything that goes with them). There I implement exciting and real projects with my students. In contrast to conventional, boring courses, my students get to know the real everyday life of a developer in addition to the basics.
Free solutions & tools
I offer free solutions to common coding problems on my homepage, in my blog posts and on my YouTube channel. This includes code snippets and fully usable projects from a wide variety of topics: VB.NET, C#, PHP, WordPress, and many more.
Tech stacks & skillset
Due to my many years of practical experience, I was able to immerse myself in different tech stacks and get to know their facets. My primary passion, or my two favorite stacks, are based on the requirements of the client.
Web applications
If my customer or the company that employs me as a freelancer, is aiming for a web solution, my primary choice is PHP with frameworks like Slim or Symfony as the backend. The database system used, is usually MySQL. Of course, I also adapt to the respective client here – if it makes sense and is possible.
In the frontend, primarily VueJS with some „addons“ like „Quasar“ comes into play. I did use jQuery a lot, too, but I personally prefer the more modern approach with Vue (on new projects). In one of my former and bigger projects (while being employed), I’ve also used NodeJS for a big music festival backend system.
Windows applications
On Windows, my primary language used these days is C# in combination with the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and the Model View ViewModel (MVVM) design pattern. However, I still enjoy working with the language that started it all – Visual Basic .NET. I also prefer to use WPF and MVVM there, but of course, I also create console applications and Windows Forms applications, depending on the customer’s wishes.
How did you come to „IT“?
Just like I previewed above, I started through through around the year 2011. At this time I worked as junior chief in our family business. As in any business, we had some mindless, repetitive tasks such as the training of new employees, or the management of perishable goods. At that time however, everything was still done with pen and paper – changes had to be made.
So I sat down with my programming knowledge and developed the first small program for our company – the „Leergut Trainer“. It was a Windows-based application that playfully taught the newcomers the cash register interface and the deposit prices. For this, the program used 3 different modes, such as a quiz-like procedure.
Then I implemented another idea for the other problem mentioned above – the durability thing. Instead of writing everything on a piece of paper and then manually checking it out and crossing it out, I wanted a better solution. This is how the „BBD Manager“ came into being, which enabled the entry of best before dates on a web app, accessible through a mobile phone browser. It warned us in good time about expiring items, which we could then reduce and sell with price cuts instead of total losses.
Where did you get your knowledge from?
I got my practical experience primarily from my previous permanent positions, in which I worked for small agencies as well as for medium-sized companies and ultimately a large german group. Of course, my self-employment, which I have registered since 2011, has challenged and developed me especially in terms of personal work, planning and implementation.
Of course, my professional roots in my parents‘ company have prepared me optimally for my tasks as an entrepreneur who acts independently. Even then, I knew what it meant to be the first in the morning and the last in the evening. Of course, my sister and I were also the first people to contact when there was a shortage of staff.
