Frank Bosma is a coder in heart and soul. He’s been at it for almost twenty years now, since 1999. He studied Media Technology at Hogeschool Utrecht. “At a study fair they mentioned Tomb Raider in the booklet about the course, along with some other really cool stuff, and that’s what sold me on it.” It was the first year that they were offering this class, so it’s fair to say he’s a pioneer in his field.

Frank works as a newsroom developer for VPRO, a Dutch public broadcasting organization. Hackastory crossed Frank’s path in 2015 when Hay Kranen, a Hackastory co-founder and his colleague at VPRO, told him about a hackathon that Hackastory was organizing in Istanbul, for which they needed an additional coder, and from then on he’s come along to every hackathon. Frank’s involvement with Hackastory is on a freelance basis.

Frank (just left of center) at the Istanbul hackathon

Something In The Air

Frank is never bored. There’s always something to code. When he’s not working on something at VPRO, he’s helping us out at hackathons or working on a pet project. For example, he’s currently developing a Virtual Reality story set in Ukraine with fellow Hackanauts Nienke Huitenga and Hans Van Arken. With that in mind, what he’s doing at Hackastory is very different from what he’s doing at VPRO, where he does a lot of front-end coding whereas Hackastory projects involve collaborations with other disciplines. “I’ve participated in many hackathons. I love the atmosphere, and the pressure that comes along with having to come up with something in such a short time frame,” Frank says. “I like to be surrounded by like-minded people and to get to know new people. Hackastory adds a global element. I love the people they draw and the general mood of their hackathons.”

Something Bigger

For Frank, it’s important to be a part of something bigger. “I’ll join the hackathon as a coder but also I’ll act more as a coach. The team is far more important than the individual, and I guide the team to make sure everything keeps running smoothly.” Thanks to his coaching, his team always comes up with something creative. “What counts is that, at the end of the day, you have a really cool concept that you can then present with confidence to everyone else.”