Kevin Raaijmakers

A passion for Information Technology

A picture of Kevin Raaijmakers.

I am Kevin Raaijmakers, a 31-year old IT and Computer Networking specialist living in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands together with my wife, Sarah.

I studied the course ‘Medewerker Beheer ICT (MBO 3)’ at the ROC Tilburg college, where they taught us the basics of Computer Networking, Hardware Maintenance as well as assembling Computers.

By the end of the second year, we were supposed to know how to set up DHCP, DNS, ActiveDirectory, Shared folders with User Profiles, some basic XHTML (at the time) using the Adobe Dreamweaver software and we had to set up a server and client using Windows Server 2008, Novell and if I remember the name correctly a Zentyal (which is a Linux-based) server which could be configured using a web interface.

During this time I also had an internship at the main office of Nettorama in Oosterhout. During this internship I was responsible for setting up access points and connect to them with the Embedded devices with a barcode scanner. These were used to improve the delivery process of the new groceries from the main distribution center. They just had to scan the barcode of the product, note how many had been sold of said product in the terminal after that, the distribution centre got a new row in the database letting them in turn know what needed to be shipped to the grocery stores. I finished this internship well, including the MBO 3 course.

After the MBO 3 course I went for the MBO 4 course in the same school, the course is called ‘ICT Beheerder’. During this time we learned how to implement all of our MBO 3 knowledge, and expanded it with more advanced options, for example Microsoft Threat Management Gateway, Virtualization, IPv6 and more. We set up our own servers and we got the freedom to choose the software which we thought would fit the project. However I finished all the projects of the first year, unfortunately due to my hours of absence I could not continue on to the next year.

After I think 2 years I went back to ROC Tilburg to assist students and teachers alike with troubleshooting, and other questions regarding networking and software they may be struggling with. I did this voluntarily on and off for about 4 to 5 years. On MBO 2 as well as MBO 4.

I never stopped testing and setting up software and servers, it’s my favorite thing to do on a quiet day. That’s where the 13 years experience came from. While others were out there trying to study HBO, or either already working. I was increasing my knowledge about Computers and Networking, while maintaining the balance in my life.

What I taught myself during those 13 years of experience is:

  • Docker and Podman
  • I installed Xen on a laptop using Arch Linux. Which in turn allowed me to access multiple OSes without being tied to a GUI.
  • I set up multiple websites and services for personal use. Some of the services I set up were:
    • Vaultwarden
    • Caddy (as reverse proxy as well as webserver)
    • Nginx Proxy Manager
    • Apache2 (HTTPD)
    • HomeAssistant with:
      • Frigate as a NVR, which in real-time notified me about changes in and around our previous house from security cameras.
    • AdGuard Home for blocking malicious ads. (also tried Pi-Hole)
    • Unbound (as a DNS recursor)
    • Hypervisors like:
      • Microsoft Hyper-V
      • VMware ESXi
      • Proxmox VE
      • XenServer
  • Many, and I mean many, installations and optimizations of OSes. Including Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11.
  • I programmed a 2D game for which a friend supplied the graphics. The software was developed using Unity3D back then, when it didn’t have 2D. So we choose to start with the asset 2D Toolkit (deprecated). The following did work:
    • Main Menu
    • Character movement
    • Character Customization
    • Networked Multiplayer (including synchronizing states as well as customization options)
    • All of this was written using C#. We started this project without having any previous programming experience. I programmed everything while my friend created the artworks.
  • I give support to people who are having a hard time using their computer or laptop. As well as give them my recommendation about purchases.
  • Just recently (January 2025), I wrote a web UI for Llama.cpp using llama-cpp-python and Gradio. Without much previous experience in Python.

As you see above, I’ve been busy with a variety of software as well as improving myself, and my workflow day by day.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,
Kevin Raaijmakers