I write about software architecture because I love it. For a long time I thought that was the only reason. I also love teaching.

Through sharing, a lot has gotten better, and in software “together” now includes the tools we use. They are not taking over the world and they are not taking jobs, not soon and not on a horizon I would name. At software they are good.

I have been programming publicly for over 24 years. Parts of that work can be found online at @jochumdev and @r3j0.

I am a Highly Sensitive Person — once, especially as a child and young adult, a curse; today a gift.

My path away from the screen was not a straight line:

  • 2 apprenticeships
  • Worked as an IT technician and peer worker in several social service organizations in my area (Vorarlberg)
  • 2 years in psychiatry
  • 1 year of addiction therapy
  • 1 year in a fully assisted living community
  • 5 weeks of rehab
  • Currently stabilizing — and hopefully back to full-time work soon

Since 2011 I have known the social services system from both sides — first for years in IT, later as a client (Bipolar 1 and non-substance addiction), and in between as a peer. Or to put it shortly: I taught the psychiatrist how to use the mouse, he taught me the medical side of myself. What I have experienced on both sides shapes how I think and write.

Why This Blog

I write because I love to give.

Not out of vanity. Whoever thinks must put it somewhere, and I would rather hand it over than keep it. Whoever wrestles needs a place where the wrestling becomes visible. This blog is that place.

The political and the personal sit next to each other here. A draft for a better Europe and a bad day that is allowed to be bad. Neither one works without the other.

I write in German and in English. The thoughts come from Austria either way.

I write with LLM support and say so openly. The ideas are mine. The attitude is mine. The tools help me put them into language equal to the thought.

What I want from it is small. That somebody takes one thing out of a post and can use it.

License

All content is published under CC BY 4.0. Use, adapt, redistribute — all permitted, as long as the name remains.

Attribution serves traceability. If these ideas are developed further elsewhere, the thread should remain visible to all.

Thanks

To all the people who have shared their experiences with me. To every honest conversation that serves as the foundation for our ideas. Yes, these texts come from my pen — but the ideas belong to many.

Contact

For those who want to talk:

René Jochum, Vorarlberg.