Engineering Manager · Developer · Co-owner Goedemiddag!
Hi, I'm Dick van der Heiden
I help turn business goals into maintainable software, combining hands-on development with technical direction and team leadership.
I'm an engineering manager and co-owner of Goedemiddag!, a Dutch agency that builds and maintains Laravel applications. With over 20 years of professional development experience, I work where technology, product and business meet.
I stay involved in the details: shaping architecture, translating ideas into development work and writing code, while helping teams understand the bigger picture.
What I bring
My work connects three areas:
- Architecture and development: Designing and building Laravel applications, APIs and integrations, with attention to how they will evolve and be maintained.
- Product direction: Understanding stakeholder needs, questioning assumptions and translating business goals into priorities and practical development work.
- Team leadership: Creating clarity around ownership, technical direction and delivery so developers can make decisions and do their best work.
Sometimes that means defining an architecture or writing a feature. Sometimes it means improving a workflow or asking an uncomfortable question before we commit to building something.
Selected work
These projects show how I combine architecture, product ownership and development, from an initial idea through ongoing development.
A shared Gamification Player for LearnStrike and Wellbe
In 2020, I turned an idea into the first MVP of the Gamification Player. It is now the engine of two separate platforms: LearnStrike (which is a multi-tenant platform) and Wellbe (which focuses on mental wellbeing).
The application supports gamified learning experiences, with extensive solutions for surveys and questionnaires. It also includes efficient and performant APIs for the Unity games. I built the platform from the ground up and continue to lead its development as application architect, product owner and developer.
A central API for a hosting company
I built a central hosting platform with a wide range of external services. It brings together domain registration, SSL certificates, Let's Encrypt integration, support system and subscription management connected to Moneybird.
I continue to lead its development as application architect and developer, combining technical implementation with responsibility for the product's direction.
How I work
I start by creating clarity: what problem are we solving, what matters most and who is responsible for moving each part forward?
Developers need room to make decisions. Clear priorities, shared technical direction and explicit ownership give them the context to use that freedom well. My role is to help establish those conditions and stay involved when risks or competing priorities need attention.
I take a practical approach to architecture and process. Complexity needs to earn its place, and a solution should remain understandable to the people maintaining it next year. A process should make work easier to deliver.
From writing code to leading teams
I started building websites when floppy disks were still around and was browsing the internet on Windows 3.1, and somehow never stopped. Over time, my responsibilities grew from developing individual features to helping teams, clients and organizations make decisions about software.
As a business owner, I'm also involved in how projects are organized and how teams collaborate. That development background still shapes how I lead: I enjoy understanding the details while keeping sight of the product and the people building it.
Writing and open source
Writing
I share practical lessons from development, team leadership and running a software agency. Many articles begin as notes I want to remember myself.
Open source
My open-source work includes creating a Laravel request and response logger and maintaining the Cyberfusion Core API client. My packages are usually aimed to solve a problem I encountered at multiple projects.
Let's connect
If you'd like to talk about engineering leadership, hands-on development or collaborating with a small agency, I'd be happy to compare ideas and discuss where I could contribute.