When I ask Bart Wesselink for the most remarkable thing he has ever done, he pauses for a moment. Eventually, he says he is most proud of his perseverance. Of the fact that he has always kept learning, working, and developing himself. It sounds modest; perhaps even a little too modest.
After all, while many seventeen-year-olds were busy with exams, summer holidays and preparing for university, Bart spent his summer building the first version of De BouwApp, the Dutch predecessor of Publiq. It became the foundation of a platform that is now used by thousands of organisations and end users.
Bart sees it as the natural result of something that had started much earlier: curiosity.
Bart grew up in Harbrinkhoek, a small village in the eastern part of the Netherlands that most people have probably never heard of. From a young age, he became fascinated by computers and websites. While his friends were outside playing football, Bart wanted to understand how websites were actually built.
“I think I was about ten years old when I first wanted to find out how websites were made,” he says. “I even remember going to the library with my mother to borrow books about programming.”
From there came years of experimenting. Building websites, trying things out, making mistakes, and starting again. “You probably do a lot of things wrong,” he says. “But that is how you eventually learn.”
At the age of fourteen, Bart was given the opportunity to work during school holidays at a software company in Almelo through a neighbour. It was considerably more interesting than the other jobs available at the time. “I had picked berries before,” he laughs. “I enjoyed this a lot more.”
What started as holiday work gradually became something much bigger. Bart spent school holidays and days off working on software projects, gaining practical experience along the way. Then, after finishing secondary school, a unique opportunity came his way.
Mark and Paul (the founders of de BouwApp and Publiq) had come up with the idea for the platform and were looking for someone to build its technical foundation. That assignment landed on Bart's desk. “I think I was about seventeen,” he says with a smile. “Looking back, it was quite special to be given a project like that at such a young age.”
It turned out to be the right decision. Over the course of that summer, Bart built the first version of the app. Not only the screens users interacted with, but also the underlying structure that supported the platform. Much of the code has evolved over the years, but the architecture created during that first summer still forms the foundation of today's apps.
After the summer, Bart moved to Eindhoven to study Computer Science. For many students, university means lectures, student housing and student life. Bart's experience looked slightly different; he kept working. At first for a few hours each week, later for four or even five days a week, while completing much of his degree during evenings. “I enjoyed studying,” he says. “But I found working just as interesting.”
The combination proved successful. Bart graduated cum laude, completed his master's degree and even published a scientific paper based on his graduation research. Meanwhile, he continued working on De BouwApp. “I still remember standing at the bus stop on my way to university and getting a phone call about the app,” he says. “I always thought that contrast was funny. On the one hand, you're just another student. On the other, there's a platform that more and more people are starting to use.”
As De BouwApp continued to grow, so did Bart's role. Where he once wrote the code himself, he now focuses on the development of the platform as a whole. As Product Owner, he acts as the link between customers, users, customer success, and the development team.
Together with the team, he decides which developments should be prioritised and translates ideas from practice into new features. “Everyone has ideas and wishes,” he says. “Someone has to make the decisions and make sure everything continues to fit together logically.”
Although he spends much less time programming these days, his technical background remains invaluable. “It really helps that I know how the platform works underneath,” he explains. “It means I can quickly switch between the technical side and what users actually need.”
Interestingly, it is not his degree, publications or professional milestones that Bart enthusiastically talks about. Instead, it is the small moments. Like discovering that his father had installed De BouwApp on his phone. “I had never asked him to download it,” Bart says. “Then one day I noticed it was there. I thought that was pretty special.”
Or the moment roadworks took place in his own village. “I was driving past and suddenly saw a sign from De BouwApp,” he recalls. “That was the moment I realised the road closure in my own village was being communicated through something I had helped build. That was really special.”
Today, Bart is still the same curious boy who once wanted to understand how websites worked. He built the first version of De BouwApp at the age of seventeen. He graduated cum laude. Today, he is responsible for the continued development of a platform used by thousands of people.