Drs. Hans Dekkers

Education: Master's degree in Computer Science
Position at UvA: Programme coordinator and lecturer

'The key difference with other informatics programmes, is that we focus exclusively on software engineering. The complexity of software engineering is in the sheer scale in time and size of the software we make. That our problems are ill defined, that there is no clear way how to know whether we solve the right problem and if we solve it in the right way.'

'The questions we address in this master are: How to know what system to make? How to make decisions when a lot of information is still unknown? How to construct the software and determine the quality? How to organise a big project given the specific characteristics of the project, like scope, volatility, innovation, available staff, and so on?'

'This Master’s programme aims to make you a better software engineer. You work on real problems, ill defined as in the real world. It is you that will need to structure the problem, it is you that have to find solutions and at the same time reason about their quality. Our staff will work hard to give you honest feedback, both on the quality of your work and on the way how you work. To make you better, we believe you have to do things you haven’t done before. Being criticised instead of complimented on your exploration doesn’t always feel nice, but it will make you better.'

'What I’m proud of the most is how much our team is committed to help you grow and learn. How serious we take our students. The effort we put to get to know you, to sit with you in frequent dialogue to share our experiences and views. We believe in your ability. We believe in your potential.'

'One of the things that is the most fun of this program is the student population. A diverse mix of international and Dutch students. Of students just having finished their bachelor, and those that have been working for years. All highly motivated. All very much interested and opinionated.

We are glad to welcome you in our programme!