CV (English)¶
Thor Henning Hetland -- Oslo, Norway totto@totto.org | LinkedIn | GitHub
Software architect, community builder, and AI development pioneer with 30+ years across enterprise, open source, and product. Co-founder of JavaZone, former president of javaBin, and Java Champion. Pioneer of Skill-Driven Development (SDD) -- a methodology that has delivered production systems at 25--66x the speed of conventional approaches. I build things that matter and share what I learn.
Java Champion
Recognised by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) as a Java Champion -- awarded to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the Java community through innovation, education, or open source leadership.
By the Numbers¶
Current Positions¶
Founder, owner & CTO eXOReaction AS · 2021 -- present
AI-augmented software development, Skill-Driven Development (SDD), and Synthesis -- AI knowledge infrastructure for large codebases.
Founder & CTO Quadim AS · 2019 -- present
Competence management SaaS platform. Architecture, team leadership, AI integration, and product development.
Founder & CTO Sunstone Tech AS · 2019 -- present
Consulting and product development. Advisor, software architect, and chief developer.
Founder & CTO Ægis AS · 2023 -- present
Security and architecture advisory. Strategy advisor and mentor.
Java Champion Sun / Oracle · since ~2008
Honorary recognition from the Java ecosystem. Honorary member of javaBin and the JavaZone Conference.
Skills¶
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Architecture & Systems
Software architecture, distributed systems, object-orientation, data security, governance of large software projects.
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AI & Methodology
AI-augmented development, Skill-Driven Development (SDD), Synthesis (AI knowledge infrastructure), LLM practitioner.
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Leadership & Community
CTO, project lead, technology mentor, trainer. Co-founder of JavaZone, former president of javaBin, former chair of IASA Norway / OSWA.
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Technology
Java (30+ years), JVM ecosystems, EJB/JMS, J2EE, Microservices, REST, event-sourcing, graph databases, UML, CORBA/DCOM, C++, Smalltalk.
Education¶
MSc Computer Science -- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)¶
1994 -- 1996
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer Systems and Telematics. Thesis: MODS -- A role-based Method for analysis and design of distributed object-oriented Systems.
BSc Computer Science -- University Centre of Rogaland¶
1990 -- 1993
Bachelor degree in Computer Science.
Officer Training -- The Naval Academy¶
1988 -- 1990
Technical branch. Electronics and weapon systems.
Employment¶
Founder & CTO -- Ægis AS, Oslo¶
2023 -- present
Advisor, mentor, software architect, chief developer, strategy adviser.
Founder, owner & CTO -- eXOReaction AS, Oslo¶
2021 -- present
Advisor, mentor, software architect, chief developer, strategy adviser. Creator of Synthesis (AI knowledge infrastructure), pioneer in AI-augmented software development and Skill-Driven Development (SDD). Built 197,831 lines of production Java in 11 days.
Founder & CTO -- Sunstone Tech AS, Oslo¶
2019 -- present
Advisor, mentor, software architect, chief developer, strategy adviser.
Founder & CTO -- Quadim AS, Oslo¶
2019 -- present
CTO and lead developer of the Quadim competence management SaaS platform. Responsible for system architecture, team leadership, AI integration, and product development.
Principal Consultant -- Capra Consulting AS, Oslo¶
2015 -- 2019
Advisor, mentor, software architect, chief developer, strategy adviser.
Principal Consultant / Practice Lead -- Altran Norge AS, Oslo¶
2012 -- 2015
Built the Software Engineering practice from scratch into a strong team while also serving as chief customer officer.
CTO -- FreeCode AS, Oslo¶
2012 -- 2013
Chief Executive Officer and CTO of FreeCode. Project manager, mentor, software architect, technology advisor, chief developer, strategy advisor.
Principal Consultant -- Webstep AS, Oslo¶
2008 -- 2012
Chief Technical Officer role. Advisor, mentor, software architect, chief developer, strategy adviser.
Principal Consultant -- Objectware AS (Itera Consulting Group), Oslo¶
2003 -- 2008
Chief software architect and chief software developer. Technical expert in J2EE technologies including EJB, JMS, WebServices. Project leader, mentor, consultant, and trainer. Head of the Java practice.
Lead eCommerce Architect -- WM-data (Tenpipes / E-Line Group), Oslo¶
2000 -- 2003
Chief software developer for E-Line's advanced multichannel B2C eCommerce platform. Built on EJB, JMS, XML, and Intershop Enfinity. Project leader, technology mentor, technology strategist, and trainer.
Technical Manager -- Zero Mindset Ltd, London¶
1998 -- 2002
Lead developer for Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Management Information Systems using Swing, JGoodies, MySQL/Postgres/Oracle, Java WebStart, and Tomcat/Apache.
Senior Consultant -- Numerica Taskon / Mogul.com, Oslo¶
1997 -- 2000
Responsible for distributed system research. Project leader, mentor, technology strategist, software architect. Java, EJB, CORBA/DCOM, UML, Rational Unified Process, Jini, Smalltalk, and C++.
Researcher -- Fujitsu Software Laboratories, Kawasaki, Japan¶
1993 -- 1994
Software maturement and software process research. Prototyping of Software Process models (CMM) under RASP (Regatta Automated Software Process) on UNIX systems.
Community & Standards¶
Member — NIST SAJACC Cloud Computing Working Group¶
2012 -- 2013
Member of the NIST Standards Acceleration to Jumpstart Adoption of Cloud Computing (SAJACC) Working Group — a US government initiative to develop cloud computing interoperability use cases and standards recommendations submitted to NIST.
Languages¶
| Language | Level |
|---|---|
| Norwegian | Native |
| English | Fluent written and spoken |
| German | Good comprehension |
| French | Beginner |
| Spanish | Beginner |
| Japanese | Some understanding (6 months in Japan) |
Selected Presentations¶
See Presentations and Publications for the full list.
Recent highlights include:
- Best Practice -- WTF! -- JavaZone 2023 (lightning talk)
- Delivering Continuous Innovation -- Thousands of releases, zero downtime (~2023)
- Neo4Dogs -- Graph Cafe, Teknologihuset Oslo (2014)
- EDRMDS -- JavaZone 2008 and JavaONE
- Governing in a SOA World -- JavaZone 2007
And 70+ additional conference talks, workshops, and publications from 2006--2023.