About

Hello, I'm Rasmus Steen.

TL;DR: Mostly self-taught Software Developer with 9+ years of professional experience and 19+ years of total coding experience, specializing in C# and pragmatic system architecture. Proven background moving from low-level C and bare-metal Arch Linux setups to production web ecosystems. Driven by iterative development, clean developer ergonomics, and squeezing out performance.

My Journey

I am a software developer who is mostly self-taught. I have been writing code from the age of 12, starting out writing custom JASS scripts in the Warcraft 3 World Editor as well as experimenting with HTML and JS for smaller local applications. By the time I started high school, I had begun writing code in C# and a small amount of C++. This laid the groundwork for my professional career, which I knew I wanted to pursue the instant I started getting the machine to do my will.

At the end of my high school years, I had built my first game using C# and XNA. It used 3D graphics and the goal was to find the exit of a randomly generated maze where the player had to balance a flashlight's battery against a rising "fear level" while avoiding ghosts to escape.

After graduating, I moved on to university to study game programming in C. Around the same time, a friend from high school and I began building Minecraft mods during the early Forge mod loader days and some highly technical web services such as a custom video stream platform and geo-redundant consensus systems hosted on old desktop hardware running Arch Linux. Ultimately, I only stayed for one year. After picking up the basics of memory layout and CPU architecture, the classes stopped feeling new to me. Since I also slightly flunked the math, I decided to just drop out and get back to building software on my own.

My time at university coincided exactly with the explosion of the modern web and cloud ecosystems. Before I entered the professional world, I was looking for work for around a year before I landed a student assistant job at a local elementary school. I worked there for a year before getting the call from an acquaintance that owned a software development firm. During my time spent unemployed and at the local school I still maintained the Minecraft mods and some of the websites my friend and I had made. At this point in time that meant navigating the constant breaking changes of early React, Vue, and Kubernetes. Surviving that era of massive ecosystem churn shaped my core engineering philosophy: I prefer pragmatism and simplicity over hype and bloat.

Engineering Philosophy

While C# is my primary language, I view syntax as secondary and bring this exact philosophy to everything I build. Whether working professionally or on open-source projects like Kofoten.SimpleCli, I default to lightweight, pragmatic choices. I try to find the right tool for the job rather than taking on unnecessary infrastructure or heavy runtimes. This mindset directly translates to robust applications that require minimal maintenance. I also have a habit of making applications extensible after they pass the MVP stage.

I like working iteratively since this is what I feel delivers the best results, going through the phases: Idea, Proof of Concept, MVP, 1.0. Then starting to build out the features following the same sequence. Making applications that are intuitive to use, remove friction, and are incredibly robust while still being maintainable is what gives me the strongest motivation to do a great job. Mixing in some performance hunting, you got me on the hook instantly.

How I Approach Software

• Smart Design over Cloud Compute: Real performance comes from clean state management and small memory footprints, not throwing extra cloud resources at an inefficient loop.
• Metrics over Hype: Stacks shouldn't be picked based on trends or hype. I examine my needs, research tech stacks, and let execution metrics drive decisions. For example: This site is built using Svelte compiled using SSG, producing lightning-fast TTFB and a sub-14.6 KB page size. This keeps the First Contentful Paint (FCP) nearly instantaneous.
• Developer Ergonomics: Software should serve human intent. Whether designing compile-time helpers or smoothing out terminal workflows, I aim for zero friction and instant feedback.

Offline

When I'm away from the keyboard, I spend much of my time orienteering—navigating dense forests with just a map and compass. It's the ultimate offline puzzle: real-time pathfinding, decision-making under physical fatigue, and terrain optimization. I also enjoy simply running, with a long-term lifetime goal of logging a total of 40,075 km (the circumference of the Earth).

At home, my gaming time usually goes toward ARPGs or base-builders. I'm a huge Factorio fan—though optimizing factory throughput probably counts as work for some people. I also love tinkering with hardware, setting up home lab gear, and listening to music.