About me

Hi, I’m Thijs.

I’ve been building for the web for more than 20 years — from the Flash era to today’s React and TypeScript ecosystems. What never changed: my drive to craft work of the highest quality and to help the people around me get better at what they do.

I’m a builder at heart and a leader by experience. I’m at my best in complex projects where architecture, quality and team dynamics all need attention — and where someone has to take ownership of the technical outcome.

Portrait of Thijs Broerse

The journey

2002 — 2008

The foundation

Started building for the web before "frontend developer" was a job title — including a social platform with chat and photo sharing, built before Facebook existed. Graduated from the HKU and fell in love with interactive work.

2008 — 2023

15 years at Media.Monks

Joined the world’s most-awarded digital production company and grew from Senior Developer to Global Frontend Director. Led frontend teams across multiple countries, authored the open-source Frontend Coding Standards, founded MonkAcademy to train new developers, and contributed to numerous FWA award-winning projects.

2023 — today

Freelance & interim leadership

Now I bring that experience to organisations that need it most: as interim frontend lead on complex projects — from high-security government platforms to production-critical e-commerce configurators. Hands-on, with ownership.

How I work

Quality is a habit, not a phase

Tests, types, reviews and standards aren’t overhead — they’re what makes teams fast six months from now.

Architecture should reduce complexity

If the structure makes features harder to build, the structure is wrong. Good boundaries make hard things simple.

Teams over heroes

The best technical legacy I can leave is a team that makes better decisions without me.

AI with senior control

I embrace AI as an accelerator — while staying responsible for architecture, security and maintainability.

The full toolbox

Tools change, fundamentals don’t. This is what I work with today — highlighted items are where I go deepest.

Coding & programming

Frameworks & Libraries

UI & Animation

Roles

Management & processes

Testing

Personal characteristics

  • Leadership
  • Mentorship
  • Commitment
  • Ownership
  • Motivator
  • Teacher

Core values

  • Passion
  • Reliability
  • Sociability
  • Authenticity

Languages

  • English
  • Nederlands

Curious whether we’d be a match for your project?