Dennis Doomen

52-year-old software architect with nearly 30 years of experience. Microsoft MVP, open-source creator, and code architect at Aviva Solutions.

Philosophy

Hands-on architecture: Architects who stop coding lose the experience needed to make good architectural decisions. The only effective way for a software architect to work is to remain hands-on.
Pragmatic DRY: Sometimes consciously copies code to reduce coupling — but as a deliberate trade-off, not blind adherence to DRY.
Tests as safety net: In the AI era, test quality is the “safety net” — regardless of whether code is human or AI-written.

Built a .NET open-source HTTP Mock library with GitHub Copilot: gave it GitHub issues, it generated a high-quality project meeting all requirements
Uses human-machine collaboration workflow: AI generates features, he reviews and iterates, updates instruction files for future generations
Caution: AI can silently overwrite human changes — good branch management and code review are essential

AI struggles with architectural-level decisions (abstraction design, dependency inversion) requiring holistic judgment
Junior developers face a dilemma: some avoid AI fearing skill degradation; others over-rely without ability to verify correctness
Decision documentation (commit messages, ADRs) is increasingly critical as code changes accelerate