buildinpublic

Episode 2 — Designing the concept

dotmap began with one principle: keep it simple. A map-first way to discover tech professionals and events, built around clarity instead of noise. Episode 2 explores how the core concept took shape and why simplicity became the hardest design choice.

Daniel Plomp

16 Dec 2025 — 2 min read

Before anything was built, dotmap started as a question:

“What would discovery look like if it wasn’t buried in feeds, algorithms or endless directories?”

LinkedIn is noisy.
Communities are fragmented.
Ecosystems live in their own bubbles.

So the concept had to be something anyone could understand instantly — a quiet, visual way to explore the tech world without friction.

It had to feel fresh, not familiar.

Why a map?

The map became the foundation because it changes the perspective immediately.

Instead of scrolling through lists, you see the landscape:

Where professionals are located
How communities are distributed
Where activity clusters
Which regions are active in which skills
Where events take place

A map makes discovery intuitive.
You zoom, you pan, you explore — no filters required at first.

It also removes bias. You don't see popularity, job titles or algorithmic ranking.
You see people in the real world.

Profiles that focus on essentials

Profiles needed to feel professional, not performative.

So the structure was intentionally simple:

name, role, short bio
skills
location
availability
hourly rate (optional)
portfolio highlights (for paid tiers)
work experience (for advanced tiers)
optional contact details with privacy controls

No likes.
No comments.
No social feed.
No noise.

Just clear, honest information that helps someone decide whether they want to reach out.

A skills system that doesn’t enforce silos

Skills on dotmap aren’t meant to define people — they’re meant to help others find them.

The skills model is:

broad enough to cover modern tech roles
neutral across ecosystems
simple to browse
flexible for multi-stack professionals

Frontend, backend, DevOps, cloud, mobile, design, data and more — all treated as equal citizens.

This was important because dotmap isn’t built for “Laravel developers” or “React developers” or “.NET developers.”
It’s built for everyone working in tech.

Events bring the map to life

Events naturally fit into the concept because they connect people across stacks and cities.

Conferences, meetups, workshops, hackathons, webinars — they all appear on the same map as professionals.

This allows you to explore not only who is somewhere, but also what is happening there.
It transforms dotmap from a static directory into a living, moving ecosystem.

The hardest part: keeping it simple

The concept was always clear.
The challenge was resisting everything that would make it complicated.

No feed.
No messaging.
No algorithmic layers.
No reactions or content loops.

Those features might drive engagement, but they also create noise — the very thing dotmap was built to avoid.

Simplicity isn’t the absence of features.
It’s the discipline to keep only what matters.

Next Episode

Episode 3 explores how the map-first experience actually works — not technically, but conceptually — and how it changes the way we discover professionals in tech.