wˌaɪl ɡɹˈoʊɪŋ ˌʌp ɪn wˈɜːmɚɹ ɪnðə dˈʌtʃ zˈɑːnstɹiːk ˈɛɹiə, hiː bɪkˌeɪm nˈoʊn æz ɐ tˈiːneɪdʒ hˈækɚ ænd ɐpˈɪɹd æz wˈʌn ʌvðə mˈeɪn kˈæɹɪktɚz ɪn dʒˈæn dʒˈeɪkəbzᵻz bˈʊk kɹˈeɪkən ˈɛn kəmpjˈuːɾɚz hˈækɪŋ ænd kəmpjˈuːɾɚz, vˈiːn jˈuːɪtdʒˌɛvɚz nˈaɪntiːnhˈʌndɹɪd ˈeɪɾi fˈaɪv, wˌɪtʃ dᵻskɹˈaɪbz ðɪ ˈɜːli hˈækɚ sˈiːn ɪnðə nˈɛðɜːləndz.
While growing up in Wormer in the Dutch Zaanstreek area, he became known as a teenage hacker and appeared as one of the main characters in Jan Jacobs's book Kraken en Computers (Hacking and computers, Veen uitgevers 1985, ) which describes the early hacker scene in the Netherlands.