KDAB was founded in November 1999 by Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, software engineer par excellence, a founding member of KDE and the author of Programming with Qt, the original book on Qt.
Key elements of Kalle’s original vision for KDAB included creating a vibrant knowledge community for talented top-notch professionals, working together across borders and continents to develop sophisticated software solutions – ahead of the industry.
At KDAB, helping each other is a core component of the company DNA. Staff regularly consult each other, sharing their expertise, and everyone’s contribution is valued.
It is said that it is hard both to get into KDAB and to get out if it. Into, because the selection and interview process is rigorous and strenuous, both for the interviewee and the interviewer. And out of, because many employees perceive the company as a second family that they cannot easily imagine leaving. KDAB has one of the highest staff retention rates in the industry, and even those who do leave to switch careers often stay in contact with their former colleagues.
Twenty years on, our core values remain and have been the driver of the company’s successful development, so that, today, KDAB is the No. 1 independent Consulting and Development Company for Qt, C++ and OpenGL.
Always ahead…
home working
KDAB started out as a virtual company with everybody working from home, collaborating online. Back in 1999, that was unheard of, today it is commonplace.
open source
Long before it became a standard in the software industry, KDAB embraced open source and Linux. We continue to release a wealth of tools every year under open source licenses and bring Linux to ever more devices and domains.
Qt contributors
KDAB was among the very first contributors to Qt and helped to make it what it is today, adapting it to many new industries, operating systems and hardware platforms. Today, we are still one of the largest independent contributors to Qt worldwide.
C++
In the early 2000s with the onset of powerful computers and simpler, high level languages, the popularity of C++ was on the wane. KDAB continued to believe in C++ at a time when only a few in the industry did, knowing that performance and energy efficiency would become critical for the embedded industry. During the past years we have become a global leader in training courses for the emerging C++ standards.
3D
KDAB has been driving 3D technologies from games and VFX to desktop and embedded software for many years. We continue to stay at the forefront by embracing emerging 3D standards like Vulkan and gLTF2 and by helping define them. KDAB engineers are also the principle architects of Qt 3D.
trustworthy
KDAB’s founder, Kalle Dalheimer, says: “There is no doubt we have only seen the beginning of the software revolution so far. As society relies more and more on software in so many aspects of daily life, it is critical that software code is of the highest quality, not just functionally, but also for long-term reliability and security.“
KDAB is the world’s first ISO 9001 certified Qt consulting & development company.
See more in the video…