He specialized in land reclamation and the building of dikes and fortifications.
Sem IJsbrandts registered himself as a student at Leiden University.
The family lived on the Marendorp Landzijde on the corner of the Lange Hooglandse Kerksteeg in Leiden.
IJsbrandts committed suicide in 1584 due to alcoholism.
Sems was married twice: first to Baerthe van Soutelande and then to Catharina Jans.