Meet Maarten

Although Maarten did not follow an IT-related education, he was fascinated by creating websites and apps early on. After obtaining his degree as a commercial engineer in accountancy & finance, he started looking for a job in which he could combine his business background with his technical interests. Consultancy appealed to him: "As a consultant, you can quickly gain a lot of knowledge, seize many opportunities and work in various challenging business contexts." That’s in a nutshell how Maartend  ended up at AE as a functional analyst.

I completed my very first project as an AE consultant at Isabel, a company that develops software for managing and tracking payment transactions. I started with user acceptance testing but also performed a user experience assessment on the Zoomit platform. Despite the short duration of the project, it turned out to be a very educational experience.

A passion for functional analysis & the scrum methodology

You learn a lot on every project you start as a junior consultant. I was lucky that my first project was short but educational. I got a good feel of how on a client project works, yet I didn't spend too much time in a context that didn't really match my interests in terms of content. In short, a good basis for moving on to the next client.

That next client was Argenta, where I got  assigned a project that was completely in line with my interests: functional analysis for their mobile app and internet banking platform. In addition to the analysis work, I was given the opportunity to take on the role of Scrum Master at Argenta. Taking the lead and keeping the project on track was a personal highlight for me, especially in combination with the analysis work. In the end, I stayed with Argenta for a year and a half. It was complex to align the mobile app with the old internet banking system, but we still managed to find a solution that led to a great result.

I later took on a similar role in one of my next projects, which further fueled my interest in agile working. The knowledge I gained prompted me to take a course to become a Certified Scrum Master. It’s something I would like to master further in the future, as everything about software delivery really appeals to me. Not just the content, but also how you can organise yourself as efficiently as possible to achieve the set goals.

Gaining & sharing knowledge

After Argenta came Essent, where I once more took on the role of functional analyst and learned a lot about applications that are part of a broader application landscape. "Such a project requires a different mindset, as you have to take into account the impact of your changes on other applications in the ecosystem. That made it very interesting for me.

And now there is  DKV, where I can challenges myself in new areas, as it’s more of an integration project. I see it as an opportunity to quickly learn a lot in a more complex context, and at the same time apply my already acquired knowledge. For example, at DKV they are looking for a better way to approach functional analysis. That gives me the opportunity to take responsibility and to help improve their knowledge and expertise on the topic.

Personal growth

I’ve also learned that reality is very different from theoretical perfection. Every project has its limitations. That can be budget-wise or due to legacy systems, which create complexity. That makes it challenging, but can also bring some frustration and uncertainty.

Throughout my projects, I have learned not to rush myself into the customer’s office politics and to wisely choose which discussions I enter and what I better leave aside. Everyone has a limited ‘circle of influence' within which you can make an impact and you have to be able to deal with that in a healthy way.

Non-technical skills

AE also helped me develop some non-technical skills, such as presenting and coaching. I used to be quite insecure when giving presentations. The internal AE training "Dare, Do & Deal with feedback" has helped me to put things into perspective and has encouraged me to seize the opportunity to present when it arises. That’s how I got involved in the organization of our Hackathon. That truly was a a personal victory over my insecurity about talking in public.

Coaching-wise, I started giving a number of AE@UNI sessions at the KUL, VUB and Uhasselt, as well as a number of workshops for the student association Ekonomika. This has made me more confident about my knowledge and got me better at coaching. I get a lot of satisfaction from passing on my knowledge, especially to motivated students."