Zoals verwacht loopt alles anders

The goal of this blog was to post more things that interest me (hello 9 month hiatus 👋), improve my thinking process and write in English.

But the title is just too good in Dutch to leave it out. In English it would translate into something like:

As expected, everything turns out different

Plan 2016

At the end of 2016 I had a pretty good idea of what 2017 would have in store for me: the biggest personal project being our wedding (it was beyond awesome!). Work related I had a rebuild project of one of Elision’s oldest clients and had a pretty good idea of where I would like to go with my career within the company.

I didn’t have any other big goals in mind and would see where 2017 would take me. So far, 2017 is a year full of great surprises!

On a personal level

These things “just happened”:

• joining a working group of ’t hART which is researching (symptoms of) burn-out within Generation Z (7-25 year olds now).
• quit spinning/indoor cycling and replace it with crossfit. Yes, it’s as addicting as people say it is.
• next to my weekly futsal game, I also joined a team that plays “cafévoetbal” on Sunday AM.

Career wise

I’m not entirely sure what’s different this year, but I guess I’m saying “yes” to even more stuff than I used to. This is creating awesome new opportunities.

A bit unexpected, I got in touch with the wonderful people at madewithlove. After talking and meeting with Andreas and his colleagues, it became clear that I shouldn’t let this opportunity slip. As of 16 August, I will join their team as a Product Manager! I’m super excited about this!

2017, I love you already, let’s make the rest of this year awesome as well!

When to switch jobs

I came around this quote from Seth Godin and started looking for the bigger story. You should read his post (2006). It makes sense when you feel like you've reached the limits of what you can do in your company.

“The time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable. Go. Switch. Challenge yourself.”

— Seth Godin

I didn't need a new job

Image by Luke Chesser

I left Nascom mid November 2015 to go work at Elision. But why? I had fun clients as a Project Manager and a great last year as a full-time Scrum Master. My colleagues where some of the most brilliant people to work with and damn, we worked hard but played even harder. Every event or party we had, was a memorable experience.

So why look for a new job? The situation that the company was (put) in *, gave me the push I needed. I wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone to decide our future. If someone has to decide my future, I would rather have it be me.

The search

After almost 5 years at Nascom, I had a pretty good idea of what I would want in my next job:
- a role as a Scrum Master/coach of a team
- a company that truly believes in an agile way of working
- a company that invests in its people
- a company culture that came close to what Nascom had (I knew this would be the hardest part)

I came up with a short list of 3 companies that I'd like to meet:
- the "really far from my comfortzone" choice abroad: sent a nice reply that my skills/expertise didn't match what they were looking for at the time.
- the "close to what I already do" choice: I had a friend working there. We had two talks, but I realised this wasn't going to be the next step.
- the "something totally different" choice: didn't even reply to my mail and call. That deserves a post in itself.

An unexpected match

Not really sure where to look next, I decided to reply to an opening that a friend showed me. Another technology, other kinds of projects,... I didn't really know what to expect. One day later, I was surprised when I received an invitation to come over.

In our first talk, it really "clicked" and soon after they asked me for a second talk. So here I am, working at Elision (part of the Xplore Group cluster in Cronos). Just about 2 months in, I'm really glad I made the step. Elision ticks all the boxes of what I wanted to do next.

* The good news: on 15 January Duo announced they are taking over Nascom. I think it's a great step forward for both parties and wish them the best of luck!