Hi there! My name is Jeroen Appel. I started working as a Junior Consultant for CLEVR only one week ago. In this short story I will describe my first week at the office.
First of all, I shall introduce myself briefly. I’m twenty-one years old and live in Rotterdam. This July, I completed my study Business IT & Management at the Rotterdam university of applied sciences. After graduating I had to make a decision; go to work or getting my Master’s degree. Business IT & Management already was a very ‘practical’ study. I really liked the projects where we had to empathize with the client to understand their business case and end users better. In the last four years I had several jobs-on-the-side where personal contact with customers was always a key-value. Partly because of this I would like to get to work. In addition to that, I would like to follow as many trainings as possible and needed. This made me search for a traineeship. A different company named ‘Rockstars IT’ introduced me to CLEVR. The company in Barneveld, 107 kilometers from Rotterdam, offered an interesting ‘Junior Mendix Consultant’ traineeship. It seemed like a perfect-fit, so let’s make an appointment!
Also CLEVR seemed interested in my profile. The company invited me for an introductory meeting in Barneveld. The interview was, in contrast to other interviews I had, very personal. Not many ‘standard questions’ and much interaction. After the conversation I had a good impression of CLEVR as a company and its opportunities for me as an employee. More important; I drove back home with a happy and satisfied feeling. A few days later I received the redeeming telephone call; Jeroen, you got the job!
The 5th of September, my first day. Besides myself, two other trainees and ten interns are also starting at CLEVR. A big ‘youth-invasion’ according to some colleagues. I experienced the first day as a very relaxed day (starting at 9:30). Everyone felt very welcome and we spotted zero sad-faces, great! During the first two days we got several presentations from a variety of employees. After the presentations, we had a better understanding of some prides of CLEVR; ExpertDesk, ATS and APM. Also the way of working became more clear. The presenters really showed how they matched the CLEVR DNA. It became clear why this is so much fun to make and keep our clients fan. Halfway the first day, we also had the chance to meet our new colleagues in a more casual setting. We had a great lunch in a nearby village ‘Voorthuizen’. Everyone was enjoying the great food and chatting about their holidays and so on. Fantastic!
After two days of presentations, almost everybody felt the urge to get to work. The second day ended with a brief Mendix-deep dive. Very useful to the big group of fresh employees and interns. During my study in Rotterdam, I worked with Mendix several times. Most of the demo was recognizable for me (which seems like a good thing). Of course everybody was very excited about the speed with which a small application was developed in front of our eyes. The last three days of our introduction, it was up to us. We had to complete both ‘Getting Started’ and the ‘Mendix Introduction Course’ on the Mendix platform to get a better understanding of Mendix and its possibilities. At the end of day four I can happily tell you that I succeeded both courses. The first week and my first certificate, Mendix Rapid Developer, is already the pocket!
Altogether I look back to a great first week at CLEVR. I feel very welcome and I am pleased to see so many motivated and smart people around me. The following weeks I will start working with Mendix by helping our fans by creating awesome solutions. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of starting at CLEVR. Thanks for reading!
