Robert van Stijn
My route into tech started during my Communication and Multimedia Design degree at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The creative side wasn't really for me, but the moment I discovered JavaScript, I was hooked. I'd stay up half the night just to get my head around the code. That itch to crack a complex puzzle has never left me. After an internship in Curaçao as a front-ender, I threw myself into the back-end, picked up .NET and soon grew into a Dev Lead.
I'd spent a fair while in consultancy, but I was after a place where three things came together: great people, interesting technology and a project with a properly challenging business case. When Jessy got in touch, everything moved quickly. My conversations with Shane, Koen and Harold just clicked; everyone clearly knew their stuff, yet it all stayed relaxed and informal. That really stood out to me. No corporate fluff, just real conversations with people who genuinely know their stuff.
Through NCIM, I now work on a demanding project at the Ministry of Defence, building mission-critical software with Angular, .NET and Kubernetes where stability is everything. That infrastructural side is exactly the technical puzzle I'd been looking for. We also head out to the barracks to talk to the people who actually use it, because for them the technology simply has to work, reliably, and make sense.
I get that same drive from sport. Bouldering, running or in the crossfit box, it all comes down to the same mentality: hold on, push through, get better.
For me, NCIM is a community where the social side matters every bit as much as the tech. Whether we're battling it out at a pub quiz or sitting down together for the Christmas dinner, the atmosphere is always great. It's that mix of real-world impact and genuine team spirit that's made me feel completely at home from day one.