"I'm an RPA developer", I reply to aunt Jannie's what-do-you-do-for-work question during her typical Dutch birthday. She looks at me as if I have just said something in a foreign language. "I map out business processes and automate them using the computer", I say complementarily and clarifying. This results in a eureka moment: "Oh, computers and stuff, yeah that's the future". I nod in agreement and take another cube of cheese.

I was an early learner, so I had to choose a course of study when I was sixteen. My favorite subjects were economics and mathematics, because I very much wanted to become rich. Again: I was sixteen. Logically, therefore, I chose to study Accountancy at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. Unfortunately, the extrinsic motivation to “get rich” did not win out over the boring Business Administration lectures.

I decided to start studying Business Administration the following year. Almost everyone starts this course because 1) they don’t have the faintest idea of what they want to do and 2) they think they will find out during the course. So at one point I rolled into an internship that had built a low-code platform (similar to Mendix and OutSystems). This is how I got in touch with the real bright minds: developers.

Programming had caught my interest. I wanted to know how it worked. That’s how I ended up at Codam Coding College. The puzzling (which you do full time as a programmer/developer) was great, but I missed the practical aspect. Solutions to real problems and preferably as effective and efficient as possible. I did see that missing piece in the low-code solutions I had looked at during my studies.

In my search for a field in which I could combine my programming and business interests, I ended up in the wonderful world of RPA. This stands for Robotic Process Automation. In short it means: “The automation of incredibly boring processes, so that a human no longer has to do this, but a digital robot does”.

Actually, this is where all my knowledge gained over the past few years came together. Through Accountancy and Business Administration courses and internships I got in touch with a lot of boring repetitive work, and through Codam I learned how to turn logic into code. One of the biggest low-code RPA platforms is UiPath and I wanted to work with that. UiPath’s mission is to free people from boring work so that they have spare time to accomplish things that really make them happy. To this day, I can totally identify with that.

If you are looking for a job that involves both business and IT, you will quickly end up at Incentro. At Incentro, independence and autonomy are key and everyone hates bureaucracy. Love it! During my application I told the above story in great detail and the rest is history.

In our young team there is an informal atmosphere and everyone gets the freedom to develop on a personal level as well as a team. I can say a lot about those standard recruitment terms like winter sports, pool tables and such, but I’d rather have people feel the atmosphere by dropping by for a cup of coffee or a beer (preferably at the end of the day). We’re always looking for new colleagues! Also just for a good orientational talk about what you would like to become when you grow up. ;)