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‘At VDL Bus & Coach, we develop, manufacture, sell and maintain buses. I collaborate on the latest electric city buses. Before this I worked at a car dealer, but I was ready for a new challenge. I found it at VDL. My work mainly consists of testing: does everything work the way the customer wants it? This involves both hardware and software. If there are problems, it is my job to track them down and solve them. To do this, I work a lot with engineering. My colleagues in engineering soon noticed my interest in computers and software. That is how I got the chance to study Embedded Software Engineering. When I finish that, I want to contribute to further developing bus software.’
Room for development
‘In one of my first days at VDL I was told: ‘We don't care what you do at VDL, but we want to keep you until you retire’. That immediately appealed to me. And VDL puts its money where its mouth is: you are given every opportunity to develop yourself, acquire new knowledge and integrate this into your work. I noticed this in the training I was offered, but even earlier I was allowed to sniff around in other departments and made the step to team leader. If you work hard and make an effort for the company, you get a lot in return. Your talents are seen and used. You can go in any direction within the company, so there is always a role in which I can keep challenging myself.’
Getting the best out of myself
‘My job description is clear, although there is also plenty of room to take up new things. VDL really encourages personal initiative and ownership. This enables me to get the best out of myself every day; it keeps me extra sharp. I also find sufficient challenge in my job: there isn't a day that I don't encounter an unexpected problem. Moreover, our products are extremely complex. Take, for instance, a small flashing light that doesn't work properly. Where does it go wrong? It could be in one of the computers sending information back and forth, or it could be somewhere in the complex wire bundles found between the computers and the indicator. Technical puzzles like that make my job very challenging, I don't have to be bored a day.’