Joost Karsten | Teamlead Development
From teacher of Dutch to Developer.
After studying Dutch Language and Culture, I stood in front of the classroom as a Dutch teacher for a while, but that turned out not to be for me. IT has always attracted me, but I doubted my beta-skills. Through an orientation interview I ended up with .NET, and through tutorials, Microsoft courses, and a good conversation with Jan Beekman I ended up at Mysolution in 2013, as a Nav Developer.
Part of the Mysolution team since 2013
In September 2017, we launched our new product based on Salesforce: Mysolution Recruitment Software. From the beginning, I have been involved in the technical development of the product. From technical design to delivery, from version control to build process, all facets of development are covered.
Endless possibilities within Salesforce
This in particular is a fantastic and unique experience. We started with Salesforce because in our opinion it is the best CRM package at the moment. At the same time, I knew nothing about the technical side of Salesforce, nor was there any such knowledge within the organization. Months of research, trial and error followed. But finally, the product began to take shape. We got our first feature, our first release and our first customer. We gained more and more confidence in the development process, and programming became easier. Now, more than a year and a half later, we have a large number of customers and several developers. Still, we are only at the beginning of development. There are endless possibilities to build on. I learn something new every day, and I am far from finished.
Programming language is also a language
As a Developer at Mysolution, you are much more than a programmer. My work often starts with an idea or a thought. A Consultant has noticed a desire among a number of customers, and the decision is made to make the desire a reality. But how? Then we think about that together. Only when we have a clear idea of what needs to be built and how, the task is scheduled and I start working on it. During the build, I make the technical choices myself, and consult with the Consultant on choices that could impact the product. So besides programming, there is also a lot of communication involved. It is this interaction between programming and communication that makes my work so much fun.
I have never doubted my beta-skills again. I do what I like and I always stop anyone who wonders about my switch: Ah, a programming language is also a language.
Digitization takes center stage
After such a learning month, it was time to start working on various projects. I quickly knew that I wanted to specialize in digitization using the Mysolution portals. Over the past year and a half, I have been able to help clients digitize processes that were previously manual.
Our goal is to allow data to be entered directly by the end user or contacts. This saves an enormous amount of time for the back office, because it eliminates the need for us to act as an intermediary. The biggest challenge in this is to make the portal run simply and effectively, so that the end user is comfortable working with it and all the necessary information is directly in the system.
What my next step will be is to further specialize in the back office. The back office appeals to me because it allows me to think along and help improve the customer’s business processes.
Will you grow with us?
Making a difference. Being meaningful to our customers. Don’t you shy away from the
brainteasers and brainteasers in your work?
