Interview with Marco
“We work and laugh hard!”
Tell us Marco, what are you doing here?
I am a C++ Software Developer and mainly I am working on the front end of our systems. At the moment I am involved in devising and developing the user interaction and graphical user environments (GUI) for the native video client.
What do you like about your job?
I like to convert a customer requirement into something graphic. The results are directly visible and interactive while I am working on the front-end. Very tangible and concrete. Nevertheless, I have also the possibility to work on the back-end and dive deeper into the code.
“Especially the large variety makes my work interesting.”
Why do you stay here?
We have a very close team of colleagues that are working here for quite a few years combined with new colleagues. This team consists of programmers with different expertise. One is really into code and the other works more at the surface. What binds us is that together we build one product. Good communication is necessary in this. Fortunately we all speak the same programmer, language [laughs]. Besides our product we also have a ‘Hackathon’ once every month. On this day we ignore our regular work.
“On this day we work alone or together on something each of us want, with nice features as a result.”
What characterizes your team?
On one hand, that we take each other into account. For example, we have created a silent workspace for people that like to work in silence, and we have created a workspace for people that like to listen to music while working. In this way, everyone has a nice working environment. On the other hand, the atmosphere characterizes our team.
“We work and laugh hard, especially the lame word jokes are doing well!”
Furthermore, my team members like to solve difficult riddles or puzzles. Every year we try to solve the Christmas AIVD puzzle, with the emphasis on ‘try’ [laughs].
We have also built a blooper hub in our internal system. Our variety of ‘testing’ cameras which can be found around our office building sometimes film a funny blooper. Of course, are these images only visible for internal eyes with the approval of the colleagues involved. In addition, I think our Friday afternoon drinks are golden. Especially when the weather is nice, because we are then outside playing soccer with some cold beers.
Sounds good. Do you want to add anything else?
Despite we are a close team, it is not hard for newcomers to integrate. That is why interns stay after their internship. I believe that says something about what kind of organization TKH Security is. In addition, we operate in a niche area with large data streams. Our computers can handle a lot of data; their computing power is enormous. Great to work with. We are always working on these computers to try out new encoding. Space is made available to play with it, and this ‘playing’ often leads to efficient applications and usage. Before we start, we always do some research to book results. We create many of our codes ourselves and these prove to be very successful.