HI ARJEN, CAN YOU TELL OUR READERS A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?

Hi, I'm Arjen! I am IT Director at Essent. I live in Den Bosch with my wife, who is a primary school teacher, and two kids, Olivia and Jonathan!

WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN THE IT FIELD?

I studied business economics in Rotterdam, but during the degree I got pulled into programming, Pascal and dBase at first. As part of the Bachelor's, there was a traineeship at a healthcare organisation, and I had a mentor who was really into IT. Suddenly I was less interested in balance sheets and cash flows and far more curious about software and systems. After graduation I started working in IT (KPN was one of the stops) and realised I wanted a stronger technical foundation. That led me to a second Bachelor's in computer and software engineering at Fontys in Eindhoven between 2000 and 2004. It felt like filling in the technical gaps I’d discovered on the job.

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC INFLUENCES WHO SHAPED YOUR CAREER?

A mix of luck, good advice, and a few people nudging me in the right direction! Some managers and founders, folks from InfoSupport, for example, suggested I pursue software engineering more formally. I was open to new things, they saw potential and doors opened. So it’s partly a deliberate path and partly the result of being in the right conversations at the right time.

HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING AT ESSENT?

I started as a freelancer, as head of IT delivery. It was meant to be a six-month engagement, but quickly grew into my current role in IT. What drew me in was the entrepreneurial feel, even inside a larger organisation, and the opportunity to build and shape things rather than just maintain them.

WHAT EXCITED YOU THE MOST ABOUT JOINING ESSENT?

The energy sector itself. My background was in e-commerce and SaaS, so the idea that energy is both a primary societal need and becoming increasingly tech-driven felt compelling. It’s a sector where you can truly build things that matter: large customer base, big impact, and a clear purpose...especially now with the energy transition. Technology isn’t an accessory here; it’s central.

COULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND YOUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES?

I lead development and operations for Energy Sales & Markets IT (ES&M IT). Broadly: delivering value with our teams, improving efficiency, ensuring compliance, and keeping the business financially sound. It’s about prioritising the most valuable work and making sure solutions actually land for the users and the business.

HAS YOUR ROLE EVOLVED SINCE YOU STARTED?

I moved from head of delivery focused on ES&M to a broader remit. The scope has expanded, both in responsibility and in the kind of problems we tackle. It’s less about isolated projects now and more about shaping engineering as a core competency across the company.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST SURPRISING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB?

How product- and engineering-centric energy companies are becoming. The tech feels very much like e-commerce now: rapid release cycles, close customer orientation. On the flip side, changing the culture of a large company with a deep history is harder than expected. There are parts I like and parts I don’t, and you become conscious about modelling both what to keep and what to deliberately change.

CAN YOU HIGHLIGHT A SPECIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT YOU FEEL HAS BEEN PIVOTAL IN YOUR CAREER HERE?

Moving substantial parts of our stack to a more modern engineering approach: DDD adoption being a visible sign. We shifted from a codebase with a lot of low-code and legacy approaches to something where engineering is central: more internal engineering resource, moving from roughly 20% internal engineering to around 60%...that signals a real transformation. It shows we’re not just using tech; we’re becoming a tech-driven company!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CULTURE WITHIN YOUR TEAM OR DEPARTMENT?

People genuinely want to do an excellent job. They care about quality, which is great, even though sometimes it stretches development cycles. We’re trying to balance quality with speed: accepting pragmatic trade-offs to increase time-to-market while keeping standards high. The intent is always to deliver reliable, valuable solutions, but we’re learning how to do that faster.

WHAT QUALITIES DO YOU THINK ARE MOST IMPORTANT FOR SUCCESS IN YOUR ROLE?

Calmness and the ability to make tough calls. You need to facilitate and support people, but also sometimes make decisions that impact others. Respect is essential, both for people’s work and for the business context. Technical understanding helps to lead conversations credibly, but soft skills are equally important: partnering with peers, aligning on goals, and communicating trade-offs clearly.

WHAT PART OF YOUR JOB DO YOU FIND THE MOST REWARDING?

When people tell me what we’ve delivered actually made their work easier or generated value. Seeing teams enabled to do more, hearing appreciation from colleagues, and knowing the solutions we build are used and useful...that’s the payoff!

ARE THERE ANY HABITS OR ROUTINES YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR EFFECTIVENESS?

I try to step back before reacting. First impressions aren’t always right. I analyse, resist snap judgments, and then respond with more considered action. People might interpret that as being slow, but I see it as creating calm urgency: acting with deliberation and purpose but not with panic.

CAN YOU SHARE A FUN FACT ABOUT YOURSELF THAT NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW?

I have a volkstuin/allotment, which is a garden plot on the outskirts of Den Bosch! It's about 200 m²: with fruits, perennials, cutting flowers, some vegetables. It has a clay ground, a handful of rodents and requires a lot of patience. After work, stepping into the garden is a simple reset. It is very rewarding and a great way to meet people from all walks of life. It’s an entirely different community than work, and I enjoy that stretch of daylight.

WHAT COMMON MISCONCEPTION ABOUT YOUR ROLE OR FIELD WOULD YOU LIKE TO DISPEL?

That everything takes forever. If you break work into smaller, achievable steps, you can move much faster. A mansion does take longer than a tiny house, but many things we treat like mansions are actually tiny houses if you scope them correctly.

Also: being responsible for operations carries mental load. People don’t always see the cognitive overhead; incidents and on-call pressure can make evenings and weekends heavy. There’s real value in the quiet work of keeping systems stable and resilient, and it’s worth recognising!

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF JUST STARTING OUT?

Do that engineering degree! Harvest and accelerate your learning early on. Look for companies that use modern engineering practices; that foundation pays off in the future. Find work that feels purposeful to you, rather than constantly chasing the next job title. If you master a solid technical foundation and align it with your purpose, the rewards tend to follow.

A heartfelt thanks to Arjen for sharing his story and perspective with us!