What’s it really like to start your career in IT? In this series, Harvest students and alumni share their experiences of learning, growing, and finding their place at Essent IT. From first-day nerves to career-defining moments, each story offers a glimpse into their unique journey.

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A year ago, Lukas Dobbelsteen was deep in algorithms—designing, analysing, optimising. Today, he’s building and maintaining systems that developers rely on every day. That shift from theory to tangible impact is exactly what drew him to the Harvest program.

From university to the real world

“I studied Computer Science at TU/e, and it was very theoretical,” Lukas says. “I was missing the practical side—what it’s actually like to work in a company.”
Like many graduates, he had the foundation, but not the context yet. Harvest offered something different: a way to step into real work, while still learning.

Thrown in (in a good way)

One of the biggest surprises for him? “You’re not treated like a beginner,” he explains. “You’re working on real projects from the start.”
There is no long ramp-up. No waiting on the sidelines. That pace can be intense, but it’s also what accelerates growth. “It’s challenging, but there’s always support when you need it.”

Learning the system behind the systems

For Lukas, the real challenge wasn’t the code—it was everything around it. “Figuring out how a big organisation works, how teams interact… that takes time to understand.” And it’s the kind of knowledge you can’t learn from a textbook.
So he did what works best: asked questions, leaned on teammates, and made the most of masterclasses to connect the dots.

A moment that changed things

One experience stands out: a large GitLab migration project. “It went really well,” he says. “And I realised...I wasn’t just there to observe. I could actually keep up and contribute.”
That moment, when you stop feeling like a beginner, is hard to describe, but impossible to forget!

Why Essent IT?

For Lukas, it was about the bigger picture. As he affirms, “The energy transition aligns with my values. It feels good to work on something meaningful.” That sense of purpose, combined with a strong engineering culture, made the choice an easy one.

What’s changed?

“At university, things feel abstract,” he reflects. “Here, what you build actually gets used.”

And once you experience that, it’s hard to go back. And somewhere between debugging pipelines and solving real-world problems, he still finds time to go for a run or head to a concert. Talk about a perfect balance!