Every morning, he energetically jumps on his bike and heads to the office, where he walks in with a beaming smile. He is not only a passionate developer who is always eager to learn, but also a colleague who enjoys a good party. In this blog, I’d like to introduce him to you!
Can you tell us something about yourself?
My name is Cas ten Have, I’m 24 years old, and since last year I’ve been working at Shock Media as a Software Engineer. In my free time, I like to play sports and I walk a lot. I also enjoy everything related to football, both playing and watching.
What did you do/study before this?
First, I completed a bachelor’s degree in Technical Computer Science at the University of Twente, after which I initially started the master’s program in the same field. After following it for a while, I realized it was too theoretical for me and didn’t match my interests. I much prefer working in practice and wanted to enter the workforce. Eventually, I started working at Shock Media, and I haven’t regretted it for a second!
What exactly is your role at Shock Media and what does it entail?
I work as a Software Engineer and contribute to the software used internally at Shock Media. At the moment, I’m mainly working on our administration system—the heart of Shock Media. Our administration system supports all our departments with, among other things, support, client administration, incident management, order processing, streamlining all internal processes, and maintaining our extensive IT infrastructure. In addition, I work on My Shock Media, where I spend my time developing new features, fixing bugs, and improving the existing codebase. My Shock Media is the client portal used by our clients, where they can access detailed information and insights about the services they use or link their own systems with our API. Besides these two projects, the development team also works on LARAGRID, Shock Media’s cloud platform. I will also be working on this in the future.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
One of the things I really enjoy about working at Shock Media is that the software we build as a development team is used internally within the organization or directly by our clients. This means the link to the end user is very short. Feedback for new features comes in quickly, and this gives me the opportunity to discuss these with colleagues. It’s also great to see that after the testing & acceptance process, the work is put into use, and (hopefully) our colleagues’ lives are made a bit easier, our service improves, and our clients get even more tools and possibilities.
What are you most proud of?
In the development team, developers are made responsible for their own (sub)projects. This meant I quickly got my own project with responsibilities. Especially because I hadn’t been working here long, I thought it was really cool that I was quickly trusted to take on and complete a project. My first project was an improved version of displaying Private Cloud information within My Shock Media. Many clients are already using it, and I’m very proud of that! Meanwhile, the second project I’ve been working on will soon go live.
What makes working at Shock Media so special?
Besides enjoying the work and the different challenges, I also have great colleagues. There’s a very informal atmosphere with plenty of room for fun. During lunch, there’s a large group that, like me, likes to go for a walk—such a fun and active break makes the days fly by even faster.
What do you do if you don’t know something? Where can you go with your questions?
First, Google is your best friend. In addition, I have a team of experienced developers next to me who can help with many questions. As a developer, there’s still a lot I can learn, and they are happy to help me with that!
Do you see yourself working at Shock Media? Check out our vacancies page. Curious about our other colleagues? Then read our other blogs.
