Starting A New Adventure

Van Lanschot Kempen

Last Thursday I had my last day working at Van Lanschot Kempen (VLK), where I worked roughly 4 years. I did great things and also had a great time.

Amongst others, I...

• ...had a great time working with my colleagues, especially our coffee moments walking to the 12th floor!
• ...started getting more and more involved with Power BI inside VLK
• ...organized a Power BI meeting at our office together with PBIG, and did an intro into what VLK is doing at the data and Power BI level together with @JeroenSchalken
• ...started a running club with my department, which lasted roughly for a year 😀
• ...started speaking (with Jeroen) at PBIG 2019 with an extended version of our intro talk
• ...went to Prague (with Jeroen), Mechelen, Dublin, Mechelen again 😁, and then everything went virtual...
• ...got a promotion to Lead Expert within VLK
• ...started going physical again to Copenhagen! Hopefully this will be the new norm again in 2022
• And even received my MVP award!

How I enjoyed that trip! Thank you everyone who contributed to this time! 💛

Powerdobs

Tomorrow will be the start of a new trip, together with my colleagues at Powerdobs. It's a small consultancy firm located in Den Bosch (Netherlands), focused on delivering solutions through quality, craftsmanship, long-term relationships and being sober and caring.

As the Unit Lead Power BI I'll be responsible for taking Power BI to the next level, both internally and externally. So expect to find me writing more blogs and doing more presentations!

Will the road ahead be straight and paved? I doubt that. There'll be enough bends, sidetracks and obstacles and bumps. That's where others pick me up. That's where I learn and come back stronger. 

And it will for sure be a great adventure!

Saying Goodbye to Pulse and Hello to Van Lanschot

I'm starting next monday, October 2nd, at Van Lanschot (@VanLanschot | web) in Den Bosch. Unfortunately I didn't have any holidays left so yesterday I had my last day at Pulse, and today I'm attending SQLSaturday Holland (which will have a separate post) where I can meetup with some SQLFamily! Then one day to switch contexts and get started on Monday: I'm very excited!

Pulse
I have to say I enjoyed my time at Pulse. It therefore wasn't an easy decision to leave. I really liked my colleagues and the opportunities they gave me. But recently I discovered that the time I spend commuting just isn't worth it anymore. I like what I do at work, but I love my family more.

Van Lanschot
That's when this opportunity came along. It's a job internally at Van Lanschot, so no consultancy for different clients anymore. I'm stationed in Den Bosch, around 25 minutes from home!
I will be a Business Intelligence Consultant at the Data Management team, and will (still) mainly be working with Microsoft technologies like SQL Server and Power BI.

Saying Goodbye to ADA and Hello to Pulse!

As you may have noticed, I'm starting tomorrow, June 1st, at Pulse (t | web) in Venlo, that's near the border with Germany. I had a couple of days off so my last day at ADA was last week. I already said goodbye to my colleagues, had some time to clear my head and spend some extra time with the kids, which is always great!

ADA
I have to say I enjoyed my time at ADA (t | web). I really liked my colleagues and the laughs I had with them. That doesn't mean I was always doing what I really wanted or liked most. I understand that the best jobs and the nicest customers aren't always available (for me). But in the long run you have to have fun and find a challenge in what you do!

Pulse
So I decided to take a leap of faith and that's how I found Pulse, or actually they found me (ok, actually a recruiter found me). I'll be fulfilling an MS BI Consultant role there.
Pulse is an MS Gold Partner with Dynamics AX (ERP) on which they also built a BI framework. And now with the content packs of PowerBI the availability and quality of the solutions will only get better I believe.

Hopefully I will get (yes I know, I have to make time) a bit more time to blog and I'll let you know how my  choice turns out!

Nicky