In the "on the floor at..." section, we interview ANVA colleagues about their roles, work and responsibilities inside and outside ANVA's doors.
Previously, we spoke with colleagues in our marketing and communications department and the systems and networking department. This time it's the turn of software engineer Randy Lek, who joined ANVA in early 2021.
That's a very different way of working, though. UX is much more focused on the customer experience, while in front-end in terms of code there is much more depth.
"Absolutely! In terms of programming language there is a lot of depth to it, which is exactly what I like about it. Together with my colleagues I build service tickets that our customers use when they have questions about a contract or submit a claim, for example. In concrete terms, this means that I build the forms that are used for this purpose. Together with my colleague Arjan, I write the code that ensures that the correct input fields are visible in the correct design. We also make sure that our customers can upload files and view service tickets to track their status. But it doesn't stop there. The form also needs to be picked up by the system, and we take care of that too. A simple example of this is the send button at the bottom of a service ticket that ensures that the query reaches the right person."
So is that something you pick up independently? Or does ANVA have a whole team for that?
"Within ANVA, I work within the Services team. That is the newest team that has been realized. Team Services was set up to convert damage tickets that are now fully facilitated in ANVA Backoffice to ANVA Hub. This is a big job, which is not only the responsibility of front-end development. For this I work closely with colleagues in back-end development, analysts, our product owner and a designer. Our team is thus completely complete and through the scrum methodology we can make the meters needed."
There you say something interesting. In fact, within ANVA we work a lot according to scrum and agile methodologies. Were you familiar with that before you started at ANVA?
"Familiar, yes. Enthusiastic? I was less so. I have reinvented scrum and agile since I started at ANVA. Colleagues made me enthusiastic and after taking a scrum course I really see the added value of it. The scrum and agile methodologies help us to work constructively, to learn from our mistakes and to set up, complete and accomplish our work to the best of our ability. I see it as adding value and as a tool. After all, Scrum is not an end goal. The work we do is validated through scrum. This is how we measure whether what we deliver is of real value to our customers. I notice within the entire Services team that everyone really understands the added value of validation. We listen, communicate, adjust or improve where necessary. That's what makes me so enthusiastic about agile and scrum. "
So you taste more often if you're on the right track. For you, is that the best thing about your job?
"I really like the fact that I notice that the communication within the team is good now, too. That doesn't mean that everything is cake and egg, mind you. Even in our team we regularly encounter obstacles or problems. But that is something we quickly find out and discuss openly with each other so that we can act on it. Furthermore, I personally find front-end development very interesting and challenging. What I like is that a front-end working group has also been established within ANVA. That means that from every team within ANVA where front-end takes place, one delegate is connected to a central working group. This may not seem necessary to our customers, but if the code underlying our application is not of good quality, it will cause problems in the long run. Within the workgroup, we jointly focus on this and look for possible areas for improvement. As far as I am concerned, that is the perfect combination. Within my team, we listen carefully to our customers and what they need, while always looking at the code underneath and the quality of the application itself."
What are you working on now that you hope will be a great success?
"I am now focusing mainly on realizing service tickets. We already have the basics, but it's not complete yet. We are now working hard to get that completeness done."
And do you also have a personal milestone or ambition that you want to put into that?
"My background is in the design (UX) angle. My ambition, once I have delved even more into the front-end side, is to also broaden myself into Java, the programming language for back-end development. I see how valuable it is to have the knowledge of design as well as what I am working on now. By also being able to link front-end and back-end, I complete the picture."
What a great challenge! One last question: if you could describe your first year within ANVA in a few words, what do you think of?
"A healthy challenge, a lot of people with heart for the business which is definitely contagious in a positive way and absolutely enterprising. ANVA is a dynamic environment, where we work together to ensure high quality of both our products and services."
So a good place for you to grow, if I hear it like that.
"Absolutely!"
