This month we will continue our Employee in the Spotlight series with another member of the Mopinion team. Last month we interviewed our Office Manager Tessa, our jack of all trades. This month, we shine the light on Mobile Developer Kees van Welsenis.
Meet Kees. Kees has been working at Mopinion for about 6 months now. He focuses mainly on designing and developing mobile products and making sure our mobile SDKs enable our clients to integrate our feedback tool with their own apps. Keeping up with the fast-changing mobile platforms is a challenge Kees has happily accepted. When he’s not in the office though, you might catch Kees taking his daily walk to the office or riding his bike and discovering new places.
What initially drew you to Mopinion?
‘I was looking for a position where I could use my Unix, Xcode, Java, computer architecture and integration skills in the modern mobile devices realm. So the position of developer for mobile devices was a natural fit. The “you-are-the-expert, so we expect you to tell us how we can do it (better)” mentality at Mopinion was exactly what I was looking for.’
What does a typical day look like?
After his walk to work, Kees usually grabs a cup of tea and checks his email to see if there is anything that requires immediate action. Kees likes to work with a to do list, which typically consists of developing, testing and consulting the support team and CTO (Chief Technical Officer).
What is your favorite part about working at Mopinion?
‘Probably the fact that I get to do what I consider one of my hobbies and earn a living doing it. Who wouldn’t like that? I also like I’m part of a team of motivated people and I certainly value that Mopinion is open to new ideas and is taking our feedback seriously, internally and externally.’
What are the biggest challenges you face in your job?
‘Not so long ago computer languages and methods remained stable for decades, allowing us enough time to gain and use experience. But the ever-accelerating rate of change in software development has come to change daily. New products, features, bugs, bug-fixes, exploits, they all come and go quickly and also in large varieties. That means keeping up with matters is a daily task requiring increasing specialisation and you can’t rely on years of experience anymore.’
And now for some fun questions…
Who inspires you?
Do you have a minute? Or two?
During our interview, Kees shared that he is inspired by many great people, all of which have the same things in common. They are people who pursue their dreams, improve the world and both empower and respect others.
‘I admire great men like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Michael Faraday, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Robert Bosch, Werner von Siemens, Professor Eric Laithwaite or companies like Apple, Philips, Motorola, SGI, Xerox and many more.’
What do you do in your free time?
In his free time Kees likes traveling, sports, cycling, walking, architecture, history, spending time with friends and family and many more ordinary things, just like everyone else.
‘My kids describe me as a determined father. Strict but fair.’
Kees is always looking out for others and caring for others. That’s what makes him happy.
What else makes you happy?
When Kees talks about sustainable mobility his eyes light up and he can’t get enough of it.
‘I want to make a difference by engineering. That’s what true passion is about.’
In fact, Kees is one of the three founders of Freedom of Mobility. They strive for sustainable mobility with an integral, holistic plan using improved infrastructure. I’m sure we’ll hear more from them in the future…
Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
‘I don’t really have a long term plan for myself as I live my life day by day. I try to enjoy every day I can.’
Does a laid back man like Kees have any fears?
‘Hmm. Let me think. Losing my hair before I go gray? Or maybe the earth being struck by the once-in-30 million year meteorite? Well, at least that will save me from worrying about future generations to blame us for not having done enough to keep our, err their, world liveable.’
He goes on to tell me, ‘I never feel bored, since I am always up for a challenge. Learning new and different things is what I really like to do.’
And that’s why he fits in perfectly here at Mopinion. Kees enjoys the freedom and responsibilities he has been given and is certainly a nice and modest team player.
And now we’ll wrap it with one of Kees’ favourite quotes:
The world is full of nice people. If you can’t find one, be one.
Stay tuned for more!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Employee Spotlight series! Stay tuned for our November spotlight. You’ll get to see the face behind the blogs and Employee of the Spotlight series.
