This year, Pim celebrates 15 years at Codit, looking back on his journey of growth and the many memories he’s made since his very first day. To give you a glimpse of what those years have been like, we sat down with Pim for a short interview.
Looking back to your first day at Codit, what was your role like then, and how has it evolved over the years?
When I joined, the company was still called Axon Olympus (we later merged with Codit), and I think I was the 5th or 6th person to join. Back then, they were really only hiring senior people, which I definitely was not! But they apparently saw some potential in me, so I was placed in the Axon Olympus Academy as a medior integration consultant. To this day, I remain the only person ever to have been in the Axon Olympus Academy, something people still playfully tease me about from time to time. I had a great mentor in Jonathan Gurevich, who really taught me a lot and supported me to make sure my stay in the Axon Olympus Academy was a short one!
Over the years I went from medior integration consultant to senior integration consultant, then to architect, and finally domain lead for the integration domain within Codit. When I first started, my work was mostly focused on Microsoft BizTalk at our customers, gaining deep knowledge of the product and doing as much R&D as I could get my hands on. Nowadays, our focus is on the cloud, Microsoft Azure in particular, which offers many new opportunities.
Over time my work shifted more away from development (although I still like to keep my hands dirty) towards setting up standards and guidelines, creating reference architectures, doing a lot of pre-sales, and being involved with our CTO Office to help define a roadmap for the future.
If you compare Codit 15 years ago to today, what’s the biggest transformation you’ve seen?
In the Netherlands we started out as a small group in two small rooms in an office in Culemborg. The team has grown quite a bit, and we are now in a much bigger office in Utrecht. Along the way we merged with Codit, gaining many great colleagues and access to a huge amount of expertise across multiple countries. That has been amazing.
One thing that has not changed is the culture, and for me that is one of the best things about working at Codit. I work with some of the best, most knowledgeable people, who are not only colleagues but also friends I meet up with outside of work.
If you could give advice to someone just joining Codit today, what would you say?
Enjoy the ride and don’t hesitate to ask questions!
What’s one memory from your time here that always makes you smile?
I can’t really name just one, since there have been so many over the years. I’ll name a few:
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The time we had our company name advertised on the side of the field during a televised football game. We all gathered at our general manager’s home and celebrated every time our name appeared on screen instead of when a goal was scored.
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In my first years we often had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant where our then general manager, Sean, would order the food, which somehow always turned into chaos and wrong orders.
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A last minute trip to London to help out a customer, where we also had some great evenings together.
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Evenings in Ghent eating and having drinks with colleagues (shoutout to Michel Pauwels!)
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Having one of my first performance reviews at McDonald’s at 8:00 in the morning.
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The amazing Codit ski trip.
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Friday snack day!
We’re grateful to have Pim as part of the Codit family and look forward to many more years of collaboration, growth, and great memories together!
Want to unlock your own career journey at Codit?
Contact Julia
HR Business Partner, Codit Netherlands