BSL has always looked for designer and developer candidates who have their own stories to tell. Rounded individuals who offer more than just IT skills. This because our work frequently begins with understanding the work carried out by our clients. We supply inventive teams that deliver usable, productive solutions – not just code. Offering designers and developers with wide cultural experiences, including interests outside of IT, greatly enhances this process.
Software Designer and Developer – Eric Wijnands
BSL is embarking on a series of Bright Stories. Your chance to get to know some of the people behind the innovative software that we develop. Their hobbies, and interests, and how their passions contribute to their roles as designer and developer at the Bright Side. Our Bright Stories are your opportunity to find out what motivates our IT’ers. And what makes them so successful. Trust me – it’s not just about writing lines of code!
Eric Wijnands is the subject of one of our forthcoming stories. Eric has worked at the Bright Side of Life for 25 years. Starting as a software developer, he now has a role as System Architect / Information Analyst. A quick look at his profile will show you that Eric has a wide range of interests:
“I can often be found sitting at a piano keyboard. I’m a keen jazz pianist in my free time, performing in different groups and bands. I like to explore the great outdoors as well, and particularly enjoy active sports such as running, cycling and sailing.”
Bright Stories – the teaser
Each Bright Story starts with a teaser – and you can find the Eric Wijnands teaser here.
Eric has worked with some of our clients for more than 20 years. This makes him a great asset, as he has considerable knowledge of their systems – not just BSL software. When given an opportunity to combine his experience as software designer and developer with his knowledge of the client system architecture, he can offer valuable advice. He can help to minimize risks, and provide cost-saving insights. In his role as System Architect, Eric regularly travels to customers, discussing new projects, and providing them with advice. Given his traveling, what better location for his teaser than Utrecht Central – the hub of the Dutch train network?
Our teaser shows Eric making use of some downtime between trains to perform on the piano in the main hall of Utrecht Central station. And demonstrating his passion for Jazz. A passion that sees him regularly performing at events – sometimes as solo pianist, but also accompanying singers and other artists (some well known, some less well known).
He also performs with various jazz combinations, from small jazz bands to big bands. And on one occasion, Eric even used his talents as jazz pianist on behalf of BSL! That’s when a beamer failed to work at a presentation. Eric walked over to the piano on stage, and kept an audience of 300+ entertained for some 20 minutes while technicians fixed the beamer! Multi-talented, multi-tasking…
Behind the scenes
Eric and Jochem van der Heide, the creator of this series of films, met early in the morning to make the video. Although the teaser is intended to be informal, Jochem first produced a scenario. Eric and Jochem ran through the filming plans over a coffee, before going down to the station hall. Even for such a short film, we needed audio recording equipment, several cameras, and most important of all – permission from Dutch Railways. One of the problems filming in a public space is that you have to film around people. And keep an eye on the bags of equipment that are scattered around the filming location. Basically, anything and everything can go wrong!
Although the teaser is less than a minute, filming required around an hour. Eric played three or four Jazz standards. Sometimes with an audience of one, other times with many more. Filming from different angles, checking the audio recordings. And after filming at the piano ended, we needed film of Eric walking through the station hall to the train. Eric then headed back to BSL – naturally by train… but only after Jochem gave the green light that he had enough material.
The first cut…
A few days later we received a first version of the teaser from Jochem. We made some minor adjustments here and there, and three versions later we have exactly what we want. We have put the teaser online on Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as other social media platforms. And we’ve already received many positive responses!
We’ve now completed the Bright Stories, and are putting the films online. Eric’s story is the first we’ve published, and it’s already received a lot of attention on Social Media. It’s a great opportunity for you to get to know some of the people behind our unique software. More Bright Stories are coming online soon. If you want to stay up to date, enter your name here and you will be notified when a new BSL blog is online.
Contact
Do you want to know more about what our designers and developers can do for you? Have you got an urgent software question? Eric and his colleagues are happy to help – and of course the coffee is ready!
