Peter Perebooms, founder and owner of AWS specialist inQdo, is pleased with the career changers in his organization. "We are a company strongly focused on people, and this way we hit two birds with one stone: the career changers get the opportunity to work in the ICT industry, and we can find and train people faster." Candidates receive a basic training of several months from Techgrounds, after which they deepen and broaden their knowledge at a company.
Out of the Box
Wim Kimenai is one of the employees who joined inQdo through Techgrounds. He has a background in music and attended the Herman Brood Academy. "The music industry is a very tough and uncertain world. Especially when my income completely disappeared during the corona period, I realized I preferred to keep music as a hobby." Likewise, his current colleague Ben Buitendijk, who previously worked as a DJ and producer, saw his income evaporate due to the lockdowns. The transition to IT was quickly made for both of them. "In music, you also work a lot with computers, so I already had a lot of knowledge, for example about troubleshooting," says Buitendijk. And to innovate, it is necessary to think out of the box. This is crucial in the music world, says Kimenai. "You can repeat what others have done, but that won't get you far. Especially when you create something new and unique, you find success in that world."
"At inQdo, I get the freedom to choose my own path."
Reskilling as a Cloud Engineer
A third colleague who joined inQdo through Techgrounds, Mohammed Agulmous, has been with the company the longest of the three, after working in hotel management for several years. "I had already studied ICT system administration at the vocational school, so I was already familiar with the IT world to some extent." Agulmous also found himself at home during the lockdown because the hotel where he worked was closed, and he explored which roles in ICT were in high demand. "Those were cloud engineer and web developer. The latter didn't really appeal to me, so I decided to reskill as a cloud engineer." He came into contact with Techgrounds through connections, where he underwent a basic training for several months. It took a while before he could actually start working at inQdo. "I was in one of the first batches of Techgrounds, and there was no job matching at that time. After the training, I had to search for an employer myself, and it turned out that many companies in the Netherlands use Azure. Techgrounds' training focuses more on AWS, which I actually found much more enjoyable and interesting." Once he and inQdo found each other, the match was quickly made.
Directly Incorporated
All three of them praise the atmosphere prevailing in the company. The space available for learning and self-development is appreciated, as well as how colleagues tirelessly stand ready to answer questions and help newcomers navigate within the organization and the AWS cloud world. Buitendijk joined after teaching himself programming and subsequently completing the Techgrounds training. "So, I had quite a bit of technical knowledge, but then suddenly I was at an organization serving many clients, each configuring and using the AWS cloud in their own way. It was a challenge to learn how to handle that, but inQdo colleagues helped me very well." Moreover, he immediately got interesting tasks because he could already program. "It was nice to see that my skills and interests were immediately taken into account. That is very motivating."
Freedom to Develop
Agulmous: "From the first day, I was warmly welcomed and could turn to anyone for questions." The PlayStation and pool table in the building are also appreciated. "There is also space to do something with your colleagues and have fun outside working hours." Kimenai: "The atmosphere at inQdo is very open, there is room to make mistakes and learn. Moreover, it's just very enjoyable." Agulmous wants to further develop himself towards becoming a developer within inQdo. "At inQdo, I have the freedom to choose my own path. That's very important to me." Kimenai finds the security aspect very interesting and wants to grow in that direction. "I would like to be able to do more in that area in the future, for example as a developer, so that I can really create things for clients." Creativity is something he brings from his music background. "I love to create things that add value for others."
Valuable Skills
Techgrounds was founded in 2019 to prove that there is an abundance of hidden talent that can be activated for IT jobs. The organization believes that too many aspiring IT professionals do not make the leap to a new career due to the obstacles they face. Therefore, Techgrounds makes IT accessible to everyone and activates a new target group in that way. "For Techgrounds, motivation is more important than background, experience, or knowledge," says Perebooms. "In that aspect, we can align well with inQdo. Moreover, the basic training provided aligns well with our practice." Skills from a previous background offer significant added value for inQdo. "In the hotel industry, communication is crucial," says Agulmous. "I think that's the biggest skill I bring to my new job in IT. And patience and professionalism, even when dealing with difficult guests," he adds with a wink. Buitendijk and Kimenai bring skills from their music careers to inQdo. "Communication, troubleshooting, and creativity," they say. Perebooms is very satisfied with the employees who come in through Techgrounds. "They grow quickly, are eager to learn, and also fit well into our team."
