In this article, we want to introduce Joost van de Vijver, our Project Manager. When Joost joined our agency as a Plugin Support in May 2021, we asked him a few questions to get to know him a little better.
This is Joost van de Vijver
Joost lives in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
How would you describe yourself?
I am a very direct person – as many Dutch people probably are – and always try to find the best solutions for all parties. Therefore, I am addressing problems directly, so that everybody can work on a solution for it.
I am enjoying life and intercultural experiences pretty much. It seems my whole family has the need to move around the world. My mother was born in Indonesia, my oldest brother now lives in Vietnam and my second brother was the reason I was living in Czech. I moved to Spain recently. It seems living in other countries makes life more interesting and keeps you trying a little bit harder to get the most out of life.
How do you spend your spare time?
My passions are my family, music and sports. I try to exercise as much as possible, but that often gets a back seat.
Through my time living in Amsterdam, I became a huge fan of Ajax Amsterdam. Even though I have been living in Czech for 10 years, it still is my favorite Club and I try to influence my kids to like it too, of course.
Music also plays an important role. I have been a drummer for 25 years in rock, punk and metal bands, and play a bit of guitar and piano, too. I am looking forward to my next road trip to Spain, where I am already preparing my Spotify Playlist with 30h music.
Joost’s way to Syde
I have studied and earned a bachelor’s degree in Media Technology, which would actually perfectly be in line with what Syde does, but I did not follow that path for some time. After my studies, I worked in an online media company that produces video content for 6 years. Here I was a studio director and was doing much graphical designing and video editing support. After this, I moved to Brno in Czech, where I worked for 10 years for AT&T and performed many different roles: Customer Support, Project Manager and Operational Manager. This was all related to Network Problem Management (CISCO / Service Assurance).
I am happy to come back to online media and to a smaller company, because I really like seeing the results of my efforts, and in a big company like AT&T everything seems to disappear into the size of the organization. Syde seems to be a great place to contribute and learn.
The organizational structure is more flat and it seems like a company that has a very personal approach to its employees and customers. After years of working in a corporate environment, this would be a very welcome change.
I love the diversity of the job. Working between customers and developers, for different projects, plugins and clients. It looks like I won’t be bored soon!
Questions to Syder Joost
We asked Joost a few personal questions to learn more about him:
What was the last book you read?
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
What was the best advice you ever got? Who gave it to you?
Life is too short to drink cheap wine. (My dad)
What do you like most about your city?
My new city is 12 minutes away from the beach, which I love!
What is your favorite smartphone app?
Fotmob (football results) & Spotify
What is the best meal you can cook on your own?
My mom’s Indonesian Ayam Besengeh (chicken curry)
You get stuck in the elevator for many hours and there’s a song playing in a continuous loop, what song would that be?
Deliverance by Opeth (15 minutes long and doesn’t ever bore me)
By the way: The Syde Team is 100% remote
This enables us to bring together the best minds in the world in one team. You want to learn more about our way of working and the Syders? Take a look inside Syde!
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