I made the move to Vanderlande because I wanted a bigger challenge. Before coming here, I was a developer for a small company specialising in autonomous vehicle (AVs) technology. We were running perhaps two AVs in a single project, whereas at Vanderlande we can control up to 50 such vehicles.
My current job is split into three segments and provides variety. I act as a technical lead for my scrum team, guiding everyone to make the right choices for the products we are developing. I’m also a domain matter expert for system technology and architecture, and liaise with our business units to ensure their requirements are met. Finally, I’m the external contact person for my team, sharing knowledge and technologies with other DCS to encourage the reusability of systems.
Being a software architect here is different to other places I’ve worked. I’m not sat on the sidelines – I code with the team and enjoy participating in all the scrum sprints. Vanderlande also uses the very latest technologies. For example, we’re on Java 21, while others are still using Java 8, and we have advanced architecture to communicate between microservices. It’s exciting to work for a company that is open to testing and using new technologies, and then incorporating them into products.
The business applications we work on are also different and demand all that high-end technology. We’re developing large and exciting applications, using that creative software to make airport management systems run smoothly.
In a recent project, it was amazing to support the installation of our AV products in a warehouse in Germany. We were able to automate this two-storey facility with 30 AVs, which move pallets full of groceries.
Vanderlande is a company that values skills, not just experience. In terms of my career, I’m at the point I wanted to be when I first joined, and hope to progress to become a system architect. My leadership abilities have certainly improved, and I enjoy the challenge of motivating the team to do our best work.
Managers are always there to help, but we are given responsibility in terms of the technology we use and how to improve the end product. It’s also a results-centred environment, reflecting one of the company values – “drive to win”.
I’m lucky enough to collaborate with people from all over the world, including The Netherlands, India and Germany. Bringing together colleagues from many cultures – and times zones – to create a reliable product for our customers really makes the work interesting.
I’m reminded of a small, but personally inspiring story from when I began working here. It was during the pandemic and I was based at home. My computer in Quebec was connected to a colleague’s computer in The Netherlands, and together we were running AVs in the Vanderlande Advanced Design Centre. People making connections across the world to move small vehicles – the process blew my mind!
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