We have the same challenges as companies in Silicon Valley.

What is the main purpose of your role?

Make the best out of other people. My role as a lead is to empower my team to become better. Not just for the project that they are working on day-to-day bur for the long run.

In the six years I’ve been here, I moved from one job to another. Because I had the ambition to go there, and nobody ever stopped me. On the contrary. They open doors for you. And that relates to the job I’m doing as a lead. I coach and help people grow.

What makes you love working in Tech at ING?

First, the flexibility. I have a past as a freelancer and I was looking forward to making my own career, to decide for yourself what you do. To set your own goals. Of course, we are all heading in the same direction, but within that setting, to just do it yourself. That’s what I like the most here.

And also the fact that the people around me give me the opportunity to do that. Not just the managers but all the people you work with. You might think that with all that personal flexibility, nothing gets done. But that’s not the case at all.

Is tech for geeks and nerds only?

Only? No. But we have some (laughs). I wish we had more. In fact, I consider myself as a bit of a geek also. Writing code is a form of art to me. Tech in banking is not just tech. You have a lot of other areas like risk & security for example.

There are so many different roles in IT. You have engineers, with different goals and roles. Some working on what is visible and some on what’s behind the scenes, some working on the mobile app, some working on our website You have the networking teams, the infra teams, the finance teams,… The list goes on and on. And everyone does a different job but we are all Tech.

So you don’t have to work for a tech company to achieve great things?

That’s what I love about ING. We aim to reach the level of big tech companies. In the past I was very attracted to Silicon Valley but at ING you have the same challenges and the same level of expectations in technology.

We don’t just use the latest software, by the way. I personally work on the front-end stack and there we use the web platform standards and guidelines. Meaning that we work with the browsers rather than against them and therefore skill, code and knowledge remains relevant for an extended period of time. You don’t have to worry about migrating every year to new frameworks for example.

Is tech just about building new features?

No. It’s about putting the client in the centre. It’s about answering questions and solving problems for our clients. And as it happens, with tech you can actually accomplish that. Whatever we build needs to solve a problem, serve a need. So first we need to understand what the client needs.

Is tech a man’s world?

No, not at all. In my team for instance, there are more women than men. I am indifferent to whether you are a man or a woman or where you come from. As long as you are the right fit for the job with the right mindset. I truly believe that diversity overall, is a strength, not a weakness.

How would you describe the culture?

We’re a collection of families, with the smaller teams being the squads. We have common grounds, but each squad has its own way of working and dynamics. And they all fit in nicely with what ING sees as its company culture.

For example, we all have the power to get things done. We believe in growing ourselves. It’s not just about delivering short term. It’s also about the future. We build careers, not just products. And of course, we have a lot of parties too (laughs). That helps the bonding too.

So, is there time for fun at work?

For sure. And not just the parties and Friday drinks. We have activities like recently there was a hackathon. Four days of people building innovative ideas. We also have the CX Day where we put the client at the center and just start building and improving on existing features. It’s fun because it’s different from our day to day. It’s like a competition, with games around it. There even is a Microsoft Paint competition (laughs).