Inspiring women and kids to choose tech.

What is the main purpose of your role?

The main purpose of my job, as a Dev Engineer, is to provide a stable and secure screening system to protect the bank from fraudulent transactions. It is important that we always keep customer data and money safe. Technology plays a big part in keeping the bank safe, secure and resilient. I am part of a squad that manages the application for screening transactions and triggering alerts. While at that, we also work on initiatives like Test Automation that increases our confidence in delivering high quality code with minimal errors to production.

What makes you love your job at ING?

Every day brings new, exciting challenges and at the same time, opportunities to explore, learn and grow. There are a lot of trainings available that I can follow at my own pace. You also get a lot of freedom to do your job. Our team is self-steering. We discuss what we want to achieve together and then work on the solutions independently. To bring in some fun elements, we also have events such as the Tech parties and celebration lunches.

My work-life balance is just as important. I can easily combine my private life with my job. I love travelling, photography, gardening, baking, etc.

Do you have to be a nerd or a geek to work in tech?

It is a technology company in addition to being a bank. We need applications to keep the bank running for client services like Internet banking, mobile banking, cards, transactions, etc.

But tech is not just about coding alone. It is a mix of business roles and technical roles As an engineer, I use my technology skills within the banking context. Therefore, learning the business aspects is also an essential part of Tech. We combine different cultures, backgrounds and experiences. That sheds new light on any subject.

Is tech a man’s world?

I don’t completely agree with that. I see more and more women joining the tech world. For example, there was this event that I attended, the ICT Woman of the Year. I got to meet a lot of women from the ICT world. All of them had different experiences and profiles.

ING supports initiatives that inspire more women to join tech. In fact, ING supports anyone to be who you are. I can be myself. It’s a collaborative culture, where you get to interact a lot with colleagues. Also, in informal sessions.

Is tech just about building new features?

According to me, Tech is about building new features both functional and technical, maintaining stable systems and also about people. We are always keen on using the latest technologies to provide the best experience for our customers. . In terms of features, we are enhancing our Test Automation capabilities to ensure the new business features we roll out are tested well. Test automation with Selenium is recommended in ING and is among the industry standards as well.

While we definitely want to create a positive impact on our customers, being part of Tech provides quite a few options to grow in one’s career. You can take up an expert or architecture role or move towards management. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

We also want to support future generations of tech people. The most recent event was Devoxx4Kids at ING, where kids got to work with a robot and other STEM related applications, in a playful manner. This is definitely something I believe that can prepare them for a future in the digital world.