The ride starts with an onboarding experience that immediately sets the tone for the 100% culture, characteristics, and passion within the company. Everything is arranged, from the technical facilities you require to do your work all the way up to excellent food and beverages to keep you healthy and fit. At the start of the onboarding you receive a Schuberg Philis sweater, notebook, stroopwafels, your onboarding schedule and a personalized welcome to SBP introduction book. The first week is filled with introduction courses given by passionate colleagues who show what they are doing. You visit the Data Center that resides within the office and hear the history of the organization.
What struck me during the onboarding is the overall trust that the company has in you as a person. It is both explicitly mentioned (‘We hired your because we know you will thrive here and we have full trust in you living up to your potential’) as implicitly (by having food and alcoholic beverages at your disposal 24/7 without control mechanisms in place, apart from colleagues taking care of each other’s well-being). This trust is an essential part of feeling valued, respected and allows you to speak up and contribute in every situation you are in.
After the on-boarding you are introduced to your team and encouraged to have a coffee with as many colleagues possible. In my case, I got pulled into an opportunity for a new client and as such had a good reason to have a chat with a variety of colleagues, but I mentioned all new joiners were walking around in the office (ah, the good old days when we were able to walk around in the office…) to get to know people. These connections and obtaining the true understanding of how the company is organized is pro-actively encouraged by your buddy, coach and colleagues. As such, many new colleagues find themselves in projects outside their own team or outside what was originally thought of as the most natural fit. If you think you can add value in a customer team, you are given the freedom to do so.
As mentioned, I got pulled into a new client opportunity. Funny thing was that we had to introduce Schuberg Philis, express and present what Schuberg Philis stands for and seek the fit between their business problem and our expertise. I spoke with many colleagues and wrote down our core values, expertise and ambition. We won the trust of our new client and are executing a cloud transformation project with them as we speak.
I feel at home working here. In 1 year I got to:
- The opportunity to enrich my knowledge of the cloud (Certified AWS Cloud Practitioner! :D)
- Learn a lot about IT in general
- Work together with engineers adhering to our Experts in the lead philosophy
- Prepare and present our analysis and insights to C-level executives
- Meet fascinating people with remarkable competencies and backgrounds
- Bring in my own consultancy experience and teach basic consultancy capabilities to interested colleagues
This (and many more) resulted in a ride I enjoy every day. I am grateful for the ride so far and look forward to the rest of the journey!
