Case - Exxtra & Douwe

Through a lunch talk at study association Syntaxis, Douwe came into contact with TalentIT. He had finished his first year at HBO ICT and was introduced to Exxtra. We had a good feeling that Douwe suited Exxtra, which quickly resulted in the green light to start working together. The collaboration with TalentIT is very pleasant and Douwe is a good match. For our small organization, TalentIT is a solution to get in touch with talented software engineers at an early stage. So says Mike Vaneker, Managing Director of Exxtra in the case of Exxtra & TalentIT.

Douwe started in our team and was supervised by our lead developer Rik. The assignment was quite extensive (a monitoring system for websites and servers with all kinds of functionalities), so a choice had to be made which modules were feasible to deliver. There should also be a transfer to the next student, who will realize the additional components of the platform. Although we had some doubts beforehand, about what Douwe would be able to perform during the 2nd year of his study (without too much PHP knowledge), our expectations were exceeded. He handled the project very professionally and independently. We are particularly surprised with how quickly he picked up the PHP framework ‘Symfony’.

“Participating in TalentIT should be a no-brainer for every software company in Twente.”

HBO-ICT student Douwe at his desk at Exxtra, matched by TalentIT Twente.

In addition to his work, Douwe has also become a valuable colleague in our team. This is a very important component for us. He actively participates in business activities such as the pubquiz, dinners and lunches. Enough reason for us to ask him if he wants to continue working for Exxtra after his internship. He had no doubt about this. Recently Douwe joined us for various projects. He helps with setting up automated test systems (for Magento shops) and helps build custom applications in Symfony.

Outside view of the Exxtra office at Spinnerij Oosterved in Enschede.