Jamie Harmon works as a Mendix developer at UK Application Solutions of Emixa. “The job is interesting and challenging from a technical point of view, but also really customer-faced. I really enjoy that particular combination.”

Keeping fit

Jamie lives in Horsham (West Sussex) with his girlfriend. He has a black belt in Taekwondo and has been training and competing for seven years. At university, he swapped over to kickboxing. Together with his girlfriend, he is also going to run a half-marathon in October. “I try to stay fit since I work from home most of the time. My sports activities are an excellent opportunity to counteract the many hours behind the desk.”

Love for computers

Jamie studied computer science with a specialisation towards digital media. “I programmed a lot of video games and made websites, but also several apps that were specially designed to solve problems. There was a strong focus on problem-solving, which is not only about fixing issues, but also about making problems easier to fix. I also did a lot of exterior things at university that were a lot of fun. I took modules in filming, such as a course that teaches you how to automatically switch between different camera views using a script. I finished my degree last year in Brighton.”

Invested in personal development

“After my graduation, I put myself on LinkedIn and basically threw my CV out to the wind. At the time, Emixa was doing a big recruitment drive for graduates. A recruitment agency selected forty of us. We were invited to a country club and sat down in this big meeting room to do team building exercises and the job interviews. In the end sixteen of us were selected.”

The fact that Emixa isn’t too big was one of the things that attracted Jamie from the start. “I got the opportunity to work in the design team and automation team before becoming the ‘Mendix person’. Emixa allowed me to learn a lot of new things and broaden my professional horizon from the get-go. I also liked the fact that when we had the recruitment day everyone of the company was actually there, from the Managing Director to the head of design and the sales lead. This shows that they are invested in personal development and making you better.”

According to Jamie, flexibility, the welcoming working environment, friendliness and cohesiveness of the team are also key strengths of Emixa. “We regularly get together with the whole company to do fun stuff, such as visiting an amusement park, quad biking and enjoying good meals. One thing that also impressed me when we got to the recruitment day was the list of the companies they had worked with. That’s really cool and definitely impresses graduates. It shows that the company is serious and good at what they do.”

Developing and demoing

Jamie is currently active as Mendix developer. “Besides the typical development work, I also enjoy talking to people and presenting stuff as opposed to being locked in a room for three weeks straight and just tapping away. I get to do demos and ‘pre-salesy’ stuff every once in a while. I come in and show the customer an example of a solution or build an app in front of them. Really fun to do. And it helps to keep my days varied.”

Customer-faced developer

How does Jamie see his future role within Emixa? “That really depends on how the team shapes up. I just want to be useful. But in the ideal situation, I would still be customer-facing in some way and remain involved in presales, demoing, scoping out proposals, and keeping up to date with what’s new in Mendix. Developing three or four days in the week and spending time on the aforementioned tasks the remaining one or two days: that would be a golden combination for many years to come. I also enjoy the life-work balance that I have at the minute. As long as I can keep it like this, while still growing and become more useful, that's perfect.”

Friendly and helpful

Jamie also recognises the potential that the new consortium Emixa brings to the table. “All the interactions that I’ve had with other Emixa members have been friendly and helpful. When I first started in Mendix, Sven from Appronto talked me through some stuff and gave me some nice advice. And last April, Ilja and I went over to the Netherlands. We spent three or four days in the office of Magnus Digital and a day at the Appronto office. Everyone was really lovely and welcoming. I don’t particularly see Emixa as five different companies, but rather as an extension of our own. On a personal level, I think Emixa can provide extra opportunities. Let’s say that we are doing a project that I can’t be on for some reason. In that case, our Dutch collegues might have an interesting alternative that I could jump on for a couple of weeks. This would also allow me to expand my knowledge by getting exposed to different situations, colleagues, cultures and businesses. In my opinion, this is nothing but positive.”