After the rollout of the latest Tricore service, Business Solutions, it was to be expected that the first employee in the software department would not take long to appear. The honor of being the first was awarded to Arnaud Vanspauwen. He began his adventure at Tricore three months before the service was officially introduced. Now, about half a year later, he happily explains to Senne Snellings how he has experienced his first months as a Business Analyst.
Hi Arnaud, you have been working at Tricore since the end of last year. How have you experienced the first half year?
Arnaud: “Chill actually, better than expected. Business Solutions is a brand new branch within Tricore and at the beginning it is always a bit of a search, especially if you are the first employee. I am quite independent so I can manage my plan, which I think is very important. Currently, there are two of us in software and if you constantly need someone, that is not really efficient. The first months therefore consisted partly of self-study. I derive a lot of satisfaction from learning new things that others may not have known yet and then being able to explain them.
Wouter and I understand each other well, so that collaboration goes smoothly. It is certainly not the case that I am here all day doing self-study; when you start somewhere, you just have to be willing to ask questions. In my opinion, that is the best way to make progress in your job.”
“A Business Analyst at Tricore does exactly what I was looking for.”
What does a Business Analyst at Tricore actually do?
Arnaud: “I first studied Software Development at UCLL in Leuven, and the expectation is often that you will work somewhere where the focus of your job is purely on programming. I already knew then that I was looking for a balance between coding and analyzing. I am quite social, so sitting behind a laptop all day was definitely not an option for me. That’s why I chose to pursue an additional bachelor’s degree, which became Advanced Business Management.
A Business Analyst at Tricore does exactly what I was looking for. Based on extensive analyses of the work processes at our clients, we look for optimizations. We then implement those solutions via Odoo at the client. Odoo is a Belgian software company; they offer a comprehensive ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) package that includes all tools in one central software package. An ERP package that is so universally applicable is quite unique.”
What did you find most challenging during your first six months here?
Arnaud: “Making friends. No no, that was very easy. A couple of Stella's and that was arranged (laughs). The most challenging part was definitely mastering Odoo completely, I had never worked with it before. As a Business Analyst, it is important to know both the frontend and the backend inside out. The frontend is quite straightforward, it just takes some time to get familiar with it. The backend of Odoo is entirely built in Python (programming language). In the beginning, it was a bit of a search to figure out how to address the different models to establish relationships between the various apps. The fact that Odoo itself offers 30 applications made this even more challenging since the database is then enormous.”
It indeed sounds anything but easy. Can you give an example of a specific achievement or project that you are proud of from the first six months?
Arnaud: “One of our clients was looking for an integration that would allow them to add product manuals to specific products on the website. I then wrote an application in the backend of Odoo that automatically makes buttons visible when a manual is linked to a product. Moreover, a second button appears if the visitor is logged in with a link to the technical sheet of the product in question. At this moment, I am quite proud of that. I am really looking forward to further training to deepen my understanding of how Odoo works so that I can achieve even more advanced things.”
Have there been any specific obstacles you have encountered?
Arnaud: “Well, I have struggled a lot, but that has always been in the IT sector. That’s why we set up a staging environment alongside the live environment of Odoo. Simply put, it’s a test environment that gets updated to match what’s on the live environment every so often so that they stay in sync. With that staging, we can try out new things without losing important data. I can really dive into that because if something goes wrong, I can just restore a backup. We ensure that a new backup is created in the data center every ten minutes. This way, any potential data loss is minimized.
That staging is also very valuable for documentation. I am now the first employee in this department. So the more new things I test, the more I can document. That makes life a bit easier for the next employee.”
“The seamless collaboration between Infra and Software is super important for being able to switch quickly. The fact that these two services are under the same roof is a huge asset.”
How would you describe the work atmosphere you experience at Tricore?
Arnaud: “Before I came here, I had already heard about a good work atmosphere at Tricore. That it would be this enjoyable, I never dared to dream. I even think that if I were to fall off, I would have a six-pack purely from laughing here (laughs).
What makes working here very pleasant is the fact that I just have to pull open my door and I can immediately turn to a team of real IT experts for questions on the Infra side. That seamless collaboration between Infra and Software is super important for being able to switch quickly. The fact that these two services are under the same roof is a huge asset.”
To conclude, I have a few dilemmas for you where you choose one of the two options each time.
Programming or analyzing?
Arnaud: “Analyzing. That is still something new for me that I have a great interest in learning more about.”
At the client or in the office?
Arnaud: “At the client and from 5 PM in the office (laughs).”
Duvel or Tönissteiner?
Arnaud: “Duvel. In my free time, I am a DJ with a friend, our DJ name is also ‘De Duvelkes’ (laughs).”
Did Tricore experience Arnaud's first months as positively as he did? I asked Wouter Vanaken, head of the Business Solutions department.
Wouter: “Arnaud has already learned a lot in six months. He was able to adapt relatively quickly to the business world and translate the knowledge he gained in school into practice. Additionally, I notice that he has learned to work much more independently. As the icing on the cake, he can now also call himself a full-fledged Mac user. Linux could still use some polishing.”
Are you looking for a work environment where the atmosphere is better than you dare to dream and where you have the opportunity to grow? Then the position of Business Analyst at Tricore is tailor-made for you. Get in touch via the button below and maybe you will become employee number two of the Business Solutions department.