"Working in a dynamic environment within a complex domain is what makes my heart beat faster." After studying Technical Mathematics at TU Delft, Pim Korten wanted to do scientific research. When this did not quite turn out to be what made him happy, he chose a different direction: software development.
"I need a lot of challenge and like to work on complex domains. That is one of the reasons why I work via secondment. It makes it easier to get into large companies that deal with large, challenging technical projects." Pim chose for ENTER because of the human and personal aspect. "The slogan 'Tech with a heartbeat' is really lived up to here. The account managers are involved and know what they are talking about. They are excellent at making the right match between employees and clients." Furthermore, the training opportunities are a big advantage for Pim. He recently took part in the Innovative Problem Solving and Decision Making training.
Shell
Pim has been with ENTER for ten years and he still likes it. Via ENTER he worked on various projects at Bosch, Philips and Shell. At Shell he still enjoys it. Here he works on the JewelSuite. This is an application for modeling soil layers. It is used by geologists and reservoir engineers, for example, to determine the best places to drill for oil.
As a software developer, Pim is currently working on automating workflows in the software. He is also developing an Application Programming Interface (API) which other developers can use to automate their workflows as well.
Complex domain
Working with geological software fits well with Pim's mathematical background, because it involves a lot of algorithmic and geometric problems. "It's a complex domain and a gigantic software package, with up to sixty developers working on it," says Pim. "Setting up one central API is a big challenge. You have to think about it carefully, because it has to be clear for everyone who is going to use it. This requires a lot of communication with other teams. The contact with the people around me makes the work even more fun for me."
In his free time, Pim enjoys spending time with the people around him. "On the other hand, I am also quite a homebody. My heart literally and figuratively beats faster when I play sports, play games or read. I prefer to read fantasy books. I really recommend The Wheel of Time."
Speaking of time: in the time that Pim has been at Shell, he has already achieved some great things. Things to be proud of. Automating workflows and setting up the API are huge challenges. He set this up from scratch together with his team and the help of architects and now it's an essential part of the software which others will actually use. He is happy to continue working on this project for the foreseeable future. After six years of working on this application, there is still a lot to learn.