We are talking to Ruben van der Leij, System Reliability Engineer at Enable U.
Each day starts with a stand-up. A check-in with the Customer Operations team where we share what we are working on, what is going well, where we are facing challenges, and how we can support each other. We review incoming incidents and assign them, along with other work, based on our individual expertise.
Most of what ends up with us in Customer Operations involves in-depth investigation. These are the issues that can not be resolved quickly by Customer Support, our first-line support team. We have a highly experienced team, together, we bring over 60 years of expertise to the table. We manage our own planning, deciding what to pick up and when, always based on customer urgency.
I joined Enable U about five years ago. And before that, I worked for one of Enable U’s customers for 11 years. There, I contributed to the first system for applying online for building permits: the Omgevingsloket Online (OLO).
At the time, we received a dump of the developed software and were tasked with getting it up and running. That took months of deep investigation, but in the end, we made it work. The next step was making the solution usable for municipalities. That required integrations between OLO and municipal back-end systems. That is where Enable U provided the best solution.
We worked intensively for six weeks with a multidisciplinary team. It went really well, and Enable U made a strong positive impression on me. I continued working on OLO, but when it evolved into the Digital System for the Environment and Planning Act (DSO), I started looking for a new challenge. Enable U contacted me, and based on my previous experience, it was an easy choice.
I went to a graphic arts school and trained as a metalworker for printing plates. After that, I worked in a printing house as a typesetter, where I used linotype machines. If you are curious about them, I would recommend watching Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu, a documentary about the last day linotype that was used at The New York Times.
When working at the printing house, someone brought in a Macintosh. That sparked my interest in computers and was the starting point of my career in IT. But I still have a soft spot for printed books.
I officially entered the world of IT in 1996, starting at an internet provider when domain name registration was just taking off. The customer base grew rapidly. After that, I worked at another provider offering home internet, new at the time, with ADSL just emerging. Again, rapid growth. Later, I joined an ADSL provider’s helpdesk, but soon moved into third-line support and infrastructure. That is where I could really dive into complex issues, something I really enjoy.
The deep-dive investigations. I get a lot of satisfaction from solving problems that others have been struggling with for a long time. That moment when everything clicks and you can provide the answer, that is what I enjoy most.
That ability comes from years of experience, but also from a troubleshooting training I followed. It taught me a structured way of thinking: analysing step by step until all the puzzle pieces fall into place. That has been the most valuable training I have ever had.
Mainly through learning by doing. And by thinking about how to transfer knowledge to others. For example, I am currently building an environment to help colleagues learn how to work with APIs. It allows them to create APIs in a simple way and immediately understand how the process works. And I learn from building the environment too.
A lot has changed over the past few years. When I joined, we were mainly a service provider offering three integration products, building custom solutions for customers. Since then, OpenTunnel has been added to our portfolio, our own solution that forms the foundation of our work. It allows us to create standardized Managed Integration templates, which fits well with how the application landscape is evolving. As a result, we can deliver integrations much faster, and our customer base is growing rapidly.
That is why we are always looking for new colleagues. If you have experience with integration, consider this your invitation to join us.
I live in Haarlem, not far from our headquarters at Kraanspoor in Amsterdam. At home, I spend a lot of time tinkering, with home automation and electronics. My workspace looks more like a workshop, with soldering irons, 3D printers, and all kinds of tools.
I am also really into coffee. I mainly buy coffee from Kenya and Uganda, sourced from local collectives. These coffees often have unique flavor profiles, even with hints of fruit. There is a whole subculture around coffee nowadays. People are willing to invest in quality, which is great as it allows small farmers to sell their beans through collectives instead of to large companies that push prices down.
I grind my own beans, so I can get the most out of every cup.
We have very direct and personal relationships with our customers. There is a friendly dynamic on top of the professional one, and that works really well. It is valuable and something we should continue to nurture and invest in. As it is what makes our solutions even stronger.
