Working at Modality
Meet Monika
From code to wilderness; discover the extraordinary interests of programmer Monika
At the start of this new year, we focus on a lady who generally prefers to keep a low profile. However, our Monika has been part of our team of programmers for 13 years already and is full of surprises. High time therefore to turn the spotlight on her and talk about her unusual background and her not-so-obvious hobbies.
Skipper's daughter from the East
Monika is of German descent. After completing the Realschule (secondary education) in Germany, Monika moves to the Netherlands to join her mother and stepfather, a skipper couple who live aboard an inland barge. This skipper’s daughter clearly knows all about shipping terms! While sailing, Monika meets her former partner, also a barge skipper. She exchanges her life on the water for a life on shore and the family soon expands. In the years that follow, Monika is busy caring for her son and daughter. Her daughter suffers from an intellectual disability and Monika solely provides her with the intensive care that she needs. Her husband is often away from home, which leaves her with little time do to anything else. She has always been interested in computers though. The first computer she encounters is the Commodore 64. Monika becomes fascinated and expands her knowledge. She notices that people are increasingly asking her for assistance and are even requesting her to prepare documents to save on expensive printing costs.
Monika:
"What I really love about my employer is the flexibility they offer. Years ago, they allowed me to take eight weeks off to take a trip to Norway. I recently got a dog and I appreciate the fact that I can partly work in the office and partly at home. Moreover, I have nice colleagues and I feel very comfortable here."
German Pünktlichkeit and perseverance
Ultimately, Monika decides to study Technical Computer Science at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. When her marriage unexpectedly comes to an end, she does everything she can to graduate and become financially independent. And she succeeds! Monika joins Modality in 2010 and thanks to her German perseverance, she manages to complete her studies whilst working at the same time. Within Modality, Monika focuses on the office applications of customers and on internal projects. She does not specialise in one specific programming skill but is more of an all-rounder. Monika greatly enjoys performing different kinds of tasks. She is proud when she contributes to the development of a new product or a new function which benefits a large number of customers – and loves receiving their feedback. One example is the development of the Record Monitor, which makes it possible to view the change history. Whether Monika is programming on a five-minute project or a multi-day project: she tackles everything with the same systematic, precise approach.
Woman versus nature
While she was a young mother, Monika’s life may have been somewhat quiet, but in recent years she has become quite an adventurer. Her gradual transformation starts at the age of 45 as she takes her first ever plane ride during a company outing to Barcelona. Soon thereafter, she is literally pushing boundaries. From hikes through the Austrian mountains with her four-legged friend(s) to campervan trips to Germany, England and Norway, for example. Monika loves Norway’s natural beauty so much that she decides to go back and hike through the Hardangervidda. She has returned several times since. Sometimes with her son and daughter-in-law, but she also likes to venture out solo. During her hikes, she carries provisions for the entire journey and drinks melted snow. Just the very idea of this already gives the fast-food junkies among our colleagues nightmares. However, this adventure leaves Monika and her son wanting more and they decide to enrol in a bushcraft course in the Netherlands; among other things, they learn about edible plants, safely crossing a river, making a fish trap and tracking. She has not really been able to put any of these skills into practice yet though. The first lockdown is announced whilst they are on their way back from the course and we usually do not have to catch our food in the office (at most, we need to protect it from certain starving colleagues). According to Monika, her level of fitness is not what it was in Norway. We have our doubts about this though after witnessing this fit, fifty-year-old repeatedly overtaking her fellow runners from the office during the Harbor Run (is she that fast or are we just that slow?!?). Moreover, this lady who only started her career at a later age is still full of dreams and ambitions. For example, she aspires to develop an app that makes her daughter's daily life a little easier. We warmly applaud the pursuit of these kinds of experiences and we hope Monika will stay with us for a long time to come.
