Chris Cornelissen
From Gym Hall to Code Language: Chris's Career Switch
Colleagues & culture
Oct 6, 2023
A gym teacher looking for 'something different.' Then you quickly think of something else related to sports. Or something else with education. But not Chris. On Thursday, October 5, she received her certificate for completing the retraining program of Make IT Work. With that, she was officially crowned a backend developer. We are very happy that she took this step with us. With this, we have gained a top performer! Below, Chris shares how the career switch has been for her.
“That I wanted to stop giving sports lessons was clear. But then what? Would I follow in the footsteps of my father and sister? They have been working in the IT world for years. Through their stories and experiences, I decided to take a course in full-stack web development. After a few weeks, I was so enthusiastic that I knew I wanted to continue with it.
Just like my sister, I followed the retraining program of Make IT Work. For me, it was the ideal combination of basic programming education followed by gaining experience in practice. When it turned out that I could start working immediately as a backend developer at Freshheads, I was even more excited. Besides, it seemed like a fun company, and I saw on the website something about ‘failing is part of the process’. That reassured me because I found this big step quite exciting!”
''I have not regretted my switch and choice for Freshheads for a second. Every day I'm eager to go to work.''
Chris Cornelissen, backend developer at Freshheads
“Once at Freshheads, it immediately felt very familiar. I don't have to walk on eggshells, but I can just be myself. In the first months, I learned a lot. Even things I thought I would never understand. The experienced developers at Freshheads help enormously with that.
I really feel like a part of team Hubble. Although I am still somewhat of a starter, I have already been able to teach my team new things as well. That's awesome! The image I had of Freshheads beforehand is completely accurate. It's truly a great place to work. Everyone gets along well. In a relaxed way, we work together hard on relevant and cool platforms.”
- Chris Cornelissen, backend developer at Freshheads