Calvi Heroes: Cor de Wit

About Cor

“My name is Cor, I’ve been happily married to my wife Trudy for 30 years and we’ve been living in our current house since 1991. This is the house that we can truly call our home because this is where our son was born and raised. The reason I’m telling you about our home is because last year, we decided to pursue one of our lifelong dreams: to build our own dream house in the small town where I was born. There’s still a long way to go before we can actually move in, I guess it will be about a year and a half, but it’s the journey there that makes it such an adventure.”

 “I’m a real doer; there’s always something to do, and if there’s nothing to do, I’ll find something to busy myself with.”

“What I love doing most of all? Working out. I love going for rides on my mountain bike, but unfortunately, my hips are not allowing me to do this as much as I would like to. This is something that can truly make me unhappy; I love working out and sweating everything out after a hectic day at work. Now, I try getting rid of my excess energy in the gym instead.”

"My wife and I love going for rides with our Mazda and going on short getaways. I wouldn’t want to be away from home for longer periods of time. I love going away, but I also love the feeling of coming home again. One of the most impressive trips we made, was when we went to California and Nevada a few years ago. Canyonland in Utah – where the movie 127 hours was filmed – was my favorite place by far!”

What has your career been like so far?

“On January 2nd of 2019, I will be celebrating my 10^th anniversary at Calvi. Before that, I worked at KPN for 15,5 years, and at Ascom for 7 years. In 1994, when I still worked at KPN, I made the move to the Sales department as a Sales Support employee. This was a great experience, because the job gave me so much positive energy, especially when we scored a deal. My experience in the Sales department is where my professional skills were challenged and shaped. The first months were very challenging and felt as if I was ‘surviving’ instead of thriving.”

“What made me stay within the Sales team at KPN, in the end, was the fact that there were people who had put their trust in me, so I couldn’t show any weakness, that’s not who I am as a person. So I stayed, and after 4 months I finally thought: I am capable of doing this! I ended up working with this team for 3 years, after which I became a Project Manager for the remainder of my time with KPN.”

How would you describe yourself?

“I am result-driven, authentic, emotional, a biter, unyielding and occasional pain in the ass for my coworkers. I have a great sense of responsibility towards our customers; I feel what they feel and will always work with their best interests in mind.”

“My to-do list is very important to me; if I leave work and haven’t been able to finish the things on my list for the day, I won’t be able to rest. I’m also very result-driven, which means that I’m more of a doer than a strategist. This is also why Project Management is such a fitting department for me.”

 “I love playing board games with my family, friends, and co-workers, but only if I win. I do play for fun but winning is what makes these games the most fun.”

Your experience at Calvi

“Software is a completely different industry and requires a different way of working compared to the more ‘traditional’ industries. I believe that there’s nothing more difficult than selling software, so I hold our Account Managers in the highest regard. One of the things I have noticed during my career in the software industry is that it’s incredibly hard to tell customers exactly what we will deliver, and determining the project scope is a project on its own. I do love my job at Calvi; everyone is so incredibly driven and talented. There are days when I walk around our office and see everyone going above and beyond for our customers and the internal organization. That’s when I feel truly blessed to be working here with these people.”

What has been your most memorable project so far?

“One of my most memorable projects is the one I’m currently in the middle of. Even though it’s nowhere near finished yet, it has already become my most memorable one. It’s a project for one of our German customers. I’m a fan of the German working culture: they always practice what they preach and they will never come back on something they said. That’s why I love working with our German customers in general; they are straightforward and hard-working people that keep the best interests of their customers in mind.”

Calvi in 3 words:

"Diverse, caring and somewhat unconventional at times."

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