Calvi Heroes: Roy Buiteman

About Roy

Hi everyone, my name is Roy, and I live in Breda. I recently got engaged to my girlfriend who I’ve been with for 14 years. Together we manage a horse riding school and teach both children and adults. I got into this due to my fiancée, who has been doing this as her profession for quite a while now, and together we expanded the business. It’s awesome that I can combine my love for all things computer related with my love for being outside. In addition to my horse riding activities, I try to play golf once a week. You can imagine how busy my weeks are.

What did you study?

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Design and focused on software development during my studies. At the time, I chose this study because I’ve always been interested in working with computers and liked to create websites in my spare time.

How did you end up at Calvi?

Before I started my Bachelor’s degree, I studied Technical Informatica. For this study, I was required to do an internship, and I ended up at Calvi.. A few years after my internship, I was in my final year of my Bachelor’s degree when Hielko Manders (our CISO) called me and told me that they were looking for someone in the Support department. And that’s how I found my way back to this fantastic organization.

After several years in the Support department, I switched over to System Development. Later, we started with the expansion of our development capabilities, and that’s how I started as a Product Owner. Ultimately, as a Product Owner, you have a lot of influence on the solution that we offer, and that’s what I find most interesting about my job.

And what do you do in your role as Product Owner?

I belong to a group of Product Owners and together we interpret, process, and work on meeting the wishes of our customers. Basically, we function as a bridge between the customer and the development teams. A Product Owner within Calvi is responsible for creating solution designs and validating those with the customer. After this phase, the solution design will be handed over to the development team, so they can start working their magic.

In my position as a Product Owner it is essential and when the solution has been developed, we also have to check whether this was created in accordance with our requirements.

What I like the most about my role as Product Owner is that I can influence the software solutions we are going to develop, and can help shape the application. This comes with some challenges because it is of utmost importance to translate the customer's wishes into something that answers their needs.  

What has been your best experience at Calvi so far?

Actually, I have very pleasant memories of the company outings that we have had. We have always done a lot of fun and crazy activities. I think that this has been mentioned in another Calvi hero interview, but one of my best experiences was the sailing trip. What I like about working at Calvi is our ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality. We all work very hard, but we’re also one big family that does fun things together. 

Where do you see Calvi in 5 years?

I believe that we will have expanded our solution with many new features that seamlessly match the needs of people who have to understand, process, and pay the telecom bill. I also see a lot of integration possibilities with existing software solutions in the market. We can combine our strengths and ultimately, we can play an even larger role in an operator's landscape.

Calvi in three words:

“Ambition, Innovation and Passion”

We have the ambition to always stay ahead in the market and are always on the lookoutfor new trends and ways to make people’s lives easier. We keep raising the bar for ourselves and innovation ties in well with this. We want to fulfill all customer needs by becoming a little bit better and smarter every day. In addition to this, everyone within Calvi is very involved and always gives more than 100%, demonstrating a fierce passion to be the best in class.

What is your personal motto?

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford

My quote is a little bit work-related, as it fits very well with my role as Product Owner. People often describe a problem as a solution. That’s actually what Henry Ford is trying to say in his quote as well. Having a faster horse means faster transportation, instead of looking for alternative (and faster) means of transportation to solve the problem. It is essential to listen carefully to what the customer is trying to say, to try and listen to the question behind the question.This will help you come up with the best solution. Just look at how many people now travel by car instead of by fast horse.

A workplace that you love isn't easy to come by. Are you interested in becoming part of our amazing team? Check out our career page to see whether we have an application open that fits you, or send us an unsolicited application.