Calvi Heroes: Sonja Schricker

About Sonja 

“My name is Sonja Schricker and I’ve been with Calvi for 4 years now. My story of how I got to where I am today is somewhat out of the ordinary. Back in the day, after finishing high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. My dad told me there was a dual study program at Siemens which might be interesting for me, so that’s where I started as one of the few women in my class at age 19. I did a training on system integration and studied business administration at uni at the same time. The reason I decided to give that career path a go, is that my dad had a friend who was always fixing computers, and I thought: ‘that’s so cool, I want to be able to do that too.’ Nerdish, I know.”

“When I finished the study program, I started working for ATOS in their voice department. This is where I first got in touch with Calvi: ATOS used their software and I was the CALVI administrator within ATOS Germany. A few people from Calvi came over to discuss some changes, and it was a lot of fun. I was really impressed with how much these guys are into their product and how they approach making software through scrum. It took another two years before I decided to just drive by their castle on my day off and ask for a job. Two weeks later I got a call asking what kind of job I would want, and that’s how I became a Service Manager at Calvi.”

“It might not sound like it but deciding to work at Calvi had a huge impact on my life. My husband and I had to tear up our entire lives, and everyone thought I was insane, and maybe I was, but I really wanted to work here. As I am from Germany and was living there as well, we decided to stay in Germany, but to move close to the border. Now my husband and I meet in the middle: he has to drive the exact same distance to work, he just goes deeper into Germany whereas I travel to the Netherlands. The best thing about this is that part of our family is still nearby.”

What do you do at Calvi?

“I’m the Database/Interfacing Product Owner. The difference from what I did before is that my team is physically present in the same office, which makes it a whole lot easier to make decisions on the fly. I have a good grasp of most of the technical aspects, but my team consists of experts and they know what they’re doing, so I rely on them as well. They are very capable of making their own decisions and it helps that it’s a two-way street: they ask me for input and feedback, and I do the same.”

What was your most fun moment at Calvi?

“Well, I’ve had a lot of fun moments at Calvi, that’s why I’m here. We also faced some challenges along the way, such as the professionalization of the organization as it grew and expanded internationally. We needed to professionalize so that we could deliver the quality of service that we wanted to deliver to do our customers justice. It cost me a few sleepless nights, but I am more than satisfied with what we achieved so far.”

“Something really exciting was the first time I went to visit our development teams in India. I had heard that India as a country could be difficult to work in as a woman, and I wondered how everything would go down once I was there. It turns out that the guys on my team were amazingly friendly and super welcoming! After my third visit, everyone knew my name, even the people that I hadn’t worked with yet. Apparently, there are not many women who work in this field, so it was interesting for them as well.”

“One thing I really love about working at CALVI is that they really look at who you are and what you want. What’s on your CV doesn’t matter as much as that.”

“When they meet you, they ask you what you really want to do, and find a position that matches your wishes. A perfect example of that is my career at Calvi: I was a Service Manager for two years and decided that I wanted to do something else, so they helped me transition into the position of Product Owner for one of the Frontend teams. In December of last year, we sat down and talked about my position again, after which we decided that I would become the Database & Interfacing Product Owner as the next step in my career.”

How would you describe Calvi in 3 words? 

“Crazy, hardworking & passionate”

“Where do you think Calvi will be in 5 years?”

“Our headquarters will hopefully still be in this stunning castle! As a company, I believe our size will have doubled in 5 years. We will be able to service operators worldwide, no matter their location and size.”

“We will have way more women working at Calvi!”

What are you the proudest of?

“I have difficulties with being proud of things in general, but that might just be a cultural thing. Nevertheless, I am actually proud of daring to step out of my comfort zone and leave everything behind to start a new life and a new job. And the best thing is that everything worked out!

What is also pretty cool, is the fact that by now I can understand basically everything that is being said in Dutch. In the beginning, this was something I struggled with, and the most difficult part for me was hearing the words because I had no structure or framework for the Dutch language in my head yet. Fortunately, that is not an issue anymore!”

What is your personal motto?

“Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.“

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.