“In the last phase of my International Relations & Diplomacy studies, I went looking for a side job. A temporary services bureau introduced me to SURFspot, the IT webshop for study, work and research. I spent more than a year working at their Customer Service and Content department. When SURFspot offered me a permanent contract in 2018, I started working more with online marketing. I still do that today; not just for SURFspot, but also for the joint SURF Online Marketing and Communications team.” 

Friends and family

“The SURFspot team has a unique place in the organisation. That’s because SURFspot is the only SURF service that’s geared directly towards the consumer – in this case, that’s mainly students and staff of education institutions. Like several of my colleagues, I work for more than one team, so we have a good connection with the rest of the organisation. It’s exciting to work together on the same product with people from different disciplines. The colleagues here are really great. At SURFspot, we know each other through and through. I haven’t known our colleagues from the Online team as long, but I still enjoy their company. SURFspot is like my circle of friends, and SURF is the family.”

Every day is different

“Online marketing is changing rapidly, so I work on a wide range of diverse tasks: creating content agendas and banners, coming up with subjects for our newsletters, or analysing target group- and revenue figures. I also develop internal workshops for colleagues about the latest developments in SEO and SEA, rolling out social media campaigns and organising dashboards. At SURF, we think long and hard about fun, exciting content for our channels. We keep a close eye on the impact our content has, and we look for the best tools to use to create it. The variety of tasks really appeals to me, and every day is different. I also really enjoy the location of our office, right in the middle of Utrecht’s city centre. I can ride my bike to work.” 

An eye out for each other, a heart for the business

“The people at SURF are socially engaged. We watch out for each other. Our shared passion for IT means that everyone has a heart for the business, but it’s also easy to talk to people about things other than work. We have a positive and safe work climate. Since we focus on so many different services, projects and forms of innovation, it’s not always easy to keep track of what everyone in the organisation is working on at the moment. So we could probably improve our internal coordination.” 

Shepherd

“I see SURF as kind of like the ‘shepherd’ of IT in society. We make sure that the Googles, Microsofts and Amazons of the world don’t accumulate too much power in the Dutch education and research community. And we’re always on the lookout for secure, accessible and affordable alternatives. That means we occasionally have to develop those alternatives ourselves, together with our members.”