Meet the Team: Dennis "Danny" de Jong
Dennis is unique: he’s the only one to appear twice in “Meet the Team”! Although the previous one dates from August 2015 and was a lot less detailed. All the more reason to do it all over again now, more than six years down the track. Dennis joined the Rinkel team on 13 August 2015 as the fourth official Rinkeler, alongside Jesper, Jeroen and Mike. While he used to play a lot of golf (according to his official announcement), he is now mainly busy with his children.
Want to know more about Dennis? Then read on! ↓
So, what is the first thing people think of when they hear your name?
Not much, I think... De Jong is a common name in the Netherlands, and Dennis was one of the most popular boys' names for a long time, too.
That might sound a bit depressing, but it also has its advantages, haha. No one mispronounces my name and I never have to spell it.
What is it that you do at Rinkel?
Automation has been very important for us right from the start. We are still reaping the benefits of automating our processes early on. After completing the automation project, I continued to work in the same general area.
I take care of most of the back-end processes (processing all the data, such as payments and also managing the databases) and the administration tool that all our colleagues use.
What problems do your customers have that you want to solve?
The telecom world is not exactly known for its transparency and user-friendliness. At Rinkel we do things differently: it’s exactly transparency and user-friendliness that we focus on.
For example, with billing, which is always the least fun part. Payment. But that process also has to be easy and transparent. With us you never have any hidden costs.
Actually, we don’t need to solve this problem at Rinkel because we prevent it before it even arises. You always know what you are paying, with no hidden costs or snags. That’s what I like about the company.
What do you like best about working at Rinkel?
Although most of my day is taken up with developments around the Rinkel platform, my work is often very diverse.
For example, I help the finance department at 9:00, provide support at 11:00 and contribute to marketing campaigns at 14:00.
Of course, my main responsibilities lie with the Development Team, but it’s nice to be able to provide input in other areas as well. That makes it possible to have an overview of everything that’s going on and respond to new opportunities together.
Everyone has a lot of freedom within Rinkel and there’s a great team spirit. We all stand together and that's what makes working at Rinkel so much fun for me. You’re never alone.
What’s the best thing about the Development Team?
There are a lot of components on our Rinkel platform. Although I spend most of my time on the back-end (administration, background processes), I also help out on the front-end when needed.
Front-end includes our calling platform (My Rinkel), our apps, website, and customer portal.
The different components within back-end and front-end development are written using different languages. So they require a different approach.
This makes working for the Development Team very diverse and interesting. For example, our administration is written in Laravel and our calling platform runs on node.js.
What’s your favourite office saying?
I think “You can continue?” and “Joe” are high on my list, but Lichelle and Mike have already mentioned them.
But, if I have to choose one, my favourite saying is one that we don’t use so much these days:
To be honest, I’d never heard this phrase before I came to work here. But it means that you talk a lot, without saying anything meaningful. The official definition is: “to conduct an especially lengthy and pointless discussion”.
Sometimes we used to discuss things for too long. Then someone would use this expression and the point was quickly made.
The phrase also fits with our mentality: just try things out, no-nonsense and always get straight to the point.
What’s your favourite holiday destination?
This is a tough one! There are so many beautiful places in the world to discover. I think I deliberately don't have a favourite. I rarely go to the same place, we always try somewhere new.
Apart from winter sports.
We have a few “home bases” when it comes to winter sports. We have been going to Sankt Anton for years and also to Ischgl for a few years. Austria is my absolute favourite in winter! Next winter you’ll (hopefully) see me on the slopes of Sankt Anton, on my snowboard of course.
What’s your favourite drink?
It depends on the time of day, of course. In the morning, I enjoy a good cup of coffee, but with a good meal, I always go for a nice red wine.
If I had to choose a liqueur, it would definitely be amaretto on ice!
What keeps you busy in your free time?
At home I have my hands full with my sons: one aged 5 and one aged 2. In my spare time I like to play board games with friends and watch football or Formula 1.Of course, there is always something to be done around the house where our family has lived for almost 2 years now!
What’s your archetype?
Of course, we also asked Dennis to take the archetype quiz to find out what his archetype is. As it turns out, he is not one archetype, but three.
- Visionary: A visionary is innovative and looks for opportunities to bring the future into the present, just like Elon Musk.
- Advocate: Looks for opportunities to make positive change. Just like Malala Yousafzai (Nobel Peace Prize winner).
- Caregiver: Cares for other people like a good friend. Like Mother Teresa and Princess Diana.
Want to work with Dennis and find out what makes Austria so great in winter? Check out our vacancies!
