Meet Jeroen
Jeroen is an Electronics and ICT engineer from Ghent University, where he majored in image technology and later added complementary studies in business economics. He spent five and a half years at Factry, a Ghent operational intelligence company for manufacturing, which he joined in its earliest start-up days. There, he founded and grew the data engineering team to five data engineers and worked across the full data pipeline, from OT connectivity on the plant floor to dashboards and analytics in the cloud. Having seen that team and company grow, he is now eager to look beyond one specific stack and explore the broader data landscape. Outside of work, Jeroen is really into movies and music. Both help him free his mind, and he could not imagine life without them. And as a data person, he has been reading financial articles in his spare time for years now. Not exactly the sexiest hobby, but he’s happy to own it :)
We asked Jeroen some thoughtful questions
Jeroen, how did you discover your passion for data?
My path into data started with electronics. During my bachelor, I mostly worked on small signal electronics. I enjoyed it a lot as a hobby, but I didn’t see myself building a career in it. That changed during my master, where I majored in image technology. Computer vision opened my eyes to what you can do with data. With a few relatively simple transformations, you can already detect road markings and traffic signs quite accurately. For my thesis, I built software that interprets what happens in front of a director’s camera and automatically picks the right shot, like a medium close-up when someone is talking, while taking gestures and the person’s position in the frame into account. Virtualizing the camera crew, so to speak. From then on, I knew working with data was the field I wanted to grow in. I started out in consulting, in the broader data world rather than imaging specifically. I soon realized that what really energizes me is working hands-on with data generated by physical sensors, think industry or healthcare. It makes your work tangible: you can see the results with your own eyes and compare them with what’s happening in the real world.
Why specifically did you choose Plainsight?
It started with the people. During the interviews, I had a few very open and pleasant conversations with some of the co-founders, and their vision immediately resonated with me. Cool folks ;)! Plainsight doesn’t want to tie itself to one specific stack. Instead, it starts from what the market needs and uses (and learns) whatever fits best. That matches my own agnostic view on software. I enjoy working with a variety of tools, rather than thinking within the boundaries of a single stack. It also felt like a natural next step for my experience. I can keep building on what I learned in industry, while there is plenty of room to learn new things, from Databricks to a whole area of expertise around GenAI. And then there’s the culture. There is real openness to talk about what you would like to do, people are driven by initiative and an entrepreneurial mindset, and there is an ambition to grow that you can genuinely feel. That combination made the choice an easy one.
What was your first month at Plainsight like?
Busy, in the best possible way. I joined quite a few events around data and industry, which I always enjoy being part of. I also got to know a lot of new colleagues and what they each do for Plainsight, and I really liked that. On the work side, it has been a nice mix: diving into stacks that are new to me, like Microsoft Fabric, having open conversations with players in the industry, and kicking off an IT/OT assessment for a large industrial company in the bakery sector. If this first month is anything to go by, I’m curious to see what the next ones will bring.
What’s your go-to productivity hack or time management tip?
I keep track of my own work on a sprint board, with weekly sprints and a planning. Most people already use a to-do list, which works fine as a backlog of things to remember. But it doesn’t tell you anything about capacity: you don’t know when you’ll actually get to a certain item. Because I like variety in my work, I usually have quite a few different things going on. My sprint board helps me keep an overview and stay in sync with everyone involved. I can tell which week I’ll be working on what, usually two to three weeks ahead, and look back on what I’ve accomplished. It’s not flawless, but it helps me get things done in a planned way. And it certainly keeps me on track, since I sometimes get so into one task that I forget to look at the clock :)
Eager to join our team?
We're always looking for talented people who share our passion for data & AI. Check out our open positions or drop us a message. We'd love to hear from you.
View open positions