Where code meets leadership | Sopra Steria Voices

Description

What happens when technical expertise meets human leadership? Maarten Casteels reflects on his journey from coding to leading, and on the role of trust, curiosity and community in shaping meaningful careers.

Do we shape our careers, or do our experiences shape us?

This podcast shares authentic and inspiring stories from the people behind the scenes at Sopra Steria. Through real conversations, discover how personal and professional experiences, challenges, and opportunities shape both careers and individuals over time.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Welcome to Sopra Steria Voices, a podcast that gives a voice to our colleagues across the world. I'm your host, Okubone, and today, in this very first episode of the series In the Mind of an Expert, we will dive deeper into the world of Java with Maarten Castells from Soprasteria Belgium. Maarten, you're a Java expert, but you're also podcasting about it, so I have actually high expectations about this episode. Thank you very much. So let's dive in with a very simple first question. Who are you?
Maarten
So my name is Maarten Casteels. I'm a Java expert. Thank you for that. I'm also a Java architect for design and develop the business line in Soprasseria, Belgium. And besides that, I'm also a people manager. Indeed, I do a co-host with three other colleagues, Jcast. That's a podcast about Java and everything else is the playground. where we used to be working, for example, AI, cloud or something else.
Speaker #0
Great. Yeah, we will talk about the podcast later on as well. So I'm very curious about all the aspects you already mentioned. And it's good. I already know a bit about what you do at Sokha Seria. So I'm actually very, because you say you're a Java expert, you're an architect, you're a people manager. So can you share a bit about your journey going from Java expert?
Maarten
to software architect to people manager how did you get there uh was it a natural move what can you say about it it's a large question okay but indeed i will try to to to to walk through so i started as a java developer and so i think as most of us in the software development life cycle will start somewhere as a just a developer um and then uh i joined uh soprasteria already i think nine years ago. at the client of Bellavious. And I met my colleagues over there, Yannick de Turck in this case, who was at that moment in time, one of the competence leads for Java. So he introduced me a little bit more in the whole Soprasteria journey. And I started teaching over there. And because I was teaching a lot, I made some kind of a move to indeed more architecture and expert in my... recommended field of java in this case um and then later on um it's a good question how i became a people manager in this case but i'm also um how do you say it correctly i will think about it when i was working at belfius i was teaching as well um i was more involved at the surplus theory at that moment in time. I saw a lot of people mentoring, coaching. And then I think it was more a fluid way to becoming a people manager. That kind of story.
Speaker #0
Yeah. Okay. So it was really a natural move. You felt like you were ready with all the expertise you had, all the knowledge you had on Java. Okay. So in your current role or roles, I must say, what is it that you really enjoy about the job? So maybe talk about both being a Java expert, but also really the people part, people manager, because it's obviously it's a role that is on top. of your expertise in Java. So I can imagine that you enjoy different things in both roles.
Maarten
Indeed. I love the technical part of my job, the day-to-day job, I will say. And the other part is I love to work with people. That makes me also a little bit of my background as a youth worker, but I still enjoy going on camps with children, try to teach or learn how to act with children to more. teenagers in that case so the people aspect is really important for me and you see people grow you see people shine and if people shine yeah then we have some kind of a good connection and you see what people can do um so that's more how i how i uh feel about it java for me it's it's my homecoming i would say it's always about java if i do something at home it's also java programming
Speaker #0
seeing how things work and yeah that's the technical part yeah it's cool that even after nine years you still and or maybe you have been indeed i'm always in the field for 13 14 years already even if after this many years you're still so passionate about a coding language yeah that that must be like we will we will jump into that a bit later on i'm very curious what exactly you like about Java. But I still would like to also know from you. So you say you love working with people. I can imagine that becoming and being a people manager, it improved your people skills. Do you feel also that it has a positive impact on your role? as a Java expert? Do you feel like things you learn as a people manager that you can use it in a positive way also as a Java expert or software architect?
Maarten
Yeah, indeed. It's lovely to talk about that as well. If you work with people a lot of times and also as a people manager, you learn some certain skill sets. For example, how to active listen, for example, because everybody listens but do we really actively send out something differently you'll learn that one as a as a as a people manager um so you if you're on a team with a lot of other developers you really can understand what's frustrating them and try to explain that one and translate that that frustration sometimes or just the happiness translate it to to business people and say okay good what we are doing over here that's really great they love it they feel empowered that kind of That kind of a thing you don't learn as a Java developer. You really learn that one as a people manager or just working with those kind of skills.
Speaker #0
Yeah, I can imagine. So you talk about active listening. Is there another skill that you acquired during your entire journey that maybe surprised you a bit or that you thought it was not your best skill, but you find out that actually you are good at it?
Maarten
I always think I'm not the best coder, I will say. I also found out that I don't have the best structure in wording or going over things. And that helps me then in that case to explain it more and guiding than really doing the job, I will say. But nevertheless, I still love it. empathy apparently I do have it most of the time I thought I don't have empathy but okay good you need to to have it because otherwise you can't work with people yeah but it's it's an important skill I can imagine maybe also in your personal life you can benefit from it I benefited a lot of times I have two children at home so indeed also there you need to have a lot of patience as well yeah also that I learned and acquired during my people managers years already but yeah It's not always easy. I will say that.
Speaker #0
No, again, working with people is never easy.
Maarten
Everyone has his own small things that we need to recognize and to work on.
Speaker #0
But I think that also makes that you're always learning. You keep on learning. You always work with different people. Everyone has their own specific value, specific needs. Okay, very interesting. Maybe to close this part about being a people manager. Imagine you're talking with someone that in the future aspires to be a people manager, working with people. What would be your advice? Maybe specifically in a tech environment?
Maarten
In a tech environment, it's really important to know that most of our developers are more shy. So don't rush in connecting to them. Let them be. Listen really carefully and take the... take the notion that they don't mention during their talks yeah because people do have body language try that body language and learn how to read that one instead of the the the only the vocal parts okay yeah i can see that that's a very valuable um advice thank you for that martin um you
Speaker #0
briefly mentioned that you were active or still are active in youth work i think this is this is great so uh you already said very briefly what you do can you share some more about that and maybe more most importantly how this experience impacts your work professionally also maybe personally all right so i'm active as a youth worker so i uh try
Maarten
uh every year i do one camp i will say uh where we where where a lot of teenagers come come visit us uh we teach them how to work and how to help children during their vacation at that moment in time. That's really important for me just because I do care about how children go on youth camps. For our organization where I'm active in, we take also children with some difficulties with us.
Speaker #0
Some backpacks.
Maarten
some backpacks indeed and and For us it's really important that they still can do that and if you don't have enough youth workers then it will be difficult so for me it's really also giving back what I received in the previous years. That's nice. How it impacts on my personal life? Well, because I feel passionate about it and I feel it's important, I will still be doing it even though we have two children at home. We take them with us. They will encounter it. They will drink the soup like that as well. They will need to do it. Even though they maybe don't want to do it. But we will see. If they don't want to do it, they don't need to do it. It's me and my wife as well. Okay, so you're doing it together. together indeed yeah okay so you actually have two jobs i i don't know if i can call the youth work a job but it's a passion it's completely different it's completely different um i can imagine you take a lesson that you learn in one part you bring it to the other yeah of course yeah so so at you to work we also have trainings uh we we go on on three weekends a year with the with the whole group, we have two times that we try to have some kind of a training and a session. And if that session can be impactful also for my work, I take it with me. I take some presentations. I will give a small talk to other people, managers as well, about the topics that I've learned. So yeah, indeed, it's a win-win situation at the moment.
Speaker #0
That's good. It's always good to have a win-win situation. Okay, nice. And the fact that you're doing it with your wife, I think it's also... It's wonderful. Okay, good. Nice to hear. Nice to hear. It's a good story. Good. So we talked about the people management part, we talked about youth work, and now you already shared your big passion, Java. So we are, so this episode is part of the series In the Mind of an Expert. So I would like to really also dive deeper into Java because I'm not an expert at all. I know it's a coding language.
Maarten
I know it's been around for a very long time 30 years this year really it's really uh 30 years of Java this year. It's the birthday of Java. It's 30 years already.
Speaker #0
And when did your passion start? Was it before you started working or?
Maarten
For me, the Java part is really started in high school. So I don't know when it was. 2018 around-ish and 2008. So indeed, it's passionable because just, yeah, it's a wonderful language. It's open source. That's for me, it's really important. I did a lot of other program languages before, but Java for me, it's homecoming. I really say that there are a lot of libraries, there are a lot of cool people around that teach me, that inspires me. So Java, it's indeed a coding language and you could say, okay, good. What about C sharp? What about PHP, Python? Exactly. My next question,
Speaker #0
why is it better?
Maarten
why it's better yeah it's it's on almost every machine so if you have a coffee machine standing somewhere probably it runs java okay even on those kinds of things java is running everywhere it's everywhere and it's not the case for the other uh it it depends of course uh but no most most of the time not no okay so you're if you have an android phone in java behind the scenes, most of Coffee Machines, the Most of the IoT parts right now are more going to Python and all the other languages. But most of it is really on Java.
Speaker #0
So you really swear to Java or you secretly also sometimes use another coding language?
Maarten
I need to use TypeScript from time to time for front-end development. That's not Java's strongest point, I will say. It's more for back-end, real enterprise applications, I will say. We still use it over there. on smaller applications sometimes okay good we're gonna move to to to go or to other languages but if i need to choose it will be always java okay okay good to know and what is then if you have to say really one thing that makes shout out the best i
Speaker #0
would like to know from you martin what is it it's 30 years it's open source and everyone can run it easily oh yeah okay that's that's and it's not the case for the other side
Maarten
oh so you say it's of course it's it's the same for the other ones okay so i will give you something okay so you think that i can also learn without any tech everyone everyone can learn a programming language i'm i'm really sure about it the the cool thing by job by java is there are a lot of tutorials out there and also with the the come of the the outcomes of ai you also have the possibility to learn even quicker um We have a lot of Java champions that were elected in some kind of a way that they contributed to Java itself. We have a lot of them also in Belgium. Also in France, there are a lot of Java champions.
Speaker #0
it's just easy to to combine and okay and 30 years that's already well it's longer than i exist and what how do you see it evolve like do you do you think it will celebrate in 20 years a 50 50th birthday or will there be too strong of a competitor i don't think so the the the thing is Java,
Maarten
if you look at java uh currently we have a release cycle of each six months there is a new java version so this year also we have the 25th version of java uh coming out so that's also a thing what we see at the moment is that our language is evolving rather quickly i will say we have a lot of new features every six months in this case so at some point it it almost felt that but Hmm. we skip that part and we we you know we elaborate on that one at the moment so it will it will it will eventually go 50 years and 60 years and and beyond because it runs on too many devices and maybe one particular point because you asked me before but i forgot to mention that one is java itself if the oldest version of java will still run today okay so something that's programmed in in Java 1.
Speaker #0
still runs on java 25 and that's not always the case for every programming language so that's unique that makes that's more unique yeah okay and you said it it evolves sometimes so quickly like every six months you have new feature i guess that's what makes it interesting you keep on learning new things even if it's the same coding language yeah indeed and it absolutely and and what's also cool on on that part is because
Maarten
it's every six months not all companies can evolve that quickly but with the the outcomes of all the tools that are really relying on java we can push really on hey guys we need to move forward and we need to to to get on the next version okay so also that is something that we are doing right now good to know you know maybe one day i will also make myself a
Speaker #0
bit more like i will thank you yeah a bit more techy and java after your uh speech um okay so Nine years, 12 years at Sopra Seria?
Maarten
Almost 12 years, yeah.
Speaker #0
12 years at Sopra Seria, that's quite a long time. So I can imagine that you worked on a lot of different projects already with different clients. Maybe it's not the case. Maybe you've been working on the same client forever. But throughout the entire journey at Sopra Seria, is there a project that really made a lasting impact on you? Or that you really feel had a big societal impact? something maybe that you're still working on today, but can also be something from the past.
Maarten
What for me was joining Belfius. It's a Belgian bank in this case. Not really saying, okay, good, it's most impactful, but it was a moment that I came into contact with Soprasteria for the first time and where I felt I more belonged to. So I worked there. for another company then moved to to supply study at that point in time still on the same team and i and i felt connected on that part um it was a back office application uh it was fully on java it was with the late at that moment in time the latest versions of java so it's not case anymore i think uh and the latest frameworks that we that we can use but that made it a big impact for me just to learn how Sublusteria works and what it's all about.
Speaker #0
okay made it impactful for me okay so it's not really what the project itself does for me no okay it's more what it did for you but that's that's good that's i think that's the most important part yeah yeah and that's also why i'm i'm sitting over here as well i think okay
Maarten
and you're still working on it now no no no i i switched a couple of years ago right all right already and then i moved to another industry um that was not my a cup of tea i will say but that's not always it was about managing warehouses that was not my my real cup of tea i didn't belong there and now i'm more working in on government projects and that's also it's impactful also for people around me yeah and that's what what's also it's really important for me yeah and it's always been java always been java i already knew the answer. But you can also question it.
Speaker #0
Okay, cool. Good to know. So when you see Belfast in the streets, you're like,
Maarten
I work there.
Speaker #0
I contribute to whatever they're doing. Indeed. That's cool. That's cool if you can do it.
Maarten
I've also another... It wasn't at that point in time for SubRacelia, but also for the... How do you say it? I worked for the trains in Belgium, so the NMBS and SNCB. And there I worked on the MobiP card. If I need to mention something, that was the most important part.
Speaker #0
okay because it really had an impact on the citizens yeah yeah because of that they can easily buy a subscription or yeah okay it was for the the abandonment yeah subscription yeah subscriptions indeed for the okay yes see so it's cool that you have projects that have an impact on you and you have projects that have an impact on society
Maarten
and society and that's why i'm i'm working more at the more for the for the government at this moment yeah because it's also impactful for uh people around yeah see what's so so i'd say it's actually everywhere
Speaker #0
indeed it's cool okay uh very nice i would like to um go back to what you said in your introduction okay you already mentioned it there that you are a co-creator of jcast your own podcast so we're doing one now first episode but you've already had some experience in podcasting so i'm i would like to know what made you launched this podcast where did the idea come from uh how did it really was it in a night in a bar that you were talking with colleagues or was it really from um i don't know well it it's it's a little bit a mix of everything okay so i had a i
Maarten
had already a long idea of starting with my own podcast uh but i was i wasn't not always sure about should it be a video of a podcast or should it just be an audio podcast, or should it all... what should it all be about and then two colleagues of mine were talking to each other a long time a long time and they wanted to launch a podcast and they were searching for a third person to really kick off and they they came to me by accident i will say because i'm also a little bit their people manager as well so they thought maybe martin would be interested in something like that or he knows people that's And I mentioned, okay, good, but I wanted to do a podcast a really long time. So let's do it. And we just started. Great. They already had a name for it. It was Jcast. And then we tried to figure out, okay, good, but what should it be? And then we said, okay, good, if you call it Jcast, because J for Java and cast them for podcast.
Speaker #0
Of course it's about Java. Yeah, of course.
Maarten
Of course. And then we mentioned, okay, good, let's. let's take it that way so we we start with the java part and then everything else will be the playground of okay good where do where do we see java is coming or what or do we see other things laying around and i think we released already four episodes right now but it's in dutch and so take that into consideration if you if you search for jacob it will be in dutch maybe it's a aspiration of you to one day have it in english yeah yeah to have international guests like colleagues working on java and other countries could be invited as well indeed indeed but at that at this moment in time everyone is more comfortable in dutch so i'd say okay with let's in dutch but maybe one of the the seasons we will start maybe moving to in english or launching a second one yeah cool just in english and what for you is the goal what do you want to achieve it's it's for me just uh a place where i can rent about that
Speaker #0
Okay.
Maarten
Rent about everything I will say. It's in parentheses, of course, but it's just a place for me to express myself about a language, about a book, about... In this case, I think we had a talk with someone of UX UI just to see, okay, good, but what does it mean for everyone? And that's what that place is needed for me as well to just see how I can evolve.
Speaker #0
Yeah.
Maarten
Because Java is there, but...
Speaker #0
everything else is also there and we should make sure that we that i have some kind of a place where i can express myself and my my police as well so it's both about sharing experiences on java maybe like talking about new features it's a mix of it makes of everything it's
Maarten
really in dutch we say a pratbarak and so it's just just a place where we we talk about a lot of everything yeah and it doesn't always connect the dots directly yeah so but
Speaker #0
Always linked to Java.
Maarten
Always linked to Java.
Speaker #0
I keep that in mind. Okay. I don't know if you would like to share a last message on anything we talked about today. A last message that you feel... people should hear can be about joining so it can be about being a java expert it can be about someone who wants to launch a podcast any last message last message last message would be it's uh it's wonderful to work at soprasteria um you
Maarten
can do a lot of you can do a lot over here there are a lot of possibilities so if you want to join us please do and it's wonderful and If you want to start a podcast, just find some good buddies and do it. Just do it.
Speaker #0
Great. That's good advice. And then I have one last question for you. It's a fun one to end this episode with. So we talked about Jcast. Now you only invited colleagues from Soprasteria. But imagine if you could invite anyone in the world, living, not living, who would you invite and why?
Maarten
So I think I would like to invite Josh Long. He's a Java champion, first and foremost. He's also having a podcast at this moment that's called Beautiful Podcast. It's a place where he does interviews. He also does live coding on YouTube as well on that podcast. Additionally, besides that, he's also a conference speaker. and I always love that one. And Josh Long is really, how do you say it? He's all over the place. He's going crazy. And that's a little bit what I like about him. He's doing crazy stuff and he's helping really Java community forward.
Speaker #0
Okay. I don't know him, but I will for sure look him up. So thank you, Maarten. That was the end. So thank you for sharing. Thank you for your openness, for sharing your journey, your insights, your love for Java with us. And I wish you all the best in your life at Sopra Seria, but obviously also beyond and outside of Sopra Steria.
Maarten
Thank you very much and thank you for having me over here.
Speaker #0
Thank you. If you want to know more about Sopra Steria, make sure to check out our career website or follow us on social media.

Description

Do we shape our careers, or do our experiences shape us?

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Welcome to Sopra Steria Voices, a podcast that gives a voice to our colleagues across the world. I'm your host, Okubone, and today, in this very first episode of the series In the Mind of an Expert, we will dive deeper into the world of Java with Maarten Castells from Soprasteria Belgium. Maarten, you're a Java expert, but you're also podcasting about it, so I have actually high expectations about this episode. Thank you very much. So let's dive in with a very simple first question. Who are you?
Maarten
So my name is Maarten Casteels. I'm a Java expert. Thank you for that. I'm also a Java architect for design and develop the business line in Soprasseria, Belgium. And besides that, I'm also a people manager. Indeed, I do a co-host with three other colleagues, Jcast. That's a podcast about Java and everything else is the playground. where we used to be working, for example, AI, cloud or something else.
Speaker #0
Great. Yeah, we will talk about the podcast later on as well. So I'm very curious about all the aspects you already mentioned. And it's good. I already know a bit about what you do at Sokha Seria. So I'm actually very, because you say you're a Java expert, you're an architect, you're a people manager. So can you share a bit about your journey going from Java expert?
Maarten
to software architect to people manager how did you get there uh was it a natural move what can you say about it it's a large question okay but indeed i will try to to to to walk through so i started as a java developer and so i think as most of us in the software development life cycle will start somewhere as a just a developer um and then uh i joined uh soprasteria already i think nine years ago. at the client of Bellavious. And I met my colleagues over there, Yannick de Turck in this case, who was at that moment in time, one of the competence leads for Java. So he introduced me a little bit more in the whole Soprasteria journey. And I started teaching over there. And because I was teaching a lot, I made some kind of a move to indeed more architecture and expert in my... recommended field of java in this case um and then later on um it's a good question how i became a people manager in this case but i'm also um how do you say it correctly i will think about it when i was working at belfius i was teaching as well um i was more involved at the surplus theory at that moment in time. I saw a lot of people mentoring, coaching. And then I think it was more a fluid way to becoming a people manager. That kind of story.
Speaker #0
Yeah. Okay. So it was really a natural move. You felt like you were ready with all the expertise you had, all the knowledge you had on Java. Okay. So in your current role or roles, I must say, what is it that you really enjoy about the job? So maybe talk about both being a Java expert, but also really the people part, people manager, because it's obviously it's a role that is on top. of your expertise in Java. So I can imagine that you enjoy different things in both roles.
Maarten
Indeed. I love the technical part of my job, the day-to-day job, I will say. And the other part is I love to work with people. That makes me also a little bit of my background as a youth worker, but I still enjoy going on camps with children, try to teach or learn how to act with children to more. teenagers in that case so the people aspect is really important for me and you see people grow you see people shine and if people shine yeah then we have some kind of a good connection and you see what people can do um so that's more how i how i uh feel about it java for me it's it's my homecoming i would say it's always about java if i do something at home it's also java programming
Speaker #0
seeing how things work and yeah that's the technical part yeah it's cool that even after nine years you still and or maybe you have been indeed i'm always in the field for 13 14 years already even if after this many years you're still so passionate about a coding language yeah that that must be like we will we will jump into that a bit later on i'm very curious what exactly you like about Java. But I still would like to also know from you. So you say you love working with people. I can imagine that becoming and being a people manager, it improved your people skills. Do you feel also that it has a positive impact on your role? as a Java expert? Do you feel like things you learn as a people manager that you can use it in a positive way also as a Java expert or software architect?
Maarten
Yeah, indeed. It's lovely to talk about that as well. If you work with people a lot of times and also as a people manager, you learn some certain skill sets. For example, how to active listen, for example, because everybody listens but do we really actively send out something differently you'll learn that one as a as a as a people manager um so you if you're on a team with a lot of other developers you really can understand what's frustrating them and try to explain that one and translate that that frustration sometimes or just the happiness translate it to to business people and say okay good what we are doing over here that's really great they love it they feel empowered that kind of That kind of a thing you don't learn as a Java developer. You really learn that one as a people manager or just working with those kind of skills.
Speaker #0
Yeah, I can imagine. So you talk about active listening. Is there another skill that you acquired during your entire journey that maybe surprised you a bit or that you thought it was not your best skill, but you find out that actually you are good at it?
Maarten
I always think I'm not the best coder, I will say. I also found out that I don't have the best structure in wording or going over things. And that helps me then in that case to explain it more and guiding than really doing the job, I will say. But nevertheless, I still love it. empathy apparently I do have it most of the time I thought I don't have empathy but okay good you need to to have it because otherwise you can't work with people yeah but it's it's an important skill I can imagine maybe also in your personal life you can benefit from it I benefited a lot of times I have two children at home so indeed also there you need to have a lot of patience as well yeah also that I learned and acquired during my people managers years already but yeah It's not always easy. I will say that.
Speaker #0
No, again, working with people is never easy.
Maarten
Everyone has his own small things that we need to recognize and to work on.
Speaker #0
But I think that also makes that you're always learning. You keep on learning. You always work with different people. Everyone has their own specific value, specific needs. Okay, very interesting. Maybe to close this part about being a people manager. Imagine you're talking with someone that in the future aspires to be a people manager, working with people. What would be your advice? Maybe specifically in a tech environment?
Maarten
In a tech environment, it's really important to know that most of our developers are more shy. So don't rush in connecting to them. Let them be. Listen really carefully and take the... take the notion that they don't mention during their talks yeah because people do have body language try that body language and learn how to read that one instead of the the the only the vocal parts okay yeah i can see that that's a very valuable um advice thank you for that martin um you
Speaker #0
briefly mentioned that you were active or still are active in youth work i think this is this is great so uh you already said very briefly what you do can you share some more about that and maybe more most importantly how this experience impacts your work professionally also maybe personally all right so i'm active as a youth worker so i uh try
Maarten
uh every year i do one camp i will say uh where we where where a lot of teenagers come come visit us uh we teach them how to work and how to help children during their vacation at that moment in time. That's really important for me just because I do care about how children go on youth camps. For our organization where I'm active in, we take also children with some difficulties with us.
Speaker #0
Some backpacks.
Maarten
some backpacks indeed and and For us it's really important that they still can do that and if you don't have enough youth workers then it will be difficult so for me it's really also giving back what I received in the previous years. That's nice. How it impacts on my personal life? Well, because I feel passionate about it and I feel it's important, I will still be doing it even though we have two children at home. We take them with us. They will encounter it. They will drink the soup like that as well. They will need to do it. Even though they maybe don't want to do it. But we will see. If they don't want to do it, they don't need to do it. It's me and my wife as well. Okay, so you're doing it together. together indeed yeah okay so you actually have two jobs i i don't know if i can call the youth work a job but it's a passion it's completely different it's completely different um i can imagine you take a lesson that you learn in one part you bring it to the other yeah of course yeah so so at you to work we also have trainings uh we we go on on three weekends a year with the with the whole group, we have two times that we try to have some kind of a training and a session. And if that session can be impactful also for my work, I take it with me. I take some presentations. I will give a small talk to other people, managers as well, about the topics that I've learned. So yeah, indeed, it's a win-win situation at the moment.
Speaker #0
That's good. It's always good to have a win-win situation. Okay, nice. And the fact that you're doing it with your wife, I think it's also... It's wonderful. Okay, good. Nice to hear. Nice to hear. It's a good story. Good. So we talked about the people management part, we talked about youth work, and now you already shared your big passion, Java. So we are, so this episode is part of the series In the Mind of an Expert. So I would like to really also dive deeper into Java because I'm not an expert at all. I know it's a coding language.
Maarten
I know it's been around for a very long time 30 years this year really it's really uh 30 years of Java this year. It's the birthday of Java. It's 30 years already.
Speaker #0
And when did your passion start? Was it before you started working or?
Maarten
For me, the Java part is really started in high school. So I don't know when it was. 2018 around-ish and 2008. So indeed, it's passionable because just, yeah, it's a wonderful language. It's open source. That's for me, it's really important. I did a lot of other program languages before, but Java for me, it's homecoming. I really say that there are a lot of libraries, there are a lot of cool people around that teach me, that inspires me. So Java, it's indeed a coding language and you could say, okay, good. What about C sharp? What about PHP, Python? Exactly. My next question,
Speaker #0
why is it better?
Maarten
why it's better yeah it's it's on almost every machine so if you have a coffee machine standing somewhere probably it runs java okay even on those kinds of things java is running everywhere it's everywhere and it's not the case for the other uh it it depends of course uh but no most most of the time not no okay so you're if you have an android phone in java behind the scenes, most of Coffee Machines, the Most of the IoT parts right now are more going to Python and all the other languages. But most of it is really on Java.
Speaker #0
So you really swear to Java or you secretly also sometimes use another coding language?
Maarten
I need to use TypeScript from time to time for front-end development. That's not Java's strongest point, I will say. It's more for back-end, real enterprise applications, I will say. We still use it over there. on smaller applications sometimes okay good we're gonna move to to to go or to other languages but if i need to choose it will be always java okay okay good to know and what is then if you have to say really one thing that makes shout out the best i
Speaker #0
would like to know from you martin what is it it's 30 years it's open source and everyone can run it easily oh yeah okay that's that's and it's not the case for the other side
Maarten
oh so you say it's of course it's it's the same for the other ones okay so i will give you something okay so you think that i can also learn without any tech everyone everyone can learn a programming language i'm i'm really sure about it the the cool thing by job by java is there are a lot of tutorials out there and also with the the come of the the outcomes of ai you also have the possibility to learn even quicker um We have a lot of Java champions that were elected in some kind of a way that they contributed to Java itself. We have a lot of them also in Belgium. Also in France, there are a lot of Java champions.
Speaker #0
it's just easy to to combine and okay and 30 years that's already well it's longer than i exist and what how do you see it evolve like do you do you think it will celebrate in 20 years a 50 50th birthday or will there be too strong of a competitor i don't think so the the the thing is Java,
Maarten
if you look at java uh currently we have a release cycle of each six months there is a new java version so this year also we have the 25th version of java uh coming out so that's also a thing what we see at the moment is that our language is evolving rather quickly i will say we have a lot of new features every six months in this case so at some point it it almost felt that but Hmm. we skip that part and we we you know we elaborate on that one at the moment so it will it will it will eventually go 50 years and 60 years and and beyond because it runs on too many devices and maybe one particular point because you asked me before but i forgot to mention that one is java itself if the oldest version of java will still run today okay so something that's programmed in in Java 1.
Speaker #0
still runs on java 25 and that's not always the case for every programming language so that's unique that makes that's more unique yeah okay and you said it it evolves sometimes so quickly like every six months you have new feature i guess that's what makes it interesting you keep on learning new things even if it's the same coding language yeah indeed and it absolutely and and what's also cool on on that part is because
Maarten
it's every six months not all companies can evolve that quickly but with the the outcomes of all the tools that are really relying on java we can push really on hey guys we need to move forward and we need to to to get on the next version okay so also that is something that we are doing right now good to know you know maybe one day i will also make myself a
Speaker #0
bit more like i will thank you yeah a bit more techy and java after your uh speech um okay so Nine years, 12 years at Sopra Seria?
Maarten
Almost 12 years, yeah.
Speaker #0
12 years at Sopra Seria, that's quite a long time. So I can imagine that you worked on a lot of different projects already with different clients. Maybe it's not the case. Maybe you've been working on the same client forever. But throughout the entire journey at Sopra Seria, is there a project that really made a lasting impact on you? Or that you really feel had a big societal impact? something maybe that you're still working on today, but can also be something from the past.
Maarten
What for me was joining Belfius. It's a Belgian bank in this case. Not really saying, okay, good, it's most impactful, but it was a moment that I came into contact with Soprasteria for the first time and where I felt I more belonged to. So I worked there. for another company then moved to to supply study at that point in time still on the same team and i and i felt connected on that part um it was a back office application uh it was fully on java it was with the late at that moment in time the latest versions of java so it's not case anymore i think uh and the latest frameworks that we that we can use but that made it a big impact for me just to learn how Sublusteria works and what it's all about.
Speaker #0
okay made it impactful for me okay so it's not really what the project itself does for me no okay it's more what it did for you but that's that's good that's i think that's the most important part yeah yeah and that's also why i'm i'm sitting over here as well i think okay
Maarten
and you're still working on it now no no no i i switched a couple of years ago right all right already and then i moved to another industry um that was not my a cup of tea i will say but that's not always it was about managing warehouses that was not my my real cup of tea i didn't belong there and now i'm more working in on government projects and that's also it's impactful also for people around me yeah and that's what what's also it's really important for me yeah and it's always been java always been java i already knew the answer. But you can also question it.
Speaker #0
Okay, cool. Good to know. So when you see Belfast in the streets, you're like,
Maarten
I work there.
Speaker #0
I contribute to whatever they're doing. Indeed. That's cool. That's cool if you can do it.
Maarten
I've also another... It wasn't at that point in time for SubRacelia, but also for the... How do you say it? I worked for the trains in Belgium, so the NMBS and SNCB. And there I worked on the MobiP card. If I need to mention something, that was the most important part.
Speaker #0
okay because it really had an impact on the citizens yeah yeah because of that they can easily buy a subscription or yeah okay it was for the the abandonment yeah subscription yeah subscriptions indeed for the okay yes see so it's cool that you have projects that have an impact on you and you have projects that have an impact on society
Maarten
and society and that's why i'm i'm working more at the more for the for the government at this moment yeah because it's also impactful for uh people around yeah see what's so so i'd say it's actually everywhere
Speaker #0
indeed it's cool okay uh very nice i would like to um go back to what you said in your introduction okay you already mentioned it there that you are a co-creator of jcast your own podcast so we're doing one now first episode but you've already had some experience in podcasting so i'm i would like to know what made you launched this podcast where did the idea come from uh how did it really was it in a night in a bar that you were talking with colleagues or was it really from um i don't know well it it's it's a little bit a mix of everything okay so i had a i
Maarten
had already a long idea of starting with my own podcast uh but i was i wasn't not always sure about should it be a video of a podcast or should it just be an audio podcast, or should it all... what should it all be about and then two colleagues of mine were talking to each other a long time a long time and they wanted to launch a podcast and they were searching for a third person to really kick off and they they came to me by accident i will say because i'm also a little bit their people manager as well so they thought maybe martin would be interested in something like that or he knows people that's And I mentioned, okay, good, but I wanted to do a podcast a really long time. So let's do it. And we just started. Great. They already had a name for it. It was Jcast. And then we tried to figure out, okay, good, but what should it be? And then we said, okay, good, if you call it Jcast, because J for Java and cast them for podcast.
Speaker #0
Of course it's about Java. Yeah, of course.
Maarten
Of course. And then we mentioned, okay, good, let's. let's take it that way so we we start with the java part and then everything else will be the playground of okay good where do where do we see java is coming or what or do we see other things laying around and i think we released already four episodes right now but it's in dutch and so take that into consideration if you if you search for jacob it will be in dutch maybe it's a aspiration of you to one day have it in english yeah yeah to have international guests like colleagues working on java and other countries could be invited as well indeed indeed but at that at this moment in time everyone is more comfortable in dutch so i'd say okay with let's in dutch but maybe one of the the seasons we will start maybe moving to in english or launching a second one yeah cool just in english and what for you is the goal what do you want to achieve it's it's for me just uh a place where i can rent about that
Speaker #0
Okay.
Maarten
Rent about everything I will say. It's in parentheses, of course, but it's just a place for me to express myself about a language, about a book, about... In this case, I think we had a talk with someone of UX UI just to see, okay, good, but what does it mean for everyone? And that's what that place is needed for me as well to just see how I can evolve.
Speaker #0
Yeah.
Maarten
Because Java is there, but...
Speaker #0
everything else is also there and we should make sure that we that i have some kind of a place where i can express myself and my my police as well so it's both about sharing experiences on java maybe like talking about new features it's a mix of it makes of everything it's
Maarten
really in dutch we say a pratbarak and so it's just just a place where we we talk about a lot of everything yeah and it doesn't always connect the dots directly yeah so but
Speaker #0
Always linked to Java.
Maarten
Always linked to Java.
Speaker #0
I keep that in mind. Okay. I don't know if you would like to share a last message on anything we talked about today. A last message that you feel... people should hear can be about joining so it can be about being a java expert it can be about someone who wants to launch a podcast any last message last message last message would be it's uh it's wonderful to work at soprasteria um you
Maarten
can do a lot of you can do a lot over here there are a lot of possibilities so if you want to join us please do and it's wonderful and If you want to start a podcast, just find some good buddies and do it. Just do it.
Speaker #0
Great. That's good advice. And then I have one last question for you. It's a fun one to end this episode with. So we talked about Jcast. Now you only invited colleagues from Soprasteria. But imagine if you could invite anyone in the world, living, not living, who would you invite and why?
Maarten
So I think I would like to invite Josh Long. He's a Java champion, first and foremost. He's also having a podcast at this moment that's called Beautiful Podcast. It's a place where he does interviews. He also does live coding on YouTube as well on that podcast. Additionally, besides that, he's also a conference speaker. and I always love that one. And Josh Long is really, how do you say it? He's all over the place. He's going crazy. And that's a little bit what I like about him. He's doing crazy stuff and he's helping really Java community forward.
Speaker #0
Okay. I don't know him, but I will for sure look him up. So thank you, Maarten. That was the end. So thank you for sharing. Thank you for your openness, for sharing your journey, your insights, your love for Java with us. And I wish you all the best in your life at Sopra Seria, but obviously also beyond and outside of Sopra Steria.
Maarten
Thank you very much and thank you for having me over here.
Speaker #0
Thank you. If you want to know more about Sopra Steria, make sure to check out our career website or follow us on social media.

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