Prespective is created by Unit040, an Eindhoven based company that has years of experience in the high-tech sector. Coming from the heart of the Brainport area, Unit040 has specialised in visualising technologically complex products and systems. After identifying the huge potential in the Digital Twin growth-market, we set out to create our own simulation platform that enables high-tech companies to easily and accurately setup a Digital Twin of their system. Our team consists of enthusiastic digital twin professionals, with a lot of experience in designing and maintaining simulation projects.
Developed in the Unity game-engine, Prespective has been recognized as one of the market’s great potentials for the future. Our extensive partnership with Unity3D gives us a unique edge in competition.
Employee Interview
Read what it’s like to work at Prespective!
“The best thing about working for Prespective? You get all the time and freedom to develop yourself.”
How do you find out what it’s really like to work for a particular company? Right, you ask the people who do it every day! In this interview we speak with our own Tim de Koning. Tim is 25 years young, lives in Venlo and has been working for Prespective for 4 years now. What does he like best about his job? What about the work culture? He talks about it in detail…
Sticking around
Tim started at Prespective in 2017. “I studied in Enschede and did my graduation assignment here. After that, I ‘got stuck’, he laughs. “I am now an R&D developer. The company has been around for 13 years, but the Research & Development department was founded 1.5 years ago. And so I was involved from the start.” Now Tim is mainly concerned with analyzing problems: “I convert desired functions of our customers into working functionalities within our software platform.”
You learn skills ‘on the job’
Striking detail: Tim may be a developer, but he has no programming background. “I studied Industrial Design. There I learned how to develop physical products. I can partly apply that to software development. But I learned the level of programming required for this job here on the job.” And that is also one of the main reasons for Tim to work at Prespective. “You get an unprecedented freedom to develop yourself. If there’s something you’re interested in and it applies to the work we do for our clients, together we’ll find a way to make it happen,” he explains.
How I work, I decide for myself
Tim feels very free to chart his own path. “Of course, prioritizing is done in consultation,” he says. “But how I work and what I do exactly, I decide for myself. If there are things that need to be done, we just consult each other and discuss who will do what. And if you think something seems fun, you indicate it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t already have the skills to do the job. This simply frees up time so that you can learn the necessary skills.”
2016
2017
Graduation
2017
2017
Junior Developer
2021
Senior Developer
2021
Short lines of contact
There are so many jobs in this region, especially if you have a technical background. Especially the large employers are looking for talent. So why did Tim choose to work for a smaller company? “Obviously this is my first job, so I don’t know what it’s like to work for a large multinational, haha. But a smaller company has always appealed to me more. The lines are short here, the atmosphere is informal and everyone knows each other. You can go straight to the CEO. And that is certainly not the case everywhere,” he says.
Tim also mentions the speed of work as a big advantage. “For example, if I notice that we’ve overlooked something that the customer desperately needs, I’ll report it,” he explains. “I can often realize the requested functionality for the customer within a few weeks – together with my colleagues who have just a little more technical knowledge than I do.”
People are much more valuable if they can grow
Do you think that a smaller company like Prespective gives you more opportunities to develop yourself? “Perhaps,” Tim replies. “But I know that the gentlemen who founded the company all have the same background as me. In the beginning, for example, they knew little about things like sales and marketing. So they understood: if we want to realize this as a company, we have to learn those skills.”
“And I think that’s where that belief comes from: people can be a lot more valuable to your business if you give them the time and space to develop,” he adds. Tim also mentions the impact you have on the product you make together as a major advantage: “Because we have a relatively small team, everyone makes a major contribution. Not only in the product we develop, by the way, but also in the way we work. We have developed these together within R&D over the past 1.5 years. And of course we are constantly updating our working method.”
Everyone is very fond of each other
And the atmosphere, what about that? “It’s super relaxed,” Tim says with a laugh. “Everyone gets along. We make silly jokes all day long. Of course: there are plenty of moments when everyone is quiet and concentrated at work. But you can always come to each other for a chat. We are a close-knit club, everyone cares about each other. A less pleasant example: last year there were a number of deaths in the families of colleagues. Then everyone is present at the funeral. A much nicer example: I’m getting married next year and all my colleagues will be invited!”
That sounds like a very nice, informal work culture. “It really is!” confirms Tim. “And if something bothers you – whether it concerns work content or on a personal level – you can indicate that. You are always listened to. For example, a while ago I discussed with my manager that I thought it was quite hard to spend 10+ hours in the car every week. There was an immediate solution: I now work from home on Fridays. In principle, your contract states that you have to be at the office from half past eight to five, but you can make other arrangements. The other days I always start early, around 7.30, and go home on time. That way I am ahead of the traffic jams.”
Do what you like best
Okay, finally, the key question: why do you think people should come and work at Prespective? “What makes it most attractive to me is the freedom you have to chart your own path and develop,” Tim reiterates. “It doesn’t even matter what background you have. As long as you find it interesting, you can learn it here. Then you just do what you like best. And that’s the most important thing, right? Then you really enjoy going to work.”
Check out our open vacancies here. Or send an open application to Andreas Huvenaars via andreas.huvenaars@unit040.com.