Introduction
My name is Sebastiaan de Vlaam, I’m originally from the Netherlands and my family and I have been in the United States for over 6 years. Before moving to the US we lived in France for three years. Coming out of college with a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I only knew I didn’t want to be a software engineer, which was what most of my fellow students went on doing. So, I joined Accenture as a Technology Consultant. This was a great experience and I learned a lot. I worked there for almost 6 years, but I did not like the extreme corporate structure.
After that, I started my own company and worked as an independent consultant for a number of years. During that time I also obtained a certification as a NLP (neuro linguistic programming) trainer, taught at a college and guided students through their bachelor’s thesis project. In 2015, I got the opportunity to move to Paris, France, for a project and once there we decided to stay and ended up staying there for three years, until the opportunity came along to move to the US.
During my years as an independent consultant I mostly worked on (IT) Service Management processes and on the ServiceNow platform (https://www.servicenow.com), building my expertise in that area. My job in the US was leading an IT Consulting company that implements ServiceNow for clients. I’ll continue on that trajectory for now, while also expanding into other IT Service Management and solution architecture opportunities.
Currently I’m also using my expertise on IT systems to support the local food pantry and in my spare time I love to do (large) DIY projects, play (video games) with my kids and depending on the season either go skiing or scuba diving.
Computer Science Fellow
career options
Computer Science Fellow
skills
What are the main hard skills you use on a daily basis in your current job?
Creating a visual representation of a business process, what happens within the process, detailing how tasks are carried out, by whom, and in what order. By modeling their processes, companies can see the full picture of how they operate with transparency into even the most complex of processes. This is essential in automating business processes with technology.
System design is the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. It involves translating user requirements into a detailed blueprint that guides the implementation phase.
Business automation is based on the capturing, transforming and analysis of data. Being able to work with databases systems (like MySQL, Oracle or PostgreSQL) is important as well as tools for data analysis (like SQL, Excel, and programming languages like Python or R) and visualization (Excel, or more specialized like Tableau or Power BI).
Although the level of hands-on work differs per role, proficiency in one or more programming languages like Python, JavaScript or C++ is essential for developing software solutions, and helps organizations estimate the effort of implementation, maintenance and support.
Since Technology implementations are complex multi-step projects, understanding project management frameworks like Agile, Scrum, or Waterfall is important for managing these projects effectively.
What are the main soft skills you use on a daily basis in your current job?
Effective communication with clients, team members, and stakeholders is vital for understanding requirements and conveying technical information. You need to be able to communicate effectively with people of different backgrounds and experience.
The ability to analyze complex problems, identify root causes, and develop innovative solutions is important in information technology. People are looking for simpler ways to work, reduce errors or save cost. Depending on their needs, solutions differ widely.
The IT consulting field and technology in general is constantly evolving, with new solutions and approaches being available. As a technology consultant, being up to date is important, and also being able to identify which new trends are worth pursuing and which aren’t
The effectiveness of your advice is based on quality and acceptance, thus good quality advice alone is not enough. You need to be able to build a relationship with your clients, be considered as trustworthy and keep your commitments.
Sebastiaan
’s personal path
Tell us about your personal journey in
Computer Science Fellow
:
My career path here in the United States and my immigration path are tightly linked. When I first moved to the US, I was starting the US branch of a Dutch IT consultancy firm. So the job and visa sponsorship were supported by that company and my wife was able to work on her spouse visa as well. After four years, I decided it was time to do something else. Since we just bought a new house, I was going to take on the construction project of building the basement from scratch by myself and spend more time with my kids.
We could stay in the US, since my wife secured a H-1B visa via her employer. Unfortunately, a few weeks after I resigned, my wife got laid-off and we were scrambling to find other solutions to stay in the US. My wife quickly found a new job and was able to do an H1B transfer.
About one year and a half into my basement project, it was time to get back to a (paying) job and I started the search for a company that would offer visa sponsorship, since I was not allowed to work on my H4 (spouse) visa. Although there were a lot of open positions, finding a company that would sponsor a visa was a challenge. I talked to multiple companies and received many messages on LinkedIn, but any mentions of work authorization or visa sponsorship quickly ended the conversation, and often led to recruiters just ghosting me completely.
Via my wife’s work, I learned about Open Avenues and their solution with a H1B cap-exempt visa. I have experience teaching and like to help the next generation of (international) students, so that was a great match. I’m currently working on starting up a IT consulting firm that can sponsor my visa, so I can have more freedom in the projects I’m taking on. I’m staying flexible for future work opportunities, but this is my path for now.
What would you tell your younger you regarding building your current career?
During my career, I made a few interesting twists and turns, seizing opportunities for different experiences along the way. That flexibility to make a change in job or country and to be open to doing multiple things at the same time brought me to where I am. So to embrace the change, follow opportunities and be flexible is definitely advice I took and would repeat for myself. Later in my career, I went into teaching and training both technical skills as well as soft skills. Advice I would give my younger self would definitely be to learn about and practice with complementary skills that, initially, may not seem to come naturally for you.
Final thoughts & tips
What started as a more or less random first job for me, turned out to be my career for the next 18 years, while also embracing different paths and opportunities along the way. The most important thing I learned so far is to try new things and be flexible. You might discover something you never thought you would be good at or enjoy doing. The ‘job for life’ is a thing of the past and you can even start, what feels like, a whole new career at every point in your life. You’ll discover that everything you learned can be applied elsewhere also. So even if you don’t know what you want to be/do yet, just get started and find what works for you.
If you just finished college, a lot of larger consulting companies have positions for graduates to learn and grow.
Resources to dig in more
The Art of Giving and Receiving Advice
People typically focus on the content of advice, but they should pay equal attention to the process
ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform that helps companies manage digital workflows for enterprise operations. It's designed to streamline business processes and improve efficiency by automating tasks and providing insights into data.
Is ServiceNow a good career option?
Article on reasons why a career in ServiceNow can be a great choice.
