Name: Sabrina Jim
Prior education: HBO Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering (Hogeschool van Amsterdam)
Current position: Software engineer and System officer at ASR Nederland

'At the HvA, I had a hard time convincing the male students that my solutions were also valid. At this Master’s programme, everyone took me seriously. We would examine the various solutions and try to combine the best aspects of each of them. I really treasure the things I learnt from my fellow students. I had to make such an effort to prove myself at the HvA, and I took that feeling with me to the Master’s programme. I kept wondering whether I was really good enough at first. One day, one of my classmates said: 'Let’s be honest, who really made the effort to flesh out their solution in detail? Your solution is just as valuable as ours.' That was a real eye opener. No one has the perfect solution, the end result is always a mix of everyone’s contributions. I also really appreciated my classmates’ feedback, that was very different from the situation at the HvA.'

'My graduation research project focused on generating behaviour codes on the basis of models. The objective is to generate codes on the basis of specified models, without any human intervention. That’s still just pie in the sky at the moment, though; most programmes capable of generating those codes simply create a framework and can’t do much else. My research focused on unadulterated logic and behaviour codes. '

'I’ve been at ASR for three years now, and I had one of those ‘what do I want to do now?’ moments at the end of last year. I’d gained experience in development, management, evolution and maintenance, and I thought: I wouldn’t really mind staying, I’m fine here for now. Maybe I’ll be in a leadership position a few years from now, that would certainly be nice.'

'ASR currently offers plenty of opportunities to grow as a software engineer. For example, they’re developing predictive software that can identify fraudulent policy claims. Other than that, I don’t really have any ambitions to work for a specific company. I would like to work at a Research & Development department where I could focus on design and innovation, I’d love that. I’d also enjoy sinking my teeth into a research question, that would be incredible.'