Development

Surprisingly, I still occasionally hear comments like, “How much work can a website really need?” or “It’s just a webshop, isn’t it?” Since I worry that similar preconceptions might keep top candidates from reaching out, I thought it would be useful to give a behind-the-scenes look at our development department, where I’ve happily worked for 13 years.

About those development teams: our teams are structured around features or projects, and each is fully responsible for their own work from start to finish. No slow processes here: releases happen multiple times a day, and you verify the functionality yourself (of course through automated testing, but you’ll also check directly if needed). There’s no “it works on my machine” hand-off to an anonymous team—just fast iterations. Whether you’re frontend, backend, iOS, Android, DevOps, full-stack, half-stack, or hacky-sack (I’m making up words now), we’re simply looking for good people.

So, what do we do with all this talent? At Belsimpel, we believe that in-house development of as many systems as possible gives us an edge. For example, our warehouse (inventory, pick/pack, and tracking systems) runs on internally developed software. When our stores needed a tool for ID verification, we launched the spin-off Verifai. Our internal HRM systems run on our own software; we automate our online ads, and we do much more with data. And the webshop itself is far from ‘basic.’ With combined sales of subscriptions, bundles, and phones, we handle over 10 million price points (and that’s a conservative number for the Netherlands alone). Making these calculated prices quickly available is a challenge in itself—not to mention keeping them competitive. All of this runs on our own hardware platform, which has been scaled to process in seconds (and we’ll be scaling up again as we expand Gomibo across Europe).

Of course, it’s not just about the tech itself; taking a step back is equally important. How do we present information as clearly as possible for the customer? Is that information as accurate as possible? Can we make our systems more readable for staff? What methods will ensure this code is still understandable a year from now? Can we prevent more errors?

So, to wrap up the promo, our teams include both specialists and generalists!

Long story short: this is what we do. Check out werkenbijbelsimpel.nl, or let’s grab a coffee sometime. If you have questions, feel free to message me on LinkedIn! Unsure about a specific job opening? Don’t worry, we’ll find the right spot for you. No worries!