What does your job entail?
My job is to give advice and recommendations to the client, so I have a lot of meetings – mostly online – with colleagues in different countries, like Romania, Poland, Greece, but also non-EU countries like Japan and the United States, and I really enjoy the international aspect of the project. My main tasks are doing document reviews, and reviews of technical offers, giving technical presentation, and coordinating with various stakeholders that are responsible for configurations items.
“I always worked for the same client but in different positions and on different projects, and that is what makes it interesting”.
Do you believe in the impact of the project you are working on?
The entire DG TAXUD project has a huge impact on European citizens in general. DG TAXUD deals with a lot of different aspects, and provides all kinds of different businesses, and this is what makes it interesting. During one of DG TAXUD’s contracts, Sopra Steria Benelux for example developed a system that allows tax information exchanges of American citizens that are located in Europe. During another project for DG TAXUD, Sopra Steria also contributed to an application for veterinary certification changes. So, every time an animal crosses a European border, there should be a relevant form from an official vet, and that is where DG TAXUD plays a role. Also, every time you see a truck on the road, chances are that it uses one of the systems that has been provided by DG TAXUD.
Fun fact
If Yann could switch jobs for one day with someone else at Sopra Steria, he would really like to be in the shoes of his Country Manager. “It’s quite big shoes to fill”, but Yann is curious to see what a Country Manager does.
Why do you think other people should work at Sopra Steria?
First of all, Sopra Steria Benelux offers interesting and challenges projects. There are many job opportunities as well: I have seen some interesting success stories of colleagues who started as an intern and who are now certified trainers in the organisation who train people more senior than them. On top, Sopra Steria Benelux has always been fair with everyone.
What can you say about Sopra Steria’s culture?
I think it is important to enjoy work as much as possible, and also have a life next to work, and this has always been possible for me, even though sometimes I have to work crazy hours. Being such a big company – and getting bigger – Sopra Steria Benelux has always remained the human aspect. After all these years, I still enjoy work and working with the people around me, and this is something you can’t find everywhere. One example is that we never worried for 1 minute during covid times about anything, because we knew Sopra Steria would take care of us.
There are a lot of opportunities to grow and develop at Sopra Steria, but you do have to seize the opportunities yourself. I for example got the chance to develop my skills to be a good Project Manager. In the beginning, I had no idea how to balance workload and how to use management tools, but Sopra Steria was very patient with me while learning all of this. I was always given the tools to do what I needed to do and I feel that people who are higher on the ladder than me, are always ready to listen to me.
Why do you think Sopra Steria is a Great Place To Work?
Like I said, the human aspect is important. You can have lousy customers, and complications with work, but at the end, you are interacting with humans, and I feel that Sopra Steria really understand this. Our management doesn’t ignore of deny problems we might have and that is very important. The fact that we had no issues at all with any HR related issue during covid times, means a lot to me.
Fun fact
If Sopra Steria was an animal, Yann thinks it would be a chameleon, because of the changing powers this animal has: Sopra Steria is changing all the time, but in its core, it stays the same.