Testbirds: How’s it like to be part of the project management team?  

It’s a great place to work with people from different backgrounds.

Not despite, but because of those differences we can work well together as a team. It keeps interactions interesting and there is a lot of knowledge floating around.

Team culture is also important. Recently I pushed us to create the team’s core values which define the essence of the team:

• Teamwork
• Inclusiveness
• Trust
• Commitment
• Growth

Testbirds: How does the day-to-day look like in your role?  

I manage the international Project Management team in Amsterdam. I sit down with the individual project managers and discuss how projects are going. Beyond that, I check in on how they are doing themselves.

We work out development plans together and see where we can improve. I have a lot of interaction with our international Account Managers and provide input on testing solutions.

Testbirds: What’s the most exciting and/or challenging thing about your current role?

As a team lead, one of the main pillars is coaching team members and managing things around the team. I would say that this is both the most exciting and challenging (in a good way) part of the role.

I also get to work with an array of different clients with different needs. It’s great to come up with solutions that work for them.

Testbirds: How does Testbirds customize our solutions or services to each client’s individual needs?

First, we sit down with our clients and get down to the core of what they want to test and why. We view this as an eye-level collaboration between us and the client. We don’t go for the traditional “clients pays – we execute” approach.

We find it instrumental to work together with our clients to achieve the best approach for them. In our expert experience, this is leads to the best solution for high quality results.

If we identify that a client requires a bespoke setup, then we are flexible in being able to do that. We can adapt existing services to be more tailored to a client’s needs. We also innovate and develop new testing setups specifically designed for clients.

Testbirds: Why should ambitious talents join Testbirds and particularly within your team?

We work with clients from different industries and different countries. These clients have different research needs. Project Managers need to get an enormous amount of knowledge in the fields of UX and/or QA. Fortunately, we have a great sense of support in the team and there are always colleagues to ask for input.

There are different career development paths for Project Managers at Testbirds. You can specialize in UX or QA, or even move more towards a customer success Project Manager role.

We are very supportive of each other, which gives us a solid foundation to realize our ambitions.

Testbirds: Any tips for potential new joiners to your team? 

The first few that come to mind would be:

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions
• Attend meetings from other departments
• Get involved in as many different projects as possible
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes as we learn from them

Testbirds: What’s the best thing about working in Amsterdam? 

Amsterdam is a great place to work. It is also a very innovative city. It is unique that it has everything you would expect from a major city, yet small enough to feel cosy.

Amsterdam is home to great museums, restaurants, nightlife, bars and festivals. Travel is easy – within a few hours you could either be in the north of Holland or in Portugal.

And of course, all the canals and bridges that tie the city of Amsterdam together. Buy a bike, this is the way!

Testbirds: Thank you for your insights, Daan! 

Would you like to join Daan as our next international Project Manager? Take a look at our careers page now!