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Coding from father to son

Nice to meet you: Bram en Jan van Emmerik

At the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, staff and students strive to make a difference. For instance Herma supports teaching staff and Kim knows everything about the Faculty Council. In ‘Nice to meet you’, these people introduce themselves and talk about their work at FHML

def programmer(father):return "Son" if father.retiring else "Father" current_programmer = programmer(father=True) print(f"The next generation takes over: {current_programmer}")

Can you understand this Python code? Jan van Emmerik certainly can. More so, Jan will implement it within two years when he retires with his son Bram following in Jan's footsteps as the Institute of Education’s software developer. Jan: ‘Bram and I are both troubleshooters who find happiness in programming and making our colleagues’ lives easier.’

Digital education: now loading…

Jan started at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences 39 years ago and experienced the digitisation of education. He mainly programmes and maintains software packages for education. Jan: ‘For example, I contributed to a web interface where students can view microscopic images online, because too many microscopes broke down due to overuse. Another interesting project was to automate the whole workflow of internships to ease the workload of the Examination Administration department.’ 

Jan 2.0

These are just a few examples from a huge range of custom-made software. That diversity gives Jan the energy to still come to work every day whistling, even after 39 years. ‘Every day is a challenge and that's just what I like. My work is very much appreciated by colleagues and my supervisor, which makes for a good atmosphere.’ It is in that atmosphere that Bram stepped in to learn the tricks of the trade. ‘By the way, with that atmosphere also comes a dash of music, every Friday the disco ball in the office goes on and you can easily find us by following the disco music’ Bram laughs.

Bram works in the same office as his father. Partly to prepare for the position of software developer and partly in his current position as student affairs officer. ‘I am also responsible for systems like Canvas, newsletters and student communications. The combination can get quite hectic, but I enjoy doing it.’ 

Every day is a challenge and that's just what I like. My work is very much appreciated by colleagues and my supervisor, which makes for a good atmosphere.

Third gen coder?

Bram is already getting a vivid insight into his future as he works closely with his father and takes over projects step by step. ‘That transfer is also needed. Jan made a lot of custom work, and when he leaves, his knowledge has to stay here,’ says Bram.’

Whether another van Emmerik will ever step into the Institute of Education is not certain. Jan: ‘While we are constantly behind the laptop, I have a daughter who is a bird and reptile keeper and a real outdoors person, I don't see her becoming an IT’er. ‘I don't have children yet, but who knows, maybe one day my child will sit alongside me, under the same disco ball’ dreams Bram.

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