Sam Heuves joined Ultimate Maritime Logistics as a front-end developer in August this year. In this blog, he talks about his work background, what exactly his role is within the company and what he likes about his job.

"I started my working life as an inhouse sales account manager selling solar panels. I fulfilled this role for over 2 years. At this company I switched to working as a front-end developer for almost 3 more years. I got into this profession through my Multimedia Design studies. During this study, I had several side jobs including in hospitality and telemarketing. I also created websites myself."

Optimal user experience

"At Ultimate, I work with a number of colleagues who mainly deal with the backend, the back-end, of the portal. In my work, I make sure users can use the portal more easily. That the portal looks usable, the data is nicely designed in a table or graph. All the end user sees in the portal is part of my job." Sam does warn us: "I am not a designer. I'm more on the user experience. My work is in between the Designer and the back-end."

"Ultimate Maritime Logistics provides software for the entire maritime logistics supply chain. Our customers can arrange numerous things in our portal. They can see ships positions, where to berth a ship and arrange transport online. When you log in, you see my work."

The humble Sam goes on to say that when he started working at Ultimate, he made a small adjustment to the portal. A small tweak with a lot of impact. Sam explains: "Every transport has a long code attached to it. In the portal, the user saw the different codes overlapping. A small adjustment has now fixed this and the codes are shown under each other. This works much more pleasantly for the customer".

"Right now, I am building the portal further so that it becomes more generic. The customer can then choose from different options, like a menu. What do they want to use and what don't. So, they can build their own ideal portal."

Working remotely under the Spanish sun

Sam says he was approached by a recruiter for this position.  After moving to Bilbao for his Spanish wife, Sam was looking for work he could do under the Spanish sun. He even considered working as a self-employed person.  It didn't get that far. "A recruiter contacted me and told me that Ultimate Maritime Logistics was looking for a colleague. Ultimate was totally fine with me wanting to work completely remote. As long as I deliver quality. I was really lucky. The work and colleagues are fun, and the working conditions are good."

Puzzling

"I had to get used to the code in our mobility framework, but I love programming and puzzling. Because that's what it is. Every day you solve a 'puzzle', great fun to do. And if I can't figure it out, I just sleep on it. By taking a break, the solution comes naturally. When I get up, I can immediately start coding the solution again."

Sam already mentioned that he is married to a Spanish woman. Together they have a baby daughter, and the 2nd child is expected in January 2023. "Like everyone else in the Netherlands, I just work during the day. Sometimes I work an evening because I am working towards a solution and the assignment needs to be completed. Every six to eight weeks I come back to the Netherlands. For family visits but of course I also go to the office for a few days. We then make sure I meet a lot of colleagues and it is always very sociable! In my spare time, I play football twice a week. With Spaniards. I speak fluent Spanish so that works fine.”

Transport always goes on

Sam is very enthusiastic about the sector he works in. "Maritime logistics is new to me. It is a strong industry because there is always something to be shipped or handled. That was evident during the corona period. Then the transport also went on as usual."

After the interview, Sam goes back to work for a client. "Once that is completed, I will make another adjustment in the portal so that the platform is more modern and technologically faster."

You get mountains of energy from a job like that, don't you?

Want to know more about how Ultimate Maritime Logistics works? Then continue reading here.