Making the data visible
'Putting in team effort is more than half the joy of the job'
Started in July 2014 Elke Jetten is the second employee of Northpool while she enjoyed a completely different education. “I studied criminology and at that time there was no work available,” she explains. “I came in contact with a recruiter and got a job at Northpool. My completely different background was the only doubt when I started to work at the power market but after all those years I still really enjoy my work.”
Professionalized
Elke started working as trade support, sitting next to the trader helping to get the data and see what was happening in the market. “I had a steep learning curve because I needed to tell the traders as quickly as I could when something happened in the market which might influence the price where they need to act.” The first weeks were overwhelming with the amount of new information. A lot has changed since then. Elke: “We have grown in size and in number of employees. I think we also became a bit more mature. We professionalized our data architecture and are making sure now that we are future proof. I am really proud of being part of that.” Colleagues are important to her. “The team is very young, enthusiastic and motivated. That really helps to keep yourself motivated and do the best you can. I find it definitely important and really like putting in the team effort. That is more than half of the joy of the job.”
Develop solutions
Traders are highly relying on data which can come from different sources, for instance a website. So for Elke it is essential to discuss together with the traders how they want to see that data. “We develop a solution which makes the data available in the dashboard in the way they like to see it and want to be alerted to any changes,” she explains. “In this way they can make the best decision. I work with different colleagues every day depending on what the need is and then create a subteam to make a plan on how to develop it. We have a standup in the IT-team if there are new priorities and traders or analysts are able to find us so we can discuss internally what needs to be prioritized to take action.”
Responsibility to provide
Deadlines are a very important part of the job. Some days it is more important than others but if traders are looking at incorrect data it needs to be solved immediately. Sometimes it comes with stress but it isn’t an everyday issue. Elke: “The most important thing as an IT-team is that we feel the responsibility to provide traders with the best data possible. Because that is the reason Northpool exists: so traders can make the best decisions they can. If you want to be part of that, you feel the responsibility as well. We are a flat organization and that is one of our strengths. No day is the same, fundamental market drivers are changing every day. The market and the products where we are active in changes. But if I develop something new which helps the traders be ahead of the market and they are able to make decisions that help them in the best trading result it is really nice to be part of it.”