Growing a Better World Together: How Rabobank Inspired My Tech Contributions

In this blog post, I’ll quickly take you through Rabobank’s mission to grow a better world together. Then, I’ll take you to through my drooling story how Rabobank inspired my tech contributions both inside and outside the bank. While I usually focus on writing technical articles, I hope this personal reflection on how I became an MVP will inspire you as well.

Rabobank's Mission

You’ve probably seen it a couple of times on tv-spots, heard it on the radio, or saw a big billboard: Rabobank, the cooperative bank. That’s at least the ending scene, branding it in your brain. Looking a step deeper into the bank itself, you can find its mission and strategy: “Growing a better world together”. We do that by working together with members, customers, and our stakeholders.

Interestingly, Rabobank's roots are deeply connected to agriculture, as it was originally known as the “Boerenleenbank,” started by farmers and gardeners. This agricultural connection resonates with me personally. My journey began not in a supermarket, but on a farm. My brother worked for a farmer who was a classmate's father, and that's how I got involved in farm work. After completing my internship as an IT system administrator, I unexpectedly landed my first job at a seed breeding company. What are the odds?

Back to the story of Rabobank's mission. The values and behaviors altogether appealed to me. However, during that time frame, I couldn't express it or see it. Opportunities were presented right in front of me but taking that first step can always be a challenge. Until one day, I was lucky.

My first contribution to Rabo Techblog

My manager back then at Treasury ALM, Kees Drent, was asked to search for some engineers who loved to share their knowledge through writing, particularly in the coding category. That category was rather empty on the Rabo TechBlog. He knew that I had just started my new website and had written a few articles already, which I was afraid to publish. But, as every good manager does, he put it out to the group so everyone could have a chance at it. There wasn’t much enthusiasm from the start, and I was hesitant at first. Writing a real tech blog? That was my first thought. To make it even more intimidating, they also added the fact that it had to go through an internal security check for potential leakage of information. Yikes, more reasons not to start with it.

I let the request simmer for a while. It didn’t go away. The idea didn’t fade. It was like he had already planted it in me to pick it up. So, I shrugged it off and took the advice of fellow writers that I was following: “just write.” And that’s what I did. My very first contribution inside Rabobank landed in the coding & architecture category - juicing it up: testing best practices for Azure Bicep. Sometimes the marketing team shares the statistics on how articles perform. That article, released in 2021, still sits in the top 20 of article performance. Did my ego just get a boost? Maybe. Have I helped people out there in the world by sharing this knowledge? Most likely.

Becoming an MVP

The first article was published in September 2021. Ever since that initial publication and the feedback received from others, I have consistently written and shared knowledge. To this day, I have shared over 100 articles across multiple platforms, including the Rabo Tech Blog, Medium, and my own website. Many probably wonder how I got started and where I get these ideas. I’m a firm believer that while you can find them on your own, the work you do feeds your creativity. Having spent more than a decade in the IT industry, you have to think a lot outside the box. This outside-the-box thinking generates a ton of ideas, leading me to become an MVP.

See, that chain of my very first contribution didn’t stop. When working on multiple projects in the same department mentioned earlier, a ton of automation was demanded. On-premises servers had to be moved to the cloud. These servers run software that needs to be configured, patched, and maintained. You can probably now recognize the pattern: assignment/work -> what is required? -> solutions. In the solutions part, you have to think about what the best approach would be to solve it. This leads you to look for information and explore products the market might have to offer. If the products don’t perfectly fit, which is often the case when you work in the financial industry, guess what? You have to think outside the box.

How did this lead to becoming an MVP? Investigating a lot of products leads to gaining knowledge. Having knowledge in certain areas builds up your confidence. I was sharing knowledge, but having this knowledge also allows you to see the overarching picture or a roadmap where products can lead towards. Having such thoughts or vision allowed me to participate in open-source projects, turning in the potential of steering projects in a particular direction or at least having your voice heard. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past two years, including being active on social media and so on. One day, someone in my network, who was already an MVP, asked me if I wanted to become one. As MVPs, you can invite others, and you have to go through a process to show your involvement in the community. So, I did.

On my birthday, I hadn’t expected the following e-mail:

Conclusion

I warned you from the beginning. It’s a drooling story, but surely you get the moral. Sometimes there are opportunities right in front of you, sparking ideas you’ve been sitting on. Those ideas can lead to even more, and who knows? Maybe down the road, you’ll get recognized — whether it’s an MVP award or something else entirely.