"As an information management trainee, it's mainly about having a certain mindset."

Tell me Celine, who are you and can you tell us more about your traineeship in information management?
My name is Celine, a psychologist from Brabant who has been an information and process management trainee at Modis for one and a half years. I do yoga, I play handball and I love people. As a trainee in information management, I work for the Omgevingsdienst West-Holland; an organisation that is committed to the quality of life in the Netherlands in the form of keeping the environment healthy.

What is it like to work in the technical world that gives you energy?
The image I have of 'the technical world' is that it mainly consists of IT professionals who talk in incomprehensible programming language and spend their days punching codes to create systems and/or keep them running. To some this sounds like a dream, but not to me. Therefore, I am glad that my reality does not match my image of the technical world. I may work in the information management department, but our organisation is not dominated by technology. In fact, as befits a government institution, we are a few steps behind. This makes my work extremely diverse: because the organisation would like to digitise, many changes will have to take place. Change management is exactly what I studied in social psychology!

Besides my technical work, there is a lot of room for setting up and rolling out process changes. There is a lot involved in change management: good communication with individuals and groups, analysing needs/wishes and obstacles/problems. Working out solutions, implementing these in the case systems, then working them out in reports and delivering results to management.

I experience all aspects of change; the technical side on the one hand and the people side on the other. This combination makes the work versatile and challenging. Moreover, it is nice to work in a changing world, because you are constantly thinking up solutions to current problems. When these solutions are implemented, the difference is immediately noticeable: results are better and employees are more satisfied. That is great to see.

What would you personally tell others to inspire them to choose technology, even if they do not (yet) have a technical background?
I would literally say: 'If I, as a yoga psychologist from Brabant, can find my way in this, then everyone should be able to'. As an information management trainee, it's mainly about having a certain mindset. In order to understand systems/processes/methods easily and to be able to come up with solutions. During my studies, I developed my analytical thinking skills and learned to be critical in just about everything, so that I quickly understood how systems and processes work. I would have acquired these skills even if I had studied history, mechanical engineering or astrology. As long as you have these skills, are open to something new and are motivated to learn, you will get there anyway!