“I missed interacting with people. Here I am surrounded by young people who really want to learn.”

My name is Wilrik, and I teach programming and database courses in the starting semester. Before that, I worked for a secondment agency where I dealt with many different companies.

I chose Fontys because I missed real interaction with people. Here, I’m surrounded by young people who really want to learn and work together. I try to inspire and motivate them. I teach them what I know, and I love being surprised by their questions, interests, and discoveries. That’s how we grow together. It’s totally different from having new colleagues every day, meetings all the time, and sitting behind a screen.

There are quite a few assumptions and prejudices about teachers, even if they have real-world background. According to these assumptions they would be the weakest of the flock. That’s rubbish! When I look around, I only see people I would have loved to work with at companies. You never encounter the old-fashioned image of a lecturer standing in front of the classroom and just talking.

No. In fact I still work with corporates a lot. Here professionals are given the freedom to share knowledge and to continue to develop themselves thanks to projects and research. We work together with companies on truly innovative developments. For example around AI, machine learning, or blockchain technology.

We focus on what the students need and encourage each other. I get a real boost when I hear from a fellow teacher that a student has learned a lot from me. That motivates and inspires me.