simone van den ham

front end developer at nationale postcode loterij & vriendenloterij

about

i’m simone, a developer, married to ernst, and a soon-to-be mother of three! i’ve been working at the lotteries for a year now. almost every company has an application development department these days; i chose this organisation specifically because i wanted my work to contribute to a better world.

as a front-end developer, i work on building and improving our websites. this means i spend each day writing the code that makes the websites function and look the way they do. with my team i’m currently working on a new international user account portal. i enjoy projects like this, where i get to use new technology and work with others to build something we can use for all our lotteries.

why do you think it is important that role models need to be visible?

i had never really considered a career in tech. it wasn’t until later in life, when i had several male friends with tech jobs, that i started hearing about the field and thought it sounded intriguing. i’d studied marketing, but i started exploring website development and eventually took a course to become a developer.

my fellow developers are almost always men. when i meet new colleagues, they often automatically assume i have a different role. i can’t blame them, but i hope more women will realise the possibilities within this sector. i think i would have chosen this career path earlier if i’d had female role models around me. i hope i’m setting the example for my daughters that as a woman you can do any job just as well as men.

nationale postcode loterij & vriendenloterij

the digital landscape is evolving rapidly, and in the coming years a wealth of talent will be required to navigate these changes. women remain underrepresented in the tech and analytics fields. often, women do not consider these areas when choosing their studies, and they are less likely than men to apply for tech job openings later. although we maintain a good gender balance in our organisation overall, we observe this trend as well. this is unfortunate, as the field offers numerous career opportunities. additionally, diversity in teams is crucial: diverse teams perform better, foster more innovation, and contribute to a more inclusive culture. fortunately, we have highly enthusiastic and ambitious female tech team members at the lotteries. we believe sharing their stories more widely will make a difference. and we hope this role model campaign will inspire more women to pursue careers in tech, and we cordially invite them to come and work with us in a tech role.