I am the type of person to stress about the future. This is because I don’t exactly know what kind of job I want. That is also one of the reasons why I am so bad at making choices when it comes to what direction I want to go with my study path. The last couple of months I have been asking my fellow students what their plans are for the future. I noticed that I am not alone in my struggle. It got me thinking and interested in students that already graduated from BUas. That is why I spoke with Dylan Boet and Pieter Boerboom. They shared their BUas journey with me and how one of them ended up working as a producer for Radio 538 and the other as a front-end developer at Cognizant.
Dylan Boet
First of all, let me introduce you to Dylan Boet. He graduated in 2020 from Buas for the study IMEM, what's now called Creative Business. By accident, he ended up as an intern at Radio 538. That is where his love for radio grew. Since a few months, he produces the daily night show from 19:00 – 20:00 at Radio 538.
High school
Dylan was studying at vmbo and decided to apply for Grafisch Lyceum in Rotterdam. He was one of the lucky ones that got accepted. His mentor said that he should take this opportunity and forget the havo. That is exactly what Dylan did and started his journey in Rotterdam. Three years later he graduated but did not know what he wanted to do next. He was only nineteen and knew that he didn’t want to stand behind the camera. He was interested in a more leading role. Therefore, he decided to continue studying and applied for IMEM. Due to his previous study, he was interested in the content or marketing side of the creative industry. He liked coming up with creative ideas and brainstorming.
Specialization
You might think it is no surprise that Dylan chooses to do Radio as a department he wanted to specialize in. The main reason he chose the radio department was due to the fun teacher Charlie Hicks. Charlies' enthusiasm and explanation about radio made Dylan decide to go for radio. He had a love for music but unlike some other people, he didn't have any experience. In his third year, he couldn't continue to work for the radio department. This is because the campus was renovated, and the studio was closed. He decided to try the TV department, but he realized his passion remained with radio. What does Dylan like the most about radio? “You enter the office at 16:00, at 19:00 you record the show and at 21:00 you are done. The next day you start over. You aren't busy arranging an item for a long time. You often have a fixed item, but you can change up the content every day”.
Internships
His first internship was at Radio 538 and he decided to stay as a freelancer. He applied for the function manager for the online activities at Radio 538. As a portfolio, he sent the radio shows he made at school. This was the only experience he had with making radio. The team of 538 had a different plan in mind for him. They invited him for a conversation with Danielle Lippens who is a well-known radio DJ. A day later he had his internship as a radio producer. A radio producer is someone that oversees the making of a radio show. Think of organizing music choices, guests and callers, the timing of the show, and overall content. The people at 538 gave him a lot of freedom and after a few months, he was allowed to produce a radio show all by himself. He was the only intern at that time and therefore everyone was always willing to help him and give him their full attention. They liked him so much and decided to keep him around. He now produces a regular show with radio DJ Barend van Deelen from 19:00 to 21:00 and Weekend Wietze from 18:00 to 21:00.
Plans for the future
Right now, he has his full focus on the shows he is producing. He just started his journey at Radio 538 and has a lot of fun doing it. In the future, he might want to take upon more of a leadership role such as creative lead or programming director. Fun fact, a graduate of Buas is now working as a program director for Radio 538.
Tips for current Buas students
After he graduated, Dylan was keen on getting a full-time job. Therefore, he wrote to many companies he wasn't 100% passionate about. It can work as a disadvantage sending a motivation letter you may not fully support. Eleven months later after doing some part-time jobs, he got the full-time job he always wanted. “Have patience and don’t settle for less because you are pressuring yourself to have a full-time job right away”.
Pieter Boerboom
Secondly, I spoke to Pieter Boerboom who is 27 years old. In 2013 he decided to move to Breda to start his study IMEM. He graduated in 2018. In 2017 he moved to Amsterdam for his internship, and he decided to stay there. For many years he works as a video producer and project manager at Final Kid. Due to Covid-19, he decided it was time for a new adventure and continued as a front-end Developer at Cognizant.
High school
During high school, he wasn't sure what he wanted to study. He thought media and marketing was interesting. What particularly appealed to him was that the study was so broad. He decided to go for it, and he only applied to Buas and didn't have a plan b. Besides his study, he enjoyed working on projects and started to organize parties for students of his course. Later, he joined a committee which organized parties for the whole school. He developed his organizing skill, had to make videos, and learned how to book artists. While he was doing this, he discovered he enjoyed making videos. Due to organizing parties, he got to know many new people and students. Because of this, he rolled into other projects. So, his portfolio grew and grew. One of these projects was a project in Greece. In his summer holiday, he decided to help a beach club with creating content.
Internship
Pieter enjoyed making content for the beach club and that’s why he decided to write a motivation letter for the company Final Kid. Final Kid makes the after movies and commercials for Ultra Music Festival worldwide. By making videos in his summer holiday, he had built up a portfolio. This was the perfect way to show Final Kid he had a passion for video producing. It made it easier to get the internship. At his internship, he started as a video/ camera/ edit guy. While working at his internship he discovered that he also liked the production aspect of creating videos. That's why he changed his direction and became a production/ project manager at Final Kid. He decided to stay at Final Kid and worked at the company for three and a half years. Unfortunately, the events industry is not the best industry to work in during Corona. Therefore, he decided to pick up one of his other passions; web development and making websites. He started designing and making apps and websites so he could practice. I am not sure if you guys heard about Thuisbezorgd Roulette? You and your friends can fill in where you live and how many dishes you like to order, and the application will order something for you. Everyone in the Netherlands was talking about it. Guess who made it? Pieter! After practicing for a while, he ended up as a front-end Developer at Cognizant.
Plans for the future
In the upcoming years, Pieter wants to focus on web development. There is a high demand for people who want to work in this industry. He enjoys doing it and you can easily do it from home or wherever you are. His passion for video making will always remain and he might want to do something with it again in the future.
Tips for current Buas students
The disadvantage of a study that is quite broad is that you need to take things into your own hands. You need to actively build your own network and do your own projects aside from school. You can focus on getting high grades, but this may not be the best thing you can do. It is clever to have concrete skills and projects to put on your CV. Companies are interested in your experience and this is the thing companies look for when they search for employees. It is good to work on projects outside school and to share what you are working on with other people. Then doors will open for you. Because Pieter made Thuisbezorgdroullete and shared this on his LinkedIn and with friends he ended up in a meeting with people from Thuisbezorgd.nl. As well that if you are working on something and share this, you'll attract people that like what you are doing. It’s more about doing it for a few years and being consistent than being the best in one thing.
I enjoyed talking to Dylan and Pieter. It gave me motivation to work on projects again. It is important to work on projects outside school. As well that during the study you will learn where your interest is. I hope you found it as useful as I did. Who knows where we end up in a few years? Maybe you will become the next radio producer at Radio 538 or made an app that goes viral.
