We almost had a Tesla!

I had a few too many drinks the night before, barely slept and I was speeding in a Tesla over the Zolder circuit. Not the most ideal situation, but who could refuse an offer to drive on this gigantic racetrack. Not me! I’m a big fan of Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla. One day I hope to interview him for our documentary series about lucrative changemakers.

On my left side was Michiel, the owner, who kindly invited me to come along. This was my chance to ask him to borrow his sustainable car for 6 weeks to kick-off our project. Michiel laughed and replied with a resolute “No”. I realized I wasn’t making him an offer that he couldn’t refuse. Thus I returned to him with the question: “What can I help you with? Just name it”.

You see that’s the thing I’ve learned about people (even the ones that own expensive cars): they’re always looking for something.

He responded rapidly “A developer.” I’d worked with startups for the past 3,5 years and knew many developers. Good ones are rare but I said “I’ll give it a go” and then I shook his hand.

The right man
The week after I received more details about the vacancy. The candidate had to be curious, stubborn, ambitious and eager to learn. I even knew the perfect man for the job: Martijn. He was eager and currently building his own house from scratch. The kind of assertive independent man that would be a perfect fit for Voormedia Michiel’s company.

I picked up the phone and told Martijn the whole story; he thought it was humorous. “Why not”, he said and we send over the paperwork. Michiel was impressed. Things were moving up, but not very fast. Interviews, technical tests, psycological test and so forth. I was becoming impatient, but fortunately both parties were often talking about a “click”, which kept my confidence going.

The verdict
Michiel was ready to hire him and was drawing up a proposal, when suddenly Martijn needed more time to think. “I’m giving myself a hard deadline”, he said. “I’ll get back to you in two weeks.” I knew I couldn’t pressure him. Two weeks passed and I was eagerly waiting his verdict.

Finally I received a message announcing he had taken a promotion. I had a small breakdown. The whole process took me almost two months, bearing no fruits.

I won’t give up easily and hope you’ll help me find the right man/woman for Michiel (job description can be find at the bottom). The person who has the most valuable tip will receive a lift to a European city of their choice in “our” red Tesla.

Much love,
Linda

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Job description

Voormedia is looking for a web developer! You can work with us in Sweden, the Netherlands or both as a developer on challenging projects. We are a non-hierarchical team of young, enthusiastic web developers and designers.

• You are a developer, not because it’s your job, but because you love it.
• Although you may have a preference for a programming language, you’re happy to use and learn any language (such as Ruby, Java, C#, PHP or JavaScript).
• You use the right tools for the job and can make a case for every decision you make.
• You develop test-driven and write clear, reusable code.
• You have experience with source control (we use Git) and can rig up development/production environments in no time.
• You can analyse problems you’re faced with, come up with more than one solution and solve the problem as you see fit.

Does this sound like you or somebody you know? Find out more.

Twentie Four is a web series that follows 24 entrepreneurs for 24 hours around the globe.