What exactly do you do at Signpost?
Ben: "My days are very varied and of course highly dependent on the school periods. At the moment it is super busy as the new school year has just started. As of this year, Lernova will also offer learning content for the fourth year of secondary education and we will start with almost 100 additional schools. This is a doubling of the number of schools. Our entire team is working hard to make sure all these students can have the best possible start of the new school year."

What does your day look like?
Ben: "I primarily focus on the technical side of the platform. I collaborate closely with our developers to solve any bugs that may arise as quickly as possible. I test the solutions and, in the meantime, I keep in close contact with the customer. You can actually see me as the link between the end users and our IT department. As a result, no two days are the same. One day I interact with teachers who use the Lernova platform in the classroom, the next with ICT coordinators who want a synchronisation with Smartschool. Some days I have online meetings, others I visit schools to give trainings or demos on how our platform works or its new features.

Once the busy period in September is over, you will find me visiting schools more often to make sure we can follow up on our existing customers. In addition, together with our product owner Bram Faems, I will take a close look at our roadmap. Taking into account the questions of our customers, we will determine the priorities of new developments on our platform."

How did you end up working at Signpost?
Ben: "Before I started working at Lernova, I taught for 18 years at a secondary school in Aalst. I was a computer teacher and ICT coordinator. Because of this, I understand the needs of our customers very well. If you are a teacher looking for a new challenge, the link with Signpost, Academic Software and Lernova is quickly made. Even though life is completely different on the other side of the table, I do not feel that I miss anything. Most of all, I miss my former teacher-colleagues, but at Lernova I am also surrounded by a very nice team."

What are your interests besides work?
Ben: "My biggest focus besides work is my family, especially my two daughters (8 and 11 years old). Until a few months ago, I was a basketball coach and trained both children and first teams for many years. Unfortunately, injuries kept me from playing for years and due to lack of time I also gave up coaching for a while. But as of this year, I have exchanged my basketball for a racing bike and hope to be able to go for a nice ride on Sundays."