Can you shortly introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Jesse and I am 22-years old. At the moment, I’m in the last year of the bachelor program CIS and I follow courses from the track Business Communication and Digital Media. Besides that, I’m fairly active at Flow and I work for Tilburg University’s ‘studentpool’. Last but not least, I’m also part of the Program Committee of CIS / CSAI.
Can you tell something about the side job you do?
As I said, I’m a member of the Program Committee of CIS. In this committee, six students and six lecturers of CIS take place, who meet several times a year to discuss CIS-related topics, such as proposed changes in the curriculum and course evaluations. After we discussed the topics, we give either positive or negative advises and we can encourage the Program Director to take action and fix some problems or for example talk with lecturers.
How did you end up here?
I consider myself a fairly critical person. I don’t criticize everything that’s said, but I always look at things from multiple perspectives and I try to empathize with all parties involved. This way, I can think of multiple possible problems that might be encountered. When someone told me there was an opening at the Program Committee, I immediately became interested, because my qualities fit the position perfectly. Besides that, I thought it was quite interesting to see what is being done to improve our studies, because both CIS and CSAI are very dynamic fields of study, where a lot can change in a short period of time.
How many hours a week are you busy approximately?
Being part of the Program Committee is very important work, but it won’t take up a lot of your time. You meet about 6 or 7 times a year, and before these meetings take place you will have to read some documents. Besides that, you might have to do some stuff after the meetings, like sending an e-mail to a lecturer, or contacting students. This accumulates to roughly 5 hours at max per meeting. So, 30 hours a year.
Why do you think that this side job is of added value when you enter the job market?
It’s always good to be part of a decision making process. You learn to see things from different perspectives and you learn to voice some constructive criticism. You represent the interests of multiple students, so being part of the Program Committee also comes with quite some responsibility.
