Day in the life – Richard Mertens
We caught up with one of our GLIMS Project Managers, Richard Mertens, to find out more about his work at Clinisys and what he most enjoys about his role.
Richard is a Project Manager, overseeing the deployment of our LIS – GLIMS.
Have you always had a clear idea of what you wanted to do – and has that changed over the years?
I once believed I was going to be a pathologist, this has started to turn out differently. I started by discovering the laboratory world where my interest in clinical chemistry started. That’s why I decided to study for clinical chemical analyst.
During my career as a clinical chemical analyst, I discovered automation. This was a very interesting part of the daily work for me.
During my analyst course I started to study the IT field, where I discovered that the soft skills needed to automate are particularly close to me.
What attracted you to Clinisys?
While working as an analyst at the Hospital, I became part of the GLIMS implementation team in 2006. I got to know the Clinisys employees, as well as the product Clinisys and CyberLab. My interest in Clinisys was very high and at one point a phone call came that there was a vacancy at Clinisys.
This has led me to start as a project engineer at Clinisys from April 2008. For me, this step was a personal leap into the unknown, which was very cool for the moment in my life.
Because Clinisys was still very small in 2008, almost familial, there is a good connection with the people who already worked there at that time, this still provides a good foundation for creating the right working atmosphere.
Why leave the lab?
The challenge to work in several places in the NETHERLANDS and beyond. Do a GLIMS deployment every time. This was a better place for me than to stay ‘fixed’ in the laboratory.
How did your career develop or change within Clinisys?
I have grown into different roles within Clinisys:
- Project engineer (junior)
- Project engineer (senior)
- Project Manager
How did you experience your onboarding and training?
The training within Clinisys is usually product oriented, it is usually very well and provides a lot of information.
To achieve personal growth, there are opportunities to follow external trainings.
What do you like most about your current role?
Keeping a big project going is satisfying.
There’s not one day the same. Starting the day with an empty agenda – this day may turn into a mega busy day within one hour.
Are there any experiences that stand out during your time at Clinisys ?
During my work I continued to search for improvements and became involved to improve certain processes. Part of this is the SharePoint (Atlas) implementation project within Clinisys.
The assembly of certain modules or couplings is really cool. The GLIMS Palga PPM project was very cool to do. Starting with the business/process analysis, drawing up the actual link specifications and implementing this link at a customer was a really cool thing to do.
Any advice to anyone interested in making the step?
Go for it! Clinisys is an accessible company with a lot of opportunities to grow.