Julie Vandenberghe recently joined the J2S team as an integrator.
During this interview, you will get to know her.
This exchange will be divided into two parts.
In the first part, she will tell us about her arrival at J2S and her previous experiences in the publishing world.
It’s time to listen to Julie!
Caroline Balavoine: When did you join J2S? How did your training go? And your meeting with the team?
Julie Vandenberghe: I arrived at the end of August at J2S. My training went very well, my colleagues took the time to explain the different tools to me: J2S Module Editor (the application for editing and testing modules), Simple MOM (the application used to manage product offers), the book generator…
At the same time, I got to know the team: each person explained more precisely what his or her job was and we could share our personal experiences. I started working on my first customer project a month later.
C.B.: Did you manage to familiarize yourself with the tools? I heard that you were an expert at using Adobe InDesign, did that help you in your training?
J.V.: The training was mainly done remotely with my fellow trainers and, like any new job, there was a lot of information to take in and tools to learn (and I still have a lot to learn). Going through this big training phase is very beneficial because it allows me to project myself when I will have to train clients.
I’m not an expert in Adobe InDesign (I’m not at George’s level yet ;-)) but I know it very well. I’ve been using it for almost 10 years, both for print and web, and I also had the opportunity to teach courses at the university on this software. Indeed, this has been a bonus for my training on Simple Workspace.
C.B.: What is your job at J2S and which assignments do you undertake?
J.V.: I am an integrator. When a client chooses to work with us, I set up our tools according to their needs (creation of users and role management, creation of modules and workflows, etc.), then I train them and accompany them in the use of the tools. Once everything is in place, I provide support to the users.
C.B.: Tell us about your previous experiences, what positions have you held?
J.V.: I worked for 8 years in a university publishing house as a layout artist and communication manager.
I was in charge of the book from the initial composition (Word document provided by the author) to the printing (signature of the final proof) and the online publishing of the digital versions (interactive PDF and ePub). This included styling, spellchecking, XML file generation, layout in InDesign, illustration retouching, etc.
I was also in charge of the communication, I realized for example the communication supports (posters, flyers, catalogs, newsletters…) and I was in charge of the management of the website and the animation of the social networks among others. And, as said before, I also gave courses at the university on Adobe InDesign to students in their 2nd year of their master of publishing.
C.B.: What are the qualities you need to have to do your job?
J.V.: I think you have to be good at communicating with people and know how to work as part of a team, as we are constantly in contact with the various parties involved: clients, developers, project managers, salespeople, etc.
I would also say that you have to be organized in order not to be overwhelmed by the different tasks you have to do. Indeed, you have several projects at the same time and for each project, you always have to keep in mind the different steps and the next deadlines.
And, finally, I think you have to be curious and like to learn in order to always propose new “simple solutions” to our customers 😉
C.B.: The IT field is quite masculine, how do you feel like a woman?
J.V.: The publishing world is known to be mainly female (even if there were as many women as men in my previous company). That’s bound to change at J2S! But, for the moment, I’m not complaining, the whole team is nice (and I say that without any pressure from my colleagues or my bosses ;-)).
Thanks to Julie for this first interview.
You are now getting to know Julie a little better! There’s more to come!
As said earlier, this interview is not over, Julie will share her impressions on the Simple Workspace solution, during the next interview at Chez J2S.
Stay tuned to Chez J2S to read the rest of this interview.
In the meantime,
contact us
for a demonstration of the tool!
PS: Julie wrote an article about the new features of Simple MOM (the offer management application), you can read it here .
C. Balavoine
Sales & CSM