New Crew Member: Terry Oostdyk
Terry is second from the left in the front row; this was when her class came to visit us
Meet our new project facilitator, Terry!
Terry joins the long and prestigious line of YWeb Career Academy alums to be hired at Ten Forward; YWeb is a web design and development bootcamp sponsored by the Madison YWCA, and we've been involved with them in a variety of capacities for more than five years.
As our new PF, Terry brings multiple applicable skills to the role, including experience in customer support and quality assurance. We're excited for her to level up our testing processes and help us keep the end-user top of mind, and we look forward to helping her grow in her new position.
Welcome to the team!
What brought you to Ten Forward?
“It started with [YWeb Career Academy] two years ago, when our cohort visited Ten Forward. I loved the positive energy and atmosphere of the office. After YWeb, I began working at Mobile Doorman, who then shared the office with Ten Forward! I got to know many of the Ten Forward folks and kept in touch with Brian. He told me about the Project Facilitator opportunity, and I applied, and now here I am!!”
What are you looking forward to learning or doing in your new position?
“So much! I am excited to be on the planning side of projects and learning the process. I’m also looking forward to the wide variety of work, versus continuous work on one product.”
Previously, you were working at a product startup. What kind of differences do you anticipate working at a consulting company?
"I think the biggest thing will be learning and working with many different products rather than just one. There will be a lot more variety in pretty much every aspect of the work I do at Ten Forward."
What are some of the skills you honed at previous jobs that you think most apply to your new role?
"From [my previous work in] tech support: Communication! Responding to customer requests, finding resolutions to their needs and doing it all in a timely manner, with a positive attitude, while balancing it with the bandwidth of the dev team when their help is needed.
From [my previous work in] QA: Details! Seeing how fixing bugs or creating a new feature is broken down into many pieces/stories, and how important the details are. Also being able to work with a variety of different people to complete a common goal."
You have two adorable dogs. Tell us a little about them!
"They’re crazy!
Tyson is a 3-year-old Goldendoodle and Tilly is a 6-month-old German Shepadoodle (German Shepherd / Poodle mix). They have kept life more exciting while we are 'stuck' at home.”
Fill in the blanks: "If I could only __ one __ for the rest of my life, it would be __."
"If I could only eat one dessert for the rest of my life, it would be tiramisu."
What's something about you people might find surprising?
"That my college degree is Studio Art! My focus was ceramics / 3-D art, but I also like watercolor painting."
Favorite board game or video game, TV show or movie, band or musician, emoji.
Board game: Apples to Apples
TV Show: Grey's Anatomy
Band or musician: Bon Jovi
Emoji: 🦦
"Star Trek" or "Star Wars"?
“Star Trek (of course!)"