Author: Samir Verkuijlen

Categories
Digital Nomad Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Origin Story: Sacrifices For a Dream

Intro

The news has been out, and all our friends, family, partners, colleagues and acquaintances now know that we are moving to Bali. Besides the nice, emotional and beautiful responses towards this news, it of course also raised some questions. Especially from our professional network.

Is it true that you are not working for ASML anymore, and what are you going to do?

Well, let’s answer the first question about ASML in this post.

Ending My Rol As an Architect

Yes it’s true, I have actually already quit the rol as an architect for ASML a few months ago. The ones that know me very well, know how much I loved the rol. The semiconductor business is an extremely interesting world in itself, but the way ASML is pushing boundaries is just mind blowing. Knowing what kind of cool projects, but also challenges are coming up, made me proud to be part of it. Besides that, the colleagues who I worked together with were not only dedicated or smart, but also genuinely fun people to spend time with. 

Change of Policy

After 3 months, I finally got into the culture and way of working. Both me & ASML were happy about our collaboration and ready to extent it for at least 1 year. Then, a few days later, a new company policy came around. Full remote working was not allowed anymore, but changed to a hybrid way of working with a few days a week onsite.

I think almost everyone is happy that we can come back to the office and can finally meet up with our colleagues in real life, which was also the case for me. In all honesty, I totally understand and respect the decision of ASML. However, for me this change in policy had a great impact on my future dreams.

Becoming The Architect Of My Life

At that time, I didn’t had the idea to fully move, live and work in another country. I was just planning to buy a home somewhere else were I could work a few months a year remotely. I did had the idea to move out and live abroad with my family 1 or 2 years later, but not at that time. However, this change in policy, didn’t allow me to work for ASML when I was away from The Netherlands. In this case it was quite strict. So before I left on a business trip towards Mexico, I had the time to think about the choices that I was offered.

Stay as an architect for a beautiful company
or …
Become the architect of a beautiful life

I decided that eventhough I loved to work for ASML, my personal dreams and the life that I envisioned for my family was more important than anything else. That’s why I became an entrepreneur in the first place. So instead of choosing the safe option of staying in the comfortable life & position that I had created for myself, I chose to become the architect of my life. Not only that, we asked ourself the question: Why wait for our ultimate dream to become reality? Why not now?

Looking Back

When we came back from Mexico we fixed the last things in our house and put it up for sale, and the rest became history. Looking back to it, I’m really happy that this has happened. I had to make a difficult decision, but because of it, I finally truly did what I wanted and needed to do. Instead of waiting for a few years, we took immediate action.

Moving away is not easy and multiple sacrifices are constantly being made. Like selling a home that we’ve been working hard on, moving away from family and friends, and in this case, letting go of a rol I was proud of at ASML was one of them.

Big Thank You To:
ASML & One Zero IT

I want to thank ASML for this great experience and it’s unfortunate that our ways have to part already. I also want to thank One Zero IT for understanding and better yet, supporting me with this decision. As a freelancer, there are not many recruiters or in between parties that I have met that hold the same principle values as I, or even value the relationship more than the ending of a deal or contract.

One Zero IT is much more than a recruitment or consultancy company, and saying that would devalue them greatly. They are an experienced company that understand both technology and business ethics, and know how they can help organizations to accelerate their Digital Transformation or a company’s growth. Not only that, they are run by 2 incredible fun and great owners and I would definitely recommend everyone who is in the same field as I, to connect with them. I’m grateful to know them for a few years now and I can’t wait to work with them again. Also, if you are interested, similar positions are still open for ASML. So definitely contact One Zero IT if you are interested.

With that being said, thank you for reading and following our tales.

Samir Verkuijlen

Categories
Digital Nomad The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Origin Story: My First year as a (remote) Freelancer

Intro

As I mentioned in the last post, 1,5 year ago, I started my own business and became a freelancer & entrepreneur.
On 10-March-2022, vSAM Consultancy officially existed for 1 year 🥳. Just a few days after I quite my former job, I went to the Dutch KVK and registered the company “vSAM Consultancy”. A simple procedure, but at the same time, a beautiful and important moment that officially kicked off a new adventure.

The Start of a new Adventure

And what an adventure it was😁 …

In my first year, I worked for different clients in industries like: finance, governments, MSP’s, health care, and the semiconductor industry. Besides that, I also had the chance to work in different forms & roles and meet great people. Starting with a short term contract with a double role as a Team lead & Architect. The company who hired me had a security breach, and needed someone to step-in and help them with micro-segmentation and other projects that improved security and the stability of the environment.

Becoming a Dad

Just after I finished the contract, my baby girl was born and I enjoyed life as a newborn dad and watched how the story of my baby girl unfold & progressed. To me, becoming a dad is the best thing that ever happened, and also the biggest adventure that I ever started. It sounds cliche, but it is. That’s why I’m happy that I took the time to enjoy every moment, and also proud that from such a uncertain beginning, I was able to provide myself and family that time. Instead of going directly for the next big assignment, I paused.

As a freelancer it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the opportunities that lay around, the people & organizations you can help, the amount of work that needs to be done everyday, and also, the money that you can make. The best tip I ever got from a fellow IT freelancer:

Keep making time for your family and yourself. If not,
You’ll end up being a slave to your own ambitious goals, Forgetting why you started out in the first place.

Ambitious Traps

Knowing myself and having my own ambitious trap of always shooting for higher goals, I know that I often forget to take the time to enjoy the achievement, success, or life that I created and the family and friends that I have. Since the birth of my daughter, I make sure that I do make time to enjoy these precious moments. She reminds me there is more to life then work, goals and the never-ending rat race. She keeps my goal clear and is the biggest reason for why I do all these things in the first place.

The Reason Behind Everything

To be honest, my daughter Aylena, was and IS the biggest reason to start for myself. The story of becoming a father is at the same time also the prequel to the story that I’m writing as a freelancer & entrepreneur. She is the reason that I started, the reason that I work, the thought behind certain goals, and conditions that I set when I take on an assignment, and she became my biggest inner-drive. A drive to live life on my terms and to create a life and lifestyle were I can become the best version of myself, for myself, my friends and clients, but most importantly,

For my family.
Samir Verkuijlen

Categories
Digital Nomad Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Origin Story: Taking a Leap of Faith

Black Fiat500 Car

Taking a Leap of Faith:
How it all began

Many people ask us where how we came on the idea to start traveling and to move away from our home country. Especially with a baby that is not even 1 year old. Well, before the idea even started to travel around the world and to search for the perfect place to work and live with our family, there were a few important key moments that changed our life. Both as how we function as a family as in our mindset. Looking back to it, one of the first and most important changes that unintentionally has set some of the tings in motion, was the moment that I stopped working as an employee and started my own business.

From Employee to Self-employed

One and a half year ago, I stopped working for a great company, and took a big leap of faith. I left behind a great team with awesome colleagues and beautiful minds, and went down a path full of risks and uncertainty. It was just a few days before I turned 30 years old, and just a few months before we became proud parents of our daughter Aylena. I always knew that one day I would start for myself, and that this would also be the last company were I would work as an employee. However, I still didn’t expect it to happen exactly that year. Covid19, different views & opinion on IT and business, the realization of turning 30 and becoming a father, pushed me towards the path of which I knew I would eventually cross.

I Quit

With no plan, no prospect of a first assignment, and with a clear deadline of only a few months before our baby would be born, I quit.

I just finished a big home renovation in our house, and with a baby on its way, my studio became the baby room, and the attic became my new office. With the money that we had left, I bought the gear that I needed, and bought a small Fiat 500 for the family and gave back my company car. 

Goodbye Tesla

The Last Work Day

I never forget that last “work” day. I drove to the office and handed in my Tesla. The sun was shining and my wife sat with our baby in her belly on the passenger’s seat of our new loyal fiat 500 😊.

Look How Happy she is

With not much money, no certainty, but a big inner drive and a strong ambition, we drove back with a big smile and beautiful dreams of the future. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew I was going to, and make this work. In a few days I changed from employee, to self-employed.

Uncertainty becomes certainty,
Once you accept it & take full responsibility.

Giving up (a form of) certainty, and embracing uncertainty was not easy, but it was the most liberating feeling that I have felt in years.

Looking Back

Looking back to it one and a half years later, this was one of the biggest key moments that led me and my family to the place were we are now. It was the kick-off of to more financial freedom, but even more important, the beginning of living life on our terms. Or how I would like to call it, creating a life by design. I started to think about what a happy and full-filled life would look and feel like, and what that meant for me in my work/life balance. Once that was clear, I started to take clear and intended actions towards my goal and changed the way I lived and looked at my life. Since then, whenever I took on a role, project or contract, I made sure that it supported 100% remote working. This way I could be more with my daughter & unintentionally, it also set up the lifestyle of a digital nomad. It was not always easy, but I knew why I did it, and that made me much stronger during the negotiation process.

Till this day, I’m still so extremely grateful that I took this leap of faith, and that my wife supported me all the way and all the time. It was a crazy but awesome year, and one that surpassed all the expectations. I want to thank everyone that helped and joined me in this awesome journey.

I can’t wait for the upcoming years.
Thank you.

Samir Verkuijlen