Nick Vandenberge, Support Specialist

Our mission at Protenus is to advance the science of healthcare by bringing together creative and skilled individuals who are passionate about the security, usability, and applicability of health data. As this information becomes more voluminous, comprehensive, and, as a consequence, more vulnerable, we are building scalable, insightful solutions that address critical issues preventing the efficient, safe, and effective delivery of patient care.

Our team is comprised of a diverse group of people who come together to achieve this shared mission. To give a glimpse into our culture and highlight the diversity of our team, we’ve asked Nick Vandenberge, Support Specialist, to share more about his experience working at Protenus.

What’s your role at Protenus, and what do you do?

I work as a Support Specialist on our Customer Success team. I focus on making sure all customer issues are diagnosed, addressed and resolved in a timely fashion. I also maintain the Protenus Help Center, develop and improve support workflows, and take part in QA testing. In addition to my primary role, I’m working toward becoming a Front-End Developer. It’s been great to be supported in this and since coming to Protenus, I’ve gotten the opportunity to work on addressing bugs and developing new user interface features. Working in both roles has allowed me to leverage my knowledge about our end users and collaborate with our development team to create strong solutions for common issues.

What did you do before coming to Protenus?

Before Protenus, I was a Customer Success Engineer for a company that develops and maintains end-user adoption software. During my three year tenure, I was responsible for managing customer inquiries regarding the software. This included developing, integrating, and maintaining technical solutions related to software and setup errors. I also wrote and published many customer-facing articles that promoted knowledge-sharing among end-users that improved incident resolution times.

What initially attracted you to Protenus?

The opportunity to work for a company that was in a rapid growth stage was particularly interesting to me. During my interview, various team members shared that I would be one of the first to work in the Support Specialist role. I wasn’t going to be placed in a system and given pre-existing procedures to follow, I was going to be the one creating those procedures, which excited me. Coming to Protenus was appealing because it was going to push me to grow and further develop my skills and career. I was also very interested in learning more about the healthcare industry.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

By far, the company culture is the best part of my job. I LOVE the flexibility Protenus provides, which allows me to do my best work and serve our customers. Things like flexible hours, working from home, multiple unique workspaces, and real opportunities for career development are some of the things that really differentiate Protenus from the other companies I have worked for. It’s also great that you don’t see a lot of micromanagement here which makes a huge difference. This approach creates a low-stress environment and allows for great work-life balance. Not to mention the incredible team that has been nothing but friendly and supportive since my very first day. 

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned since starting at Protenus?

The concept of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Working for a rapidly growing company means a lot of new processes and workflows need to be developed across multiple areas. You may need to develop some processes in your area of expertise, and others that are not. This required me to try a lot of new things and make mistakes along the way. This has pushed me outside my comfort zone and gain the confidence to begin working towards becoming a web developer.  

How has working at Protenus impacted your career?

I’ve been able to grow in ways I could have never imagined. During my interview, I was asked about my future plans and I expressed an interest in learning about Front-End Development and using those skills to contribute to growing company needs. Within my first year, Protenus not only provided me with the resources to complete a Front-End Development course but allowed me to work with the development team to gain actual developer experience. That was something I had only dreamed about in the past, and now that it is a reality. I could not be happier. Protenus promotes continuous learning development, and even has a generous employee professional development budget dedicated to it, which shows how much they are invested in their employees’ growth and overall well-being.

What has surprised you the most about working at Protenus?

The industry need for the Protenus platform has been very eye-opening. Prior to working at Protenus, I never realized or even thought about how often medical records were being breached, not just by hackers, but by people within the system. Learning how violations were historically handled prior to Protenus was shocking to me given the available technology we have today. After experiencing my first demo of the Protenus software all I could think about was how much value it provides to not only hospitals and to compliance officers, but also to the end-users and the patients who place their trust in these organizations.

In 10 words or less, how would you describe the culture at Protenus?

An ambitious team on an exciting and innovative adventure.

We are growing! View our Careers page, if you’d like to see current job opportunities at Protenus.