Emiliano came to Twente for love and now never wants to leave

This article is part of a series called “Twente Leeft!” (Twente Lives!). You can read personal stories here about living and working in Twente. Twente is a nice place to be, according to the talents we meet. The beautiful nature, space, the down-to-earth mentality; they all characterise Twente. There are also plenty of career opportunities! Twente has many innovative, international and future-proof companies that are desperate for staff. Want to know what Twente has to offer? You can find Emiliano story below.

“Many schools, especially primary schools, were already using MOO before the corona crisis, but the number of users has almost tripled since March. Everyone has been introduced to digital teaching, albeit out of necessity. Teachers and pupils now know the possibilities, and they are enormous. It will soon be impossible to imagine education without it.”

From applications for video calls with the teacher or chatting with friends during breaks and from quizzes to handing in assignments, Heutink ICT’s IT department makes it all possible. Emiliano has been working for the company for six years now. “I had already got a job at Wolters-Kluwer within a week of moving to the Netherlands”, he says. “I joined Heutink ICT in 2015 and still enjoy it very much, now as a developer and team manager. We do a lot of fine-tuning and make sure that MOO is easy to use in secondary education by tailoring it to the needs of individual schools. Of course, we are always working on the security of our software as well. We regularly ask third parties to carry out ‘penetration attempts’. We fix problems and follow up on the recommendations they give us.”

Even though he loves his work, it was not his reason for moving to Twente.  “My wife studied music in Buenos Aires. We decided to start living together in Argentina shortly after we met. After three years, we moved to the Netherlands because making a living from music was not possible for her. She now works as an optician, and music is naturally still a major hobby of hers.”

Emiliano travels to Argentina about once every two years. He no longer wants to live there; he feels completely at home in Twente. “It is tranquil here, which is a big difference from Buenos Aires. I enjoy the peace and quiet, and nature here is beautiful. We often go for walks on the Tankenberg, through Denekamp and De Lutte, or I’ll grab my mountain bike and go to Het Hulsbeek.”

Emilio does not only enjoy the peace and quiet, but he also enjoys the atmosphere in Twente. “Carnival is also celebrated in Argentina, but Oldenzaal really knows how to party. I play in a drum band here, just like I did in my native country, and we often play during carnival. It’s a shame that we cannot do that now, but I’m sure we will again.”