Trivec Troopers: Nico Plinke

Get to know the Trivec team through our blog series: Trivec Troopers. In this post you'll get to meet Nico Plinke, Regional Product Manager Belgium.

Name: Nico Plinke

Title: Regional Product Manager Belgium, and it’s my 7^th year at Trivec. I will also start building up Trivec Academy.

Favorite quote:

‘Tomorrow, I’m going on a diet…’

First off, what is a fun fact about your hometown?

I’m from Antwerp, and people from other cities call us extremely arrogant. But I disagree… They are in no position to judge. (Just kidding… We have a very beautiful city, we’re proud of it and we’re not afraid to carry this message out into the world. I think that might give us away as a nudge arrogant…)

How did you find your way to Trivec?

I used to be a teacher, but I always had some job on the side in hospitality. When I decided to stop teaching (sorry kids) I started a full-time job in a restaurant that was using a solution from our company. Through the aid of a friend of a friend who had also worked at Trivec (then ETC), I was able to start here as a support consultant. I quickly found a way to combine my passion for IT, my hospitality insights and my background as a teacher to take part in the development process and later in product management.

If you could write your own job title that best describes what you do at Trivec, what would it be?

Listening Expert. I must do a lot of listening to what many people try to tell me. And they use a lot of techniques to bring me the message. Sometimes they are angry because a customer is unhappy, but other times they are thrilled, because they can share an idea they have long been sitting on. I always have to peel of that layer of emotion (but recognizing that the feeling is sincere) to get to the bottom line and find something that can make our product even better.

Name your top 3 favorite vacation spots!

1. New York
2. London
3. Berlin

I’m a city dweller…

And, what do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

I have a lot of hobbies… I (try to) write musicals and bring people together to make them happen, I play a lot of games, and for some games I paint the miniatures myself. I read a lot of books and recently I also started tattooing. Let’s see where that goes…

Five (+1) quick questions:

• A night on the couch watching a movie, or a wild party night in Ibiza? Definitely the couch and the movie. Easy. Or maybe a Netflix series. I love bingewatching.
• If you had a superpower, what would it be? I would love to be able to read people’s minds.
• Do you have any weird nicknames? My friends pronounce my name in an English way when I was in high school (which sounds something like n-eye-koh) and it still happens at this day. What is weird for me is when people are using my real name (Nicolas) instead of the abbreviated Nico.
• Name three things on your bucket-list:

1. I want to write a young adults book combining a written part with a comic style part, one switching into the other and back again. I need to find a good illustrator for that.
2. I want to rewrite my first musical into a television series. I think it would make a very good setting, and I want to experience tv-set life for once. It always seemed like a magical thing to me.
3. I want to take my piano-skills to the next level.

• What is one thing no one knows about you? Well… I don’t believe in secrets. I think one of the first steps to achieve your full potential, is to come clear with who you are and what you did to become there. Flaws and perks alike. So I believe in being an open book (and I think I am)
• If I asked you to cook dinner for me, what would I be served? Too much… Really. I love cooking, and I am a feeder. So, if you were to come have dinner at my place (and by this: you’re invited, pick a date), You would not leave with an empty stomach. I don’t like all the fusion and atomary cuisine (mousses and extractions and deductions of things…). I love it when food looks like food, and you can pour as much sauce over it as you like (instead of three drops).
  
  

Thank you Nico! Next month we will meet Daniel de Sousa, our Group CEO... stay tuned!

Read about our pos system for restaurant.

• Trivec Troopers: Jenny Westerberg