From game shop to full-stack development: Welcoming Maria Maas to Growcreate

Maria Maas, Junior Web Developer at Growcreate

Some people have straightforward careers. Others take breaks, change direction, and come back with even more purpose.

Maria Maas, now a Junior Software Developer at Growcreate, didn’t start her journey in software as a child or in school. She found her path later, driven by curiosity and a surprising new interest.

A pandemic pivot that changed everything

Maria began her professional life in Communication and Media Studies. But something didn’t click. After stepping away from her studies, she worked full-time for nearly 6 years. Most notably, she worked at Game Mania, where she learned communication, creative problem-solving, and how to deal with every type of customer imaginable.

Then COVID hit.

Shops closed, and routines changed. Like many people, Maria’s life was turned upside down. Seeing her boyfriend work as a developer at the kitchen table gave her a new idea.

“I saw what he was doing and thought… maybe I could try this,” she says.

Around then, the Dutch government started a program to help people retrain after COVID. Maria joined a front-end development course. She found out she loved building things and felt a new sense of direction.

“So I asked myself: am I really meant to stay in retail forever? Or do I want something new? I realised I wanted to create things — to make something useful, something beautiful.”

That choice changed her life.

Accelerating through ICT — and graduating with honours

Maria didn’t just go back to school. She finished her four-year ICT degree in three years and graduated with honours.

“It was exhausting,” she says, “but getting that diploma in my hands… that was a moment of real pride.”

Her graduation post showed how she felt: grateful, relieved, and happy after a tough journey, helped by mentors like her internship lead, Theo Budding.

“We were like colleagues,” she says. “He guided me, challenged me, and helped me believe I could do this.”

Her internships showed she was on the right track.

Building real systems with real impact

In her early projects, Maria turned manual, error-prone tasks into digital tools that made things much easier for users.

Restore Kringloop — stockroom chaos, reorganised

Restore is a Dutch recycling/thrift organisation. Maria helped build a system to digitise clothing inventory. Before her team arrived, workers logged bags of clothing manually, using paper and Excel. Language barriers and inconsistent workflows complicated the process.

Maria helped design and develop a scanner-based solution:
scan → classify by image → log into a dashboard → generate clean reports.

The new system was simple, accurate, and made a big difference.

“When they called me during my graduation year to say they turned off the server by mistake… I realised they were still using it. That made me so happy.”

NVWA — giving inspectors smarter tools

Her next internship was at the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, where she worked on another manual process.

Inspectors were writing pesticide details by hand during farm visits — a slow, error-prone, inefficient process. Maria helped develop a mobile recognition app that scanned barcodes, validated data, and automatically flagged violations.

“Everything became faster,” she says. “Inspectors saved time, farmers got clearer results, and the whole system worked better.”

These were real systems that solved real problems, and they showed her she had chosen the right path.

Finding her place at Growcreate

Maria joined Growcreate only three weeks after she graduated. What attracted her to the company?

“The clients,” she says. “Benefit Data, Turner & Townsend… I loved the variety and the chance to work on different products for different organisations.”

She was first hired as a backend developer, but soon started working on full-stack projects. She naturally found herself drawn to front-end work.

“I love front-end. I love seeing things appear on the screen, moving things around, making everything beautiful… even if it can be frustrating.”

What were her first thoughts about working at an agency?

“It is fast. Every day, something new. Different languages, different clients… very different from University.”

But she adapted quickly. Now, she works on both internal and client projects, from Umbraco components to front-end development for Turner & Townsend.

“The pixel-perfect details matter to me,” she admits. “I’ll spend ages trying to make two cards match in height. It’s annoying, but in a good way.”

Learning, growing, refining

Maria is currently completing Umbraco Fundamentals and has her eye on a long-term goal: becoming an Umbraco Master.

She’s exploring TypeScript and deepening her craft. She is steadily building the skill set of a full-stack engineer with a strong front-end identity.

Maria looks back on her journey and shares the biggest lesson she’s learned so far.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that it’s OK not to know everything. Even after university, you keep learning every day. That’s how growth happens.”

A developer with a personal story

Outside of work, Maria relaxes by gaming and painting. She also enjoys a genre she introduced many of us to: romantasy, a mix of romance and fantasy popular on TikTok.

“I like disappearing into other worlds,” she says.

One of the most surprising details?

She grew up on a Dutch cargo boat, moving from place to place as her parents transported glass, aggregate, and anything else that needed to be shipped.

“I had a little play area on the back of the boat,” she laughs. “Swings and everything.”

Her background was always on the move. Now, she speaks with the calm focus of someone who has found her place in her work.

A hard worker, a team player, a rising developer

When asked how she hopes her colleagues see her, Maria’s answer is simple:

“That I’m a hard worker. Someone is always ready to help. Someone who shows up with a smile.”

In just five months, Maria has already become part of Growcreate, contributing, learning, and bringing curiosity, discipline, and creativity to the team.

Her story is one of reinvention: choosing a new direction, working hard, and building momentum along the way.

We’re proud to have her on board.