Nick Bootsma

Let us learn more about Nick in this Alumn interview.

What do you do now and where? Can you share some insight becoming an investment analyst?

After my time at UCG, I moved to Amsterdam where I followed the MSc Quantitative Risk Management at the VU. I wrote my thesis at De Nederlandsche Bank (central bank of the Netherlands) as a graduate intern. After DNB, I continued my ‘intern life’ by doing a strategy consulting internship at Accenture. My extracurricular activities during my UCG time, my master program, my internships and my side jobs really helped me understanding what elements in a job I find enjoyable, and what not. The ones I enjoy and find important are: having responsibility, team work, loyalty with customers/partners, working with small companies and a balance between a quantitative and qualitative analysis.

"I believe UCG helps students deal with responsibility. There is a lot more freedom, a lot more choices to make than regular students are subject to. It depends on the student to invests the right amount of energy into making proper decisions."

After Accenture, I was very keen on doing an internship in Private Equity or Venture Capital (these are investment firms that invest in non-publicly traded companies and help them grow), as I believed that this route would be a better match with the list of elements I previously mentioned. This third internship was, fortunately, my last internship and in April 2020 I started working as Business Analyst for an investment firm in the same industry: Pride Capital Partners (PCP).

In my new job, I am involved in each phase of the investment trajectory. Thus, I take care of sourcing new companies/leads and I reach out to them. Frequently enough I run quantitative and qualitative analyses in the shape of financial models. Finally I get to present the deal proposition to my team and the company with outmost diligence.

Which skill(s) you learned as a Liberal Arts and Sciences graduate would you say is the most useful now for your career?

There are multiple skills that I have developed at UCG and have been really helpful during both my masters and professional experiences. The first one would be the ability to be comfortable with writing formal papers (this is going to save you lots of time writing corporate emails!). And, of course, mastering the English language is definitely a plus. For me personally, I believe UCG helps students deal with responsibility. There is a lot more freedom, a lot more to choose from (also outside of UCG!), a lot more choices to make than regular students are subject to. It depends on the student whether he/she invests the right amount of energy into making proper decisions. I believe it is good for a student to be triggered to become more responsible. This helps you grow up, make more mistakes (which is good), gives you a sense of control and purpose, and makes you more professional.

How did you experience your transition from studying at UCG to a graduate program? Was it smooth or challenging coming from UCG?

It was challenging in the sense that my master program was a lot more quantitative than my Bachelor program was and consisted of 84 ECTS instead of 60 ECTS – but that had everything to do with my own decisions (both in terms of course selection at UCG as selecting a master program). From an organizational perspective, no, I missed the personal touch at UCG, but also found it enjoyable to experience a different University.

Any tips/advice for new and current UCG students?

If you want the table to shine, you will need friction! Try to gain lots of experience and keep track of the elements in those experiences you find enjoyable and not enjoyable. Do not overdo this, do not write essays on this, but just be honest to yourself about this and you will remember. Experiences lead to confrontation, confrontation is a negative experience, but the positive side is that you know how to be flawless next time! So go and experience things, also outside of UCG: go have a job, do internships, do extracurricular projects, start a company, start another one if you failed, whatever drives you inside, but keep looking for a challenge: it makes the table shine!

"If you want the table to shine, you will need friction! Try to gain lots of experience - keep looking for a challenge."

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