The Coaches Behind the Career Café: Alumni

Every table has one alumni coach, and 45 minutes to go wherever the conversation needs to go. Twice a year, the Career Café turns that simple setup into something students remember after graduation; and it works because of Alumni.

In April, the UT hosted its latest edition of the Career Café: two evenings of small-group roundtable conversations between current UT students and alumni working across the world. Real talk between people who studied at the same university, some graduated a few years further than the others.

The coaches who joined the April edition came from a range of backgrounds. A BioMedical graduate now working in health-tech marketing in Eindhoven. A Business Information Technology alumna who became a Domain Architect at ABN AMRO. A Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation graduate managing Earth Observation projects at a sustainability firm in Germany. An Environmental & Energy Management alumnus now working as Market Manager at Airbnb. A Computer Science graduate leading software teams at a rail tech company.

Twenty-one coaches. Twenty-one different answers to the question every UT student eventually asks: so what can I actually do with this degree? And what does working life look like?

The Career Café is not a lecture series. It is not a panel, and it is not a networking reception. It is a structured roundtable: small groups of students, one alumni coach at the centre, and forty-five minutes to go wherever the conversation needs to go.

Students come with questions they would not ask a recruiter. Coaches share things they wish someone had told them. The format creates the conditions for honesty — and that is exactly what makes it valuable.

The diversity is the point

A UT education leads to an enormous range of careers — and the Career Café is one of the few places where that full range becomes visible in one room. A student considering a research path sits next to one weighing a corporate career, and both get to talk to coaches who have been exactly there.

That breadth is only possible because coaches come from across programmes, industries, countries, and career stages. Every new coach adds a perspective that would otherwise be missing.

From student seat to coach seat

Sometimes the Career Café comes full circle in the most tangible way possible.

Aradhana Tripathy attended the Career Café in November 2023, as a student. Sitting at one of those roundtable sessions, she got talking with Han Wijlens, an alumnus whose work at Kadaster connected closely with her MGeo studies in urban planning and earth observation. That conversation led to an internship opportunity, a placement that gave her real-world footing at exactly the right moment in her studies.

This April, Aradhana was back. This time as a coach, sitting at the centre of the table, fielding the same kinds of questions she once asked herself.

The next Career Café is coming in November 2026. Exact dates will be announced soon — and we are already looking for alumni who want to be part of it.

Whether you are two years out of Enschede or twenty, whether your career has gone in a straight line or taken a few unexpected turns, your experience is relevant. Especially the unexpected turns.

Signing up as a coach takes no special preparation. You bring what you know. The students bring the questions. The format takes care of the rest.

The Career Café is organised by the UT Career Services Team in collaboration with the Alumni Office of the University of Twente. It runs twice a year in both online and in-person formats. Questions? Reach us at alumni@utwente.nl