How did you get started at The Factory?
I started at The Factory two years ago during the Covid period. My employer at the time did not want to move towards the Cloud and I did. This made me consider other opportunities. I’d talked with many cloud-oriented companies and made my decision. I was not going to The Factory but, when I told my wife about this, her first response ‘Why are you not happy?’
Of course, one of the companies I spoke with was The Factory. They left me with a great feeling, their focus on and passion for engineering was remarkable. This got me thinking, “I want to work with them” and “This is what’s going to make me happy”!
I decided to follow my gut feeling and work for The Factory. The question that got me thinking was asked when I informed The Factory I would start somewhere else, the question was: “Are you sure your choice is the best choice for you?”
This says a lot about how we communicate with each other. Open with the best intentions.
Did you have any goals when you started at The Factory?
Before I started at The Factory my main focus was developing integrations and data. I really wanted to have a broader understanding of the Cloud. I thought I would need to understand the basics first, so I wanted to prioritize working on my (Cloud) networking skills. At my first customer I worked on rebuilding their Azure Landing Zone. I got to build a hub spoke model and migrate their running workloads. After this I could check the box for networking. And the icing on the cake was completing my Azure Solution Architect exam.
You finished your project for the customer, what is the next step?
I actually don’t have a next goal on paper yet. I did start with a new customer. I really wanted to collaborate with a colleague from The Factory. At the moment I’m working together with a colleague, at my new customer. A new goal will come with time, the goals need to be tangible and applicable for my current project, otherwise I will just forget what I have learned.
When you started at The Factory there were 12 people, now already almost 30. Does this affect the culture?
Let’s make an analogy. Take a music band you’ve liked for a long time, let say 10 years. They won’t make exactly the same music throughout that time span but, this doesn’t make them any less good or enjoyable to listen too.
What I want to say is yes. The Factory did grow and change but it happened organically. We build upon the same principles. The colleagues are still open, though diverse, with a passion for the work they do. More diversity in the way of thinking, more people I can go to, to discuss my thoughts about a subject.
When would you recommend working at The Factory?
At my previous job, I missed colleagues with a drive to dive deep. It’s more than just your work. Someone needs to be cut out for this.
It’s not about what you can or cannot do. It’s more about what type of person you are, the passion and personality someone has.
For example, we have someone with a passion for plants, we have a lot of home automation geeks. All these people will dive into the rabbit hole. They come out when the work is done and ask themselves... was this work or was this one big adventure…
When would you not recommend working at The Factory?
When you just want to stay where you are. When you’re not really interested in more than the trick you learned. Then I don’t think The Factory is a good match.
What are you up to besides work?
I like running. The tougher the better. The ultimate goal is the UTMB (Ultimate Trailrunning Mont Blanc). A competition of 172 km in max 46 hours. Next year I want to try my first 100km trail run, and will aim for at least 2 marathons. And I want to climb several alpine summits. Three times 4000+ meters high Pollux & Castor (The Twins) and Breithorn Traverse (east-west).
Are you also that sportive on holiday?
At the start of June, I was with a friend in the Gran Paradiso (Great Paradiso) national park in Italy, with the aim of climbing the mountain of the same name (4061m). For altitude acclimatization we hiked the first day from our campsite at 1810m altitude to 2710m to have lunch in the mountain hut Frederico Chabod. Along the way we came across everything such as ibex, alpine marmots, waterfalls and many flowers that live above the tree line, beautiful!!
The next day our climbing attempt of the Gran Paradiso started. First back to the mountain hut for an overnight stay. Out of bed the next night at 3am, for our attempt. Unfortunately, we had to return due to bad weather conditions at 3800m altitude, but it was a fantastic experience!