I am a Full Stack Java/.NET software developer and DevOps Engineer. When I was 12 years old, I started programming and making websites. In 2014 I got my associates degree for system administration and in 2018 I finished my Computer Science bachelor. During my time as a student I've had multiple internships and in my spare time was a part-time developer for Arbor Media. I've worked for Topicus for 4 years after my graduation, where I focussed on leading the organization into the era of DevOps (and SRE). I am now an Engineering Manager for Toggl.
I am an Engineering Manager for Toggl, a fully self-funded startup that focuses on time tracking. I do so from home, since Toggl is a fully remote company. I carry responsibility for three teams: infra, frontend and backend. These teams primarily work on the platform for the other engineers.
As Engineering Manager, I focus on prioritising and leading projects, coaching teamleads and making strategic decisions that will benefit Toggl for the future. Besides this, I also analyse processes and cross-team collaboration to find bottlenecks so that they can be solved.
My first task was to form a DevOps-team using existing engineers.
I started by setting up a cross-functional team that performed routine maintenance tasks one day a week. I followed up by setting clear team-responsibilities and providing team with familiar processes such as refinements, retrospectives and roadmap meetings.
We succeeded in our goal to create a team that is supported by all disciplines throughout the entire organization.
In order to stimulate DevOps and allow teams to manage their own infra, I've promoted and put into use IaC and CaC tooling and pipelines.
To achieve this task, I designed the architecture and managed the hired help to create an MVP. After that, I acted as a Product Owner to develop and maintain the product in-house. I helped with documentation and interacted with teams to ensure a seamless onboarding experience.
Now, teams can deploy their Linux- and Windows-infra directly from Git.
Product backups were stored on an inadequate storage solution. As part of updated security and performance requirements a new system needed to be put in place. Teams had the wish to invidually scale storage to their needs.
I designed a solution that met all requirements. To get teams migrated I set up the migration plan so that the Product Owners could refine it with their team. I worked with all 20+ teams to solve bottlenecks and reported progress back to management.