One of many many recurring characters in tv collection is the corporate ‘lifer’. An extended-term worker who will get snug with the established order. They do their job on autopilot, embrace the routine and coast by till they retire. Hans Lambermont, our Senior Techniques Architect, couldn’t be farther from that cliché — what has stored him at Shapeways for over 15 years isn’t routine, it’s evolution.
“For the varied years I’ve labored right here, so much has modified over time, which is what principally has stored me right here,” he says. “From startup to grow-up, shifting places of work, constructing groups within the US, migrating infrastructure by six totally different information facilities, shifting to the cloud, then shifting out once more. I like that. I like change.”
The invisible hand
As Senior Techniques Architect, Hans is accountable for the infrastructure that retains all the pieces working. This may be one thing of a thankless activity, as a result of while you’re nearly as good as Hans is, no one notices your work. “Infrastructure is one thing that’s sometimes not seen in any respect. It’s solely seen as soon as it breaks. However when it does break, all the pieces that depends upon it simply stops. So it’s a must to plan like all the pieces that may break will break.”
It’s not nearly patching up issues however extra about constructing resilience. “If I’ve a number of servers that may do precisely the identical factor, and one in all them breaks, the opposite one ought to be capable to take the complete load. That’s good. No person notices something even broke. That could be a win.”
Hans’ a long time of expertise present themselves in refined methods. “We’ve had fiber cuts to the buildings a number of instances. So now, after I see development taking place close to the place the fiber cables lie, I get anxious… I’ve seen it occur. However that’s why we have now failover plans, backup strains, routing protocols. It’s a must to be prepared.”
Readiness and resilience
That long-term pondering is important now greater than ever. Hans performed a vital position within the restart of Shapeways on the finish of 2024, balancing the advanced technical infrastructure with cost-efficiency and development in thoughts. “We would have liked to reconfigure our cloud providing, shifting extra in-house however retaining the uptime and stability everybody expects. That was a profitable undertaking and that’s what we’re working on at this time.”
Complexity is usually inevitable, however the place doable Hans prefers the minimalist method. “Once you’re growing techniques that cater to a number of totally different necessities, you find yourself including layers upon layers of complexity in a short time,” he explains. “After which, if there’s an issue, it’s very troublesome to seek out the place it resides. So I ask, ‘is that layer actually wanted’? Chopping complexity makes it simpler to diagnose and repair issues — and to stop them from taking place once more.”
And as Shapeways seems to scale, Hans’ position turns into much more central. “We’re presently harmonizing the infrastructure throughout the totally different elements of the enterprise; scaling-up when wanted, scaling again after we don’t. That saves value however maintains resilience.”
Failing to organize means making ready to fail
“You all the time have to plan for development. If you happen to can deal with your present load, are you able to deal with double that? Ten instances that? With each scaling step, you want totally different options and it might probably get expensive shortly. It’s a problem to seek out the steadiness of resilience and value viability.”
Perfection is all the time simply over the horizon, however over time you may get fairly near it. Hans’ expertise in The Netherlands has given him an schooling in learn how to do issues correctly. “Shapeways’ manufacturing unit in Eindhoven was the gold normal by way of operations. Within the early years, folks from the corporate’s different websites would come right here to find out how we do issues.”
That stability, backed by technical maturity, is what underpins the corporate’s future. “Technical reliability typically can’t be seen. It’s work that occurs behind the scenes. However the folks right here — the staff, the instruments, the practices — are strong.”
Curiosity and cosmology
Maybe unsurprisingly, Hans’ ardour for the large image — actually— doesn’t cease when he goes residence. He’s written customized Linux drivers for his astrophotography pastime, constructed his personal climate station and automatic an observatory roof that opens and closes based mostly on cloud cowl. “It’s a enjoyable problem. I’ve been working it for some time now. Some objects are simply two small dots in a star discipline, but when you already know what you’re taking a look at, like a gravitationally cut up quasar, it’s fascinating.”
So what sort of particular person is finest suited to the herculean activity of retaining techniques up and stopping issues earlier than they occur?
“Curious folks. People who find themselves decided to repair one thing as much as their very own requirements. Every little thing we run runs on Linux. We’ve used cutting-edge infrastructure: ZFS on Linux, EBGP routing, Kubernetes, Flux, Terraform… we’re not afraid to alter. Change is fixed. Anticipate it.”
And what makes an ideal day for Hans?“A superb day is that if I discovered the reason for a difficulty and was in a position to repair it, or if I noticed that some preventative measure really prevented a much bigger drawback from taking place. That’s good.” You possibly can comply with together with the Shapeways Group Highlight collection to seek out out extra concerning the staff behind the scenes.
