Who are you and what is your role at Databalance?
I’m Team Lead of Team Linux. What drives me is building solutions that truly matter to clients. No quick fixes, but infrastructure and automation that remain reliable for years. We always work from the outside in: the client’s needs are the starting point, not the technology. Together with my team, I work daily on challenges for clients across a wide range of industries, always looking for the right balance between technical quality and pragmatism.
How did you end up at Databalance?
I started here eight years ago, with the goal of building private and hybrid cloud solutions for clients. After adventures at a lift manufacturer and a DevOps journey at a large e-commerce company, this was a perfect fit for what I love doing: infrastructure and automation. The teams have grown since then and our clients have become more diverse, but the passion for business-critical infrastructure and automation hasn’t changed.
What knowledge do you bring to the team?
After eighteen years, you naturally bring a lot of technical knowledge. But equally valuable is a pragmatic perspective: preventing complexity and resolving problems before they escalate.
In my role as team lead, I try not to keep that knowledge to myself. I create an environment where colleagues can experiment, grow, and make their own decisions: supported by knowledge sharing, certifications, and room for deeper specialization. That’s how we keep improving as a team.
What makes working at Databalance appealing to you?
The diversity. We serve clients from many different industries, and that variety keeps the work challenging. There’s a high demand for automation, but at the same time plenty of client-specific challenges to solve. Being able to take on both keeps things interesting and continues to push you. And because many clients have been with us for years, you build a real relationship. You know their situation, you think along for the long term. That’s exactly what we mean by strategic partnership.
What are the key developments in your field?
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has set a lot in motion. Choosing the right hypervisor is no longer a given and that’s exactly where we can make a difference. We help clients make the right assessment and guide them through the transition to a solution that fits their situation.
More broadly: automation and Infrastructure as Code are becoming increasingly mature, the line between on-premises and cloud is blurring, and security plays an ever-larger role in everything we build. You need to be technically sharp and continuously think about how everything comes together in a workable whole. That’s where I get a lot of my energy.
What are you passionate about and what would you get up early for?
My work and my passion go hand in hand. At home, I run a small homelab cluster, as quiet and energy-efficient as possible, since it’s right there in the house. I experiment endlessly with new tools and techniques that I then see reflected in my work. That cross-pollination is invaluable to me.
Outside of technology, I love heading into the mountains for a good hike and I travel through Asia every year. Authentic Indian Masala Chai is an absolute must.
What are you most proud of in your work?
The most rewarding thing is automation that, after years of faithful service, is still used every single day. That means you’ve built something lasting. And of course, the moment you can deliver a project three or four weeks ahead of schedule for a client. That’s rarely luck: it’s the result of thorough preparation, extensive consultation, and sharp thinking before the project even begins. Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about: building something that doesn’t just work today, but is still standing tomorrow.