Meet Felix Frank

Meet Felix Frank

Can you please begin by giving us a short introduction to who you are and what you do at *um?
I have a long history of running server systems in different capacities. This is also the centre of what I do for *um. In addition, I help create concepts of how we structure technical aspects, work, and at times, I am involved in consulting our customers depending on their needs.

Could you describe what a typical day looks like for you as a System Architect?
The team always has tasks that our customers’ need us to handle. There are other tasks we need to be up to date with to keep our internal systems and daily business running. Other than making sure the systems run smoothly, we of course have things such as technical meetings. The meetings aim to keep everyone in the loop of what we do as a team, and our goals in specific areas of the technical work.

Felix Frank

System Architect

Can you tell us more about how you work with the customers?
In terms of managed services, the customer work falls into two categories. On one hand there are projects where the customers have certain needs or some idea of what they want us to implement. It could also be that we address the customers and propose some new solutions. This could, for example, be an implementation benefiting them by reducing issues they may face caused by the current technology.

On the other hand, we work on and must keep up with whatever life throws at us as we manage the services we have running. There are always things that can happen. Hardware components breaking, software acting in unexpected ways, or even the occasional security threat.

Thinking about what you do and the technologies you work with, what do you enjoy the most about it?

My specialty is within server configuration, automation, and maintenance. Before joining *um I began deepening my knowledge of the tool Puppet and have written some open-source contributions. I even had the chance to write an educational book. I like working with the tool as I have managed to build a good understanding for it over the years and enjoy putting that knowledge to use. This is the reason why I am also involved in the Innovation Hubs initiative at *um.

Can you tell us more about the Innovation Hubs and what the aim of the Hub project is?

It is an initiative in which the Hub contributors get to put 10% of their time into Hub projects. These projects are essentially guided by our larger topics. To give examples, we have the Automation Hub which I am part of, a Hub for security issues and one focused on Data Visualisation. We have the opportunity to do what we expect to be beneficial in terms of gaining hands-on experience and knowledge. The knowledge gained can then be passed on to the entire team. We also investigate new avenues, write blog posts for the website, and organise webinars.

Do you work across different teams and departments in the Hubs?
The Hubs are open to all colleagues. Actually, the Automation Hub is currently looking for new members. We have contributors from two different operating teams in the Automation Hub. However, a big goal of mine is to have as much overlap from different teams as possible. One other Hub has members from 4 different teams if I am not mistaken.

How long have you been involved in the Hub initiative?
The initiative itself started as an experiment in 2020. I was one of the first people to step up and it has been an interesting journey ever since.

To finish off, what do you enjoy most about working with your team and at *um?
The managed services team consists of very skilled and wonderful people who are great to work with on whatever tasks or projects we face. In addition, I like that *um has a focus on delivering services tailored to each individual customer need. This results in us seeing some very interesting engineering. There is always an opportunity to learn more and improve our processes.

This post is also available in: German

Meet Felix Frank

Felix Frank

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