One of many many recurring characters in tv collection is the corporate ‘lifer’. A protracted-term worker who will get comfy with the established order. They do their job on autopilot, embrace the routine and coast by till they retire. Hans Lambermont, our Senior Methods 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 assorted years I’ve labored right here, quite a bit has modified over time, which is what mainly has stored me right here,” he says. “From startup to grow-up, transferring workplaces, constructing groups within the US, migrating infrastructure by six totally different information facilities, transferring to the cloud, then transferring out once more. I like that. I like change.”
The invisible hand
As Senior Methods Architect, Hans is accountable for the infrastructure that retains every part operating. This may be one thing of a thankless process, as a result of while you’re pretty much as good as Hans is, no one notices your work. “Infrastructure is one thing that’s usually not seen in any respect. It’s solely seen as soon as it breaks. However when it does break, every part that depends upon it simply stops. So it’s important to plan like every part 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’ many years of expertise present themselves in delicate methods. “We’ve had fiber cuts to the buildings a number of occasions. So now, once 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 traces, routing protocols. You must be prepared.”
Readiness and resilience
That long-term considering is significant 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 progress in thoughts. “We would have liked to reconfigure our cloud providing, transferring extra in-house however retaining the uptime and stability everybody expects. That was a profitable venture and that’s what we’re operating on as we speak.”
Complexity is typically inevitable, however the place potential Hans prefers the minimalist strategy. “Whenever you’re growing programs 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 tough to search out the place it resides. So I ask, ‘is that layer actually wanted’? Slicing complexity makes it simpler to diagnose and repair issues — and to forestall them from taking place once more.”
And as Shapeways seems to be to scale, Hans’ position turns into much more central. “We’re at the moment harmonizing the infrastructure throughout the totally different elements of the enterprise; scaling-up when wanted, scaling again once we don’t. That saves price however maintains resilience.”
Failing to arrange means getting ready to fail
“You at all times must plan for progress. If you happen to can deal with your present load, are you able to deal with double that? Ten occasions that? With each scaling step, you want totally different options and it might get expensive rapidly. It’s a problem to search out the steadiness of resilience and price viability.”
Perfection is at all times simply over the horizon, however over time you will get fairly near it. Hans’ expertise in The Netherlands has given him an schooling in do issues correctly. “Shapeways’ manufacturing facility in Eindhoven was the gold customary when it comes to operations. Within the early years, individuals from the corporate’s different websites would come right here to learn the way 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 individuals right here — the crew, the instruments, the practices — are stable.”
Curiosity and cosmology
Maybe unsurprisingly, Hans’ ardour for the massive image — actually— doesn’t cease when he goes dwelling. He’s written customized Linux drivers for his astrophotography interest, constructed his personal climate station and automatic an observatory roof that opens and closes primarily based on cloud cowl. “It’s a enjoyable problem. I’ve been operating it for some time now. Some objects are simply two small dots in a star area, but when you already know what you’re , like a gravitationally break up quasar, it’s fascinating.”
So what sort of individual is greatest suited to the herculean process of holding programs up and stopping issues earlier than they occur?
“Curious individuals. People who find themselves decided to repair one thing as much as their very own requirements. Every part we run runs on Linux. We’ve used cutting-edge infrastructure: ZFS on Linux, EBGP routing, Kubernetes, Flux, Terraform… we’re not afraid to vary. Change is fixed. Anticipate it.”
And what makes a fantastic day for Hans?“A great day is that if I discovered the reason for a problem 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’ll be able to comply with together with the Shapeways Workforce Highlight collection to search out out extra in regards to the crew behind the scenes.