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 means of 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, loads has modified over time, which is what mainly has stored me right here,” he says. “From startup to grow-up, transferring places of work, constructing groups within the US, migrating infrastructure by means of six totally different knowledge facilities, transferring to the cloud, then transferring out once more. I like that. I like change.”
The invisible hand
As Senior Techniques Architect, Hans is liable for the infrastructure that retains all the pieces operating. This may be one thing of a thankless job, as a result of while you’re nearly 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, all the pieces that will depend on it simply stops. So it’s important 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 considered one of 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 now we have failover plans, backup traces, routing protocols. It’s important to be prepared.”
Readiness and resilience
That long-term considering is important now greater than ever. Hans performed an important function within the restart of Shapeways on the finish of 2024, balancing the complicated technical infrastructure with cost-efficiency and progress in thoughts. “We wanted to reconfigure our cloud providing, transferring extra in-house however retaining the uptime and stability everybody expects. That was a profitable mission and that’s what we’re operating on right now.”
Complexity is typically inevitable, however the place potential Hans prefers the minimalist method. “Once you’re creating 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 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 forestall them from taking place once more.”
And as Shapeways seems to scale, Hans’ function turns into much more central. “We’re at the moment harmonizing the infrastructure throughout the totally different components of the enterprise; scaling-up when wanted, scaling again once we don’t. That saves value however maintains resilience.”
Failing to arrange means making ready to fail
“You all the time must plan for progress. In the event you 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 may 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 tips on how to do issues correctly. “Shapeways’ manufacturing facility in Eindhoven was the gold normal by way of 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 staff, 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 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 operating it for some time now. Some objects are simply two small dots in a star subject, but when you realize what you’re , like a gravitationally break up quasar, it’s fascinating.”
So what sort of individual is greatest suited to the herculean job of maintaining 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 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 vary. Change is fixed. Anticipate it.”
And what makes a terrific day for Hans?“An excellent 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 truly prevented a much bigger drawback from taking place. That’s good.” You may comply with together with the Shapeways Staff Highlight collection to seek out out extra concerning the staff behind the scenes.
