After his Communication Technology studies and first job experience in support, Cedric knew in which direction he would take the following steps. Little did he know that the road to architecture, could also be a career in integration. He always knew that he wanted to permanently solve structural issues, but he also wanted to keep his global overview and the opportunity to learn and grow. He got in touch with Archers and further explanation made him realize integration could be the perfect fit for the start of a long, challenging architecture career.
THE ROAD FROM COLLEGE TO ARCHERS
Cedric studied NMCT (New Media & Communication Technology), an education in which he could form a strong foundation and put it into practice during his internship. He completed his internship with success and got the chance to extend his career in support for two more years, first line and second line.
With his diploma in one hand, and a bunch of positive energy in the other, he went on a challenging job hunt. Because his thesis was about DevOps and his internship about application development, he knew he wanted to continue in the same direction. Although he didn’t want to specialize yet, he knew he wanted to improve the quality of life by lining up processes and automating away manual interventions.
After he left his first job, he wanted a more executive task and the possibility to learn and grow on by himself. “I’ve always wanted to permanently solve structural issues, instead of improving those same issues which would reappear after a while.” So, he started looking for a job in development or system reliability, until our Talent Recruiter contacted him. At first sight, Cedric seemed to be the perfect fit for a career in development. But when he explained his interests and ambitions, his profile seemed to match with a function in integration. Cedric didn’t know the details, meaning or tasks of integration, but after he got more explanation, he was pretty convinced. He got an invitation to talk with Thomas from Archers in order to receive more information on the job function and on integration itself. Cedric had never heard of API management and other specific terms, so more clarification came in handy! Thomas made him realize that he could follow different courses and told him that integration actually was the heart of an IT system.
A perfect match for integration
The plot twist of the conversation, for Cedric personally, was the interest switch from development to integration. He knew he had a passion for enterprise architecture and the invention of conceptual systems, but he had no experience in this specific job area at all. Motivation is just as -or sometimes even more- important as experience, so he got the junior function at Archers! He finally had the feeling he could maintain a global oversight, form a strong foundation, but also that he would get the opportunity to learn and develop. Cedric was very enthusiastic, motivated and so, “the match between him and Archers was made in heaven.”
“Seniors and juniors will always help you out and nobody should be afraid to ask questions. The more you work in team, the more progress you’ll make!”
Knowledge tracks and Archers Knowledge Days: the perfect take-off
During his first week, he mainly got trainings and courses, but he instantly felt that he could ask his colleagues for more information when in doubt. He learned about IBM and the enterprise integration principles to get the bigger picture. After his training, he was able to switch more to knowledge track microservices on the Archers Knowledge Days. Before you start to practice at a customer, you may attend a knowledge track to combine the story of API and microservices. Your team gets divided into small groups, so you can go into a subject more thoroughly; in this case microservices. You get assigned to a certain knowledge track, based on your interests, but this track stands apart from your customer. The knowledge track is mainly meant as an investment in your knowledge growth, so you learn to improve and create positive changes. Cedric was interested in DevOps, cloud and containerization, so the decision was made together to go into the details of it.
The Archers Knowledge Days are also very important: because of the monthly meet ups, you get the chance to learn more about a certain subject via presentations. You keep learning from your team and Archers wants to invest in every employee to expand the knowledge range.
“Thanks to the AKDays, you’ll also get to know your colleagues better. You don’t remain in your own “bubble”, an aspect Archers tries to avoid.”
Engie as a first customer
Cedric got the chance to put his training knowledge into practice at Engie. He also got feedback from a colleague who already worked for Engie, who also provided every document Cedric needed to prepare himself for his first customer and to make the transfer more fluently. Although the first practical weeks at Engie have already started, he immediately realized he could use his experience in support at Engie’s because of the operational and support job parts. He already had a history of issue prioritization and how to automate more frequent issues, so they could be solved for good.
Focus on the team
The atmosphere and mentoring are great, both at Engie and Archers. Employees should extend their own (knowledge) borders and the focus point should not be profit, but the team itself that makes it happen. That’s why everyone has a say on which project or at which customer he/ she would like to work.
Conclusion:
Cedric doesn’t know how long the Engie project will last, but he’s eager to network and look after potential customers and cooperation opportunities! Keep up the good work, Cedric!
Aren’t you familiar with integration yet, but you want to go into the details of it? Do you recognize yourself in Cedric’s story, but do you like to have some more information about Archers?
Some more integration blogs for you
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