One of many many recurring characters in tv collection is the corporate ‘lifer’. An extended-term worker who will get snug with the established order. They do their job on autopilot, embrace the routine and coast by till they retire. Hans Lambermont, our Senior Programs Architect, couldn’t be farther from that cliché — what has saved him at Shapeways for over 15 years isn’t routine, it’s evolution.
“For the varied years I’ve labored right here, so much has modified over time, which is what mainly has saved me right here,” he says. “From startup to grow-up, transferring workplaces, constructing groups within the US, migrating infrastructure by six completely different information facilities, transferring to the cloud, then transferring out once more. I like that. I like change.”
The invisible hand
As Senior Programs Architect, Hans is liable for the infrastructure that retains all the pieces working. This may be one thing of a thankless activity, as a result of if 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, all the pieces that depends upon 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 certainly one of them breaks, the opposite one ought to be capable of take the total load. That’s good. No person notices something even broke. That may be a win.”
Hans’ a long time of expertise present themselves in refined methods. “We’ve had fiber cuts to the buildings a number of occasions. So now, once I see building occurring close to the place the fiber cables lie, I get anxious… I’ve seen it occur. However that’s why we’ve failover plans, backup traces, routing protocols. You need to be prepared.”
Readiness and resilience
That long-term considering is significant now greater than ever. Hans performed a vital function within the restart of Shapeways on the finish of 2024, balancing the advanced technical infrastructure with cost-efficiency and development 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 working on at the moment.”
Complexity is typically inevitable, however the place potential Hans prefers the minimalist method. “Once you’re growing methods that cater to a number of completely 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 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 occurring once more.”
And as Shapeways appears to be like to scale, Hans’ function turns into much more central. “We’re presently harmonizing the infrastructure throughout the completely different elements of the enterprise; scaling-up when wanted, scaling again after we don’t. That saves price however maintains resilience.”
Failing to arrange means making ready to fail
“You all the time have to plan for development. Should you can deal with your present load, are you able to deal with double that? Ten occasions that? With each scaling step, you want completely different options and it will probably get pricey rapidly. It’s a problem to search out the steadiness of resilience and price 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 training in do issues correctly. “Shapeways’ manufacturing unit in Eindhoven was the gold customary by way of operations. Within the early years, individuals from the corporate’s different websites would come right here to find out how 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 workforce, the instruments, the practices — are strong.”
Curiosity and cosmology
Maybe unsurprisingly, Hans’ ardour for the massive image — actually— doesn’t cease when he goes house. He’s written customized Linux drivers for his astrophotography passion, 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 working it for some time now. Some objects are simply two small dots in a star area, but when you understand what you’re , like a gravitationally cut up quasar, it’s fascinating.”
So what sort of individual is greatest suited to the herculean activity of preserving methods 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 superb day is that if I discovered the reason for a problem and was capable of repair it, or if I noticed that some preventative measure truly prevented a much bigger drawback from occurring. That’s good.” You possibly can comply with together with the Shapeways Group Highlight collection to search out out extra concerning the workforce behind the scenes.
