Thomas has been active in the IT world for over 11 years. For the first 8 years, he was active as a developer, building integrations and reports. He then made the switch to Harmony where he has been working as an integration specialist for 4 years. We asked him a few questions about the job of an integration specialist and about his current project.
Before joining Harmony, had you heard of MuleSoft?
“No, in my previous job, I worked with VB5, which was very old software. I knew I was going to have to learn how to work with a new software. '
How did you experience starting up at Harmony?
“In my first few months, I received Mule 3 as a Mule 4 training. Mule 3 is now almost the end of life. '
What is your current project?
“Currently, I work for a public service provider that implements regulations on behalf of the Dutch government. They use various internal and external systems that need to communicate with each other and they use MuleSoft for this. As a MuleSoft developer, I ensure smooth communication between the various systems. Among other things, I must ensure that the various self-developed systems communicate well with external systems, such as systems of the Dutch government. For example, they must have certain data such as names, invoices,... so that they can provide the correct services. This mutual access to data is extremely important for providing a good service. '
What does your range of tasks look like?
“We work with an integration team of internal and external employees. We work with sprints, one sprint takes an average of 2 weeks. Such a sprint looks at how much work the integration team can do in a week, depending on the complexity. We decide how complex we assess certain tasks and, depending on this, those tasks are then split into smaller tasks that then appear on our “board”. On that board, we then see which tasks are priority, we then finish them and then we start on the next task on the board.
We also always start our day with a stand-up in which we explain in general terms what we did the day before and what we will be working on that day. This way, everyone has an overview of who is working on what. We have a lot of autonomy and that's nice! '
Who takes care of these tasks?
“It's the different teams that can submit requests. If they are approved, they will come to us as tasks. For example, if there are new regulations that require the addition of certain fields, a specific team can submit a request for this.
One task that is often on the table is, for example, making changes to an API. This can range from adding certain fields to developing a new flow. There is a lot of variety!
Currently, there is a stop on code changes and we are mainly migrating from Mule 3 to Mule 4. In other words, everything that is currently in Mule 3 needs to be converted to Mule 4 and you'll be working on that for a while. '
What do you think makes the job of integration specialist/consultant exciting? \
'I enjoy making improvements to existing systems. In my current project, I have also been able to make improvements, and then it is nice that the customer also sees the added value and appreciates that. I find the combination of software integration and consultancy extremely interesting. I end up in various companies and sectors that each have their own way of working. As a result, I learn a lot and I do have a lot of variety. '
Are you also interested in working as an integration specialist? Then discover here are our vacancies.
