Thomas has been working in IT for more than 11 years. For the first 8 years, he worked as a developer, building integrations and reports. He then moved 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.
Had you heard of MuleSoft before you started at Harmony?
"No, in my previous job I worked with VB5, which was very old software. I knew I was going to have to learn to work with new software."
How did you find your start at Harmony?
"In my first few months, I got both Mule 3 and Mule 4 training. Mule 3 is now almost end of life."
What is your current project?
"At the moment I work at a public service provider that carries out schemes on behalf of the Dutch government. They use various internal and external systems that have to communicate with each other, and they use MuleSoft for this. As a MuleSoft developer, I make sure the communication between the different systems runs smoothly. Among other things, I have to make sure that the various systems they developed themselves communicate properly with external systems, such as systems of the Dutch government. They need to have certain data, such as names, invoices and so on, so that they can provide the right services. Opening up this data between systems is enormously important for delivering a good service."
What do your tasks look like?
"We work in an integration team of internal and external staff. We work in sprints, and one sprint takes 2 weeks on average. During a sprint, we look at how much work the integration team can do in a week, depending on the complexity. We decide ourselves how complex we estimate certain tasks to be, and depending on that, those tasks are split into smaller tasks that then appear on our 'board'. On that board, we look at which tasks have priority, we finish those, and then we start on the next task on the board.
We also always start our day with a stand-up, in which we tell each other in broad terms what we did the day before and what we will work on that day. That way, everyone has an overview of who is working on what. We have a lot of autonomy, and that's really nice!"
Who provides these tasks?
"The different teams can submit requests. If they are approved, they come to us as tasks. For example, if new regulations mean certain fields have to be added, a team can submit a request for that.
A task that is often on the board is making changes to an API. That can range from adding certain fields to developing a new flow. There is a lot of variety!
At the moment there is a freeze on code changes, and we are mainly working on the migration from Mule 3 to Mule 4. In other words, everything that is now in Mule 3 has to be rebuilt in Mule 4, and that keeps you busy for a while."
What do you think makes the job of integration specialist/consultant interesting?
"I enjoy making improvements to existing systems. In my current project, I have already been able to make improvements, and then it's nice that the client sees the added value and appreciates it. 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 get plenty of variety."
Are you interested in working as an integration specialist too? Then discover our vacancies here.
