Hi! My name is Patrick Huber, a DevOps/Cloud Engineer based in Zürich, Switzerland
>> Currently working as a DevOps/Cloud Engineer with one of Switzerland's largest health insurance providers.
>> In my free time, I focus on my company, where I'm developing innovative projects—see the latest one below.
Current Side Project: "trogl"
Project
Over the past years, we at StoneAge IT GmbH — where I'm a co-founder — have been actively building our expertise as a Full Stack Development and DevOps-driven company.
Our latest endeavor, "trogl," is a SaaS solution designed to streamline job assignment for companies with dynamic labor pools. Built with a React frontend, React Native mobile app for iOS and Android, and a Node.js backend, the "trogl" application suite is now in beta. The web app is served as static assets in an Nginx container, while the backend runs in a Node.js container on Kubernetes.
The entire system is engineered for secure, high-performance deployment on AWS, with all data hosted in Switzerland. Visit our landing page at trogl.ch for more information!
"trogl" use case abstract
In a scenario where a company employs hourly-paid workers to fill internal positions, trogl offers a streamlined approach to job distribution. Managers can create job listings that are visible only to eligible employees within the organization. Based on job role and other potential criteria, trogl notifies the appropriate subgroup of users about new opportunities through push notifications (web and mobile), email, or SMS. Workers can then apply to the jobs on a first-come, first-served basis, with automatic assignment upon application.
"trogl" technology stack, process and tools
Web Application: React (Single Page Application), served as static assets in an Nginx container
API/Backend: Node.js, deployed in a container on Kubernetes
Mobile Applications: React Native for iOS and Android
Persistence and Security: AWS RDS with encrypted storage, hosted in Switzerland; TLS-secured database connections with client-server certificate validation
AWS Infrastructure
AWS Services:
- Amazon RDS (with data encryption at rest and TLS connections)
- Amazon S3 for storage and static asset serving
- Amazon SNS for push notifications, emails, and SMS
- Amazon ECR for containerized applications
Infrastructure as Code:
AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit) for streamlined, repeatable tenant deployments in the SaaS environment
Methodology and Tools
Our team follows Agile principles with three-week sprints, using Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud to document and track progress. For version control and CI/CD, we leverage Bitbucket with Bitbucket Pipelines. Each deployment includes unit testing and Selenium Grid-based testing for end-to-end functionality.
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My Specializations
What i do
AWS cloud platform engineering
I think that clouds like AWS will be one of the the key factors for success when it comes to (flexible) ICT infrastructure.
Working with different kind of AWS resources on a daily basis gaining more and more experience. All the "cloud engineering" I've usually done by IaC with AWS CloudFormation or Ansible.
Pipelines and automation
A must have for any software developing company: Pipelines for building, running and testing your code automatically, bringing very important feedback in a matter of minutes. I work with Bitbucket/Github pipelines, and I'm also familiar with Bitbucket and Github Runners.
Elasticsearch and Beats
I maintained multiple Elasticsearch Clusters within Elastic Cloud (when working for JobCloud). The Elasticsearch Clusters are searchable using a "Cross Cluster Search (CCS)" Cluster. Lots of "beaters" - mostly Filebeat from on premise and AWS applications - are sending log data to these Elastic Cloud Clusters. I builded everything up from scratch including all the Ingest pipelines to parse the log data received from the different Beaters.
Docker & Containers
If it's not AWS Lambda it's done with Docker or Containers. Working with Docker on a daily basis. Familiar with multi-stage builds, docker-compose, Docker Hub registry, Azure Container Registry (ACR) and Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR). I have also some experience with deployments on Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift 4.
Jenkins CI/CD
I maintained two dockerized Jenkins installations (when working for JobCloud); Jenkins CI (continuous integration) & Jenkins CD (continuous delivery) on a weekly/monthly basis. All Jenkins jobs have been configured using DSL (Job DSL Plugin). DSL allows you to have "jenkins jobs as code" which you can put inside a repository for version control.
React / Nodejs
I started with React about 3 years ago for the web technologies 2 & 3 courses and I really enjoy to develop with ECMAScript (javascript) / Nodejs and React. I certainly have still a lot to learn but I'm kind of fallen into love with React & Co. The frontend of the project trogl is developed by me with React.
Shell scripting
I've to admit that doing some shell scripting is one of the things I enjoy the most ❤️ . No need for tons of libraries and dependencies, fancy objects, complicated design patterns, or other shiny packages, just run the shell script with the usual set of binaries you can find on most of the Linux machines. Keep it simple, fast and clean.
Doing shell scripts for over a decade, I should have gained some experiences by now.
DevOps & GitOps
For me DevOps is one of the most important things when it comes to team collaboration, culture and philosophy . A DevOps minded work environment is always more effective than a "throwing over the fence" kind of attitude. It's not done until it is running in a secure, fast and reliable way in production.
A particularly important DevOps best practice is GitOps which should be considered to be a de facto standard and implemented wherever possible in the software development lifecycle.
Experiences
EXPERIENCES
Helsana Versicherungen AG
Backend and application developer specializing in a microservices architecture with Spring Boot and Kotlin, supporting customer-facing applications through scalable, multi-zone deployments on OpenShift. Experienced in enterprise integration and deploying robust solutions using tools like Apache Camel, Azure DevOps, and a variety of supporting services and integrations.
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Areas of responsibility:
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Design and develop backend services for iOS, Android, and Angular web applications, handling key customer tasks like invoice uploads and health insurance information access.
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Apply Domain-Driven Design (DDD) principles and HATEOAS to create well-structured and scalable systems.
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Manage deployments across multiple OpenShift zones (projects) using Azure DevOps with Kustomize and Azure Pipelines.
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Implement and maintain over 30 microservices using enterprise integration patterns with Apache Camel.
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Utilize Docker (Community Edition), Proxyman, Maven, Homebrew, and Azure DevOps to streamline development workflows.
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Develop, maintain, and provide 3rd-level support for Spring Boot applications, covering integration and frontend layers.
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Conduct code reviews on pull requests, ensuring high-quality standards and code integrity across the team.
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Integrate security and quality checks using Snyk and SonarCloud in CI/CD pipelines or for local development.
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Leverage Jira and Confluence for task management, project tracking, and documentation.
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Utilize Azure Service Bus, S3 (NooBaa), QUAY registry, Apicurio studio, Argo CD, 3scale API management, Oracle, and MongoDB (Atlas) to support robust backend functionality.
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Develop, maintain, and provide 3rd-level support for Spring Boot applications, covering integration and frontend layers.
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Integrate SOAP and REST APIs also with Syrius API Bridge for seamless interoperability.
Innovation Process Technology AG
My current mandate as a Senior Consultant is with one of the largest health insurance companies in Switzerland. The project is about replacing legacy integrations with newly developed and Java Spring Boot based integrations using containerised microservices.
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Areas of responsibility:
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New development (Java Spring Boot and Apache Camel) and replacement of integrations based on Oracle SOA Suite (legacy system).
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API Design with Apicurio Studio (API First)
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Creating and maintaining of Azure DevOps repositories and CI/CD pipelines
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Integration development using wsdl, xsd, xslt, SOAP and REST.
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Deploy, maintain and manage integrations on Red Hat OpenShift 4 clusters using helm and/or kustomize.
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Manage and configure Red Hat 3Scale
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Intensive collaboration through working within the client's team(s)
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Know-how transfer within ipt and the client team(s)
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Other technologies involved:
Adcubum Syrius Insurance Platform,
Syrius API-Bridge,
Oracle Databases,
LDAP, Nevis,
Quay container registry
StoneAge IT GmbH
Working as Full Stack Software Developer / CTO (60%-100%) for the startup StoneAge IT GmbH
Areas of responsibility:
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Project Lead/Manager and Full Stack Developer for the "trogl" application (ongoing, see Project "trogl").
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Coaching and consulting internal and external clients
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Concept, planning, implementation and administration of software as a service (SaaS) solutions with various AWS products.
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Project exchanges, management as well as recruitment, coordination and management of freelance project employees.
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Operating and monitoring of all ICT services of StoneAge IT GmbH.
ZHAW School of Engineering
In 2018 I started my Bachelor's degree part-time program in Computer Science. There are total of 8 semester (including project thesis & Bachelor thesis) in part-time. I finally graduated in summer 2022 as Bachelor of Science in Computer Science UAS Zurich.
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Informations on the modules and theses attended:
1. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Project
Specialist
Mathematical &
natural science
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Program 1 (Java)
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Databases 1
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Web technologies 1
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Software project 1
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Communication Competence Scenario Starter
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Analysis 1
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Fundamentals of discrete mathematics
2. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Project
Specialist
Mathematical &
natural science
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Web technologies 2
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Information and coding
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Theoretical computer science
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Software project 2
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Communication Competence Scenario Professional
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Analysis 2
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Linear algebra for computer science
3. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Specialist
Mathematical &
natural science
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Program 2 (Java)
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Web technologies 3
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Programming in C
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Communication technology
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Algorithms and data structures
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Communication Competence Scenario Booster
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Physics for computer science
4. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Project
Specialist
Mathematical &
natural science
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Software development 1
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Databases 2
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Computer technology for IT 1
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Software project 3
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Economy for engineers
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Numerics 1
5. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Elective
Specialist
Mathematical &
natural science
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Software development 2
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Computer technology for IT 2
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Artificial Intelligence 1
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Communication Competence Scenario Academic
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Stochastics
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Numerics 2
6. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Elective
Specialist
Mathematical &
natural science
Project
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Operating Systems
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IT Security
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Artificial Intelligence 2
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Communication Competence Scenario Business
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Quantitative Methods in Operations
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Software Project 4
7. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Elective
Project Thesis
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Digital Health
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Serverless and Cloud Application Development
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Software and System Security 1
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Visual Computing 1
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IT Law
8. Semester
Module type
Subject
Context
Elective
Bachelor Thesis
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Game Development
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Software and System Security 2
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Visual Computing 2
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Investment and financing
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Marketing and market development
More informations about the modules: ZHAW module search
StoneAge IT GmbH
Co-founder and ICT Manager of StoneAge IT GmbH
Areas of responsibility:
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Concept, planning, implementation and administration of software as a service (SaaS) solutions with various AWS products.
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AWS Cloud and Office 365 migrations.
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Consulting, planning, design and development of websites including "Webflow".
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Administration and configuration of cloud-based services such as Atlassian cloud products (Jira, Jira service desk, Confluence, Bitbucket), Google Business, Domains (Swizzonic), DNS (AWS Route 53)
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Kibana & Elasticsearch Cluster (LXC on premise) & Beats, NGINX (reverse) proxy, Docker CE.
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Ubiquiti UniFi network planning, configuration and setup
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Project exchanges, management as well as recruitment, coordination and management of freelance project employees.
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Installation, operation and administration of various web-based applications such as Ghost, Wordpress, Joomla, Chamilo LMS, Vtiger CRM, OpenOlat LMS, OrangeHRM, etc. Most of them run inside Docker containers.
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Operating and monitoring of all ICT services of StoneAge IT GmbH.
JobCloud AG
I changed jobs internally and started as Operations Engineer (80%). Later, when the studies started, I reduced to 60%.
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Areas of responsibility:
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Concept, implementation, set-up, maintenance and care of our cloud-based infrastructure (AWS)
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Maintenance, further development and care of the hosted infrastructure (managed hosting)
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Design, setup and maintenance of the infrastructure of our container-based applications (Docker)
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Evaluation and operation of various SaaS products
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Configuration and operation of modern services like NGiNX, Elasticsearch, Galera Cluster, Varnish, MongoDB, Kafka, haproxy
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Development of automated pipelines for Continuous Integrations / Continuous Deployment
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Maintenance of various internal tools such as Jenkins, JIRA, Confluence, Nagios, Grafana, Prometheus
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Implementation of planned projects in cross-departmental teams
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Close cooperation with the development teams (in-house and near shoring) in an agile environment
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Know-how transfer within the own team
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Complete planning, implementation, further development and operation of the central logging system (Elastic Cloud, Beats, Ingest Pipelines)
JobCloud AG
Lorem Ispum
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Areas of responsibility:
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First, second and third level support client computers
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Software rollouts including project planning
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Packaging of updates, update management
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Administration & configuration of web servers, databases, fileserver, printer server, active directory, GPO
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Administration & configuration Server Microsoft & Linux (Ubuntu)
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Administration & configuration firewall cluster (Fortigate)
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Administration & configuration of Hyper-V Cluster / SAN
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Administration & configuration DHCP, DNS
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Backup management with Veeam
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Material orders and administration
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Network management routing, switches, VLAN
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Administration & configuration telephone system
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WLAN network administration and management (Ubiquiti Unifi)
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Administration & configuration VPN IPSec and SSLVPN
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OS X server management
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Exchange management via Exchange Control Panel
Bauteil AG
Temporary employment at Bauteil AG. Repairs, maintenance and renovation of various industrial doors. The work involved trips to half of Switzerland.
Professional ICT Freelancer
Worked as a freelancer on various website projects, including as a web programmer at Cyberlink Internet Services AG in Zurich.
Schweizerische Technische Fachschule Winterthur (STFW)
2 years full-time education at the STFW
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General knowledge:
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Business English
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German / text design
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Learning and working technique
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Mathematics
Technical subjects:
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C / C ++
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CGI with Perl
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Command Script & Windows NT
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Database technology
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UNIX introduction & administration
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Electrical & Electronics Basics
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Basic network technology, Cisco router
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Basic IT knowledge
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Internet programming
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Measurement, control and regulation technology (MSR)
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Microcontroller programming
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Software engineering
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Telecommunications, Windows NT server
Diploma thesis:
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Digital learning software
Language study trip to Toronto, Canada
One and a half months language course in Toronto, Canada.
Schweizer Armee
Durchdiener DD-RS 210 (PILOT)
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The "Durchdiener" recruit school offered six months of training with in-depth preparation for subsidiary assignments in all of Switzerland. We learned the military basics and prepared ourselves for the following four months in Switzerland with special training:
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Guard
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Monitor
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Direct traffic
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Transport
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Education
During the deployment phase, Chur (GR) is the base for operations throughout Switzerland.
Classification:
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Infantry, Fusilier (Mechanized) DD
Locations:
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St. Maurice (VS)
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Payerne
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Chur
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Bern
Additional training worth mentioning:
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Personal and vehicle control
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Melee training I & II
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Motor vehicle training - Cat. III / 1
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Dangerous goods transport training (ADR certificate)
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Spin course with small trucks (Duro)
Liggenstorfer AG,
Elektromotoren + Maschinenbau
Apprenticeship as an electro-mechanic.
Sekundarschule, Seuzach
Swiss secondary school (high school)
Primarschule, Hettlingen
Swiss elementary school
Skills
Skills
Soft Skills
Hard Skills
show details
AWS has soo many products/services and it's nearly impossible to know them all in detail.
Usage frequency: daily/weekly (til today)
Here are the most important products/services i work with:
VPC, VPC Endpoint, VPC Peering, Subnets, Route Tables, Security Groups, NACL, Internet Gateway (IGW), Elastic IPs (EIP), ...
show details
Usage frequency: weekly/monthly (a year ago)
Here are the most important products/services i work with from the Elastic ecosystem:
show details
It has been a while (around 4 years ago) since i actively managed Microsoft products/services not running on Microsoft Azure.
Here are the most important products/services i worked with from the Microsoft ecosystem:
show details
Usage frequency
- AWS CloudFormation & AWS CDK: weekly/monthly (til today)
- Ansible: weekly/monthly (years ago)
- Chef: weekly/monthly (years ago)
show details
Usage frequency: daily/weekly (til today)
show details
Usage frequency: daily/bi-weekly (til today)
(ONPrem & Cloud)
show details
Usage frequency:
- Cloud: daily/weekly (til today)
- On-premise: daily/weekly (til today)
show details
Usage frequency:
- Github: weekly (til today)
- Bitbucket: daily/weekly (til today)
- Gitlab: monthly (years ago)
show details
Usage frequency: weekly (years ago)
Important Jenkins plugins worth mentioning:
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Fortigate / Forticlient
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Trend Micro Endpoint Security
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VPN: IPsec / SSL-VPN
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Artificial Intelligence
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Proxyman
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Expo (eas-cli, expo cli)
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… etc.
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Python (mainly for A.I.; neural networks, machine learning, quantum circuits, quantum computing)
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Java/Kotlin (Intellij, Maven, Spring Boot, Apache Camel, Gradle)
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Terraform
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… etc.
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Matlab
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Veeam
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macOS Server (MDM, Profiles)
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PDQ Deploy
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Red Hat OpenShift 4 & Red Hat 3Scale
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Splunk
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... etc.
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