Hello Dynatrace Community,
I’m happy to announce that we can add another country to the world map of the winners of the Community Member of the Month award. Let’s all congratulate @andre_vdveen from South Africa! Andre is with us since the AppMon times and it’s finally time to reward his activity and great posts contributed over the years. Check out the full interview:
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Can you tell a little bit about your professional life? Where do you work and what do you do in your job?
My career in IT started in 2000 when I completed a 1-year MCSE course and landed my first IT job fresh out of class, as the in-house systems engineer for a small software development company, which bought Compuware load testing tools a few months later.
After I was retrenched in 2003, an ex-colleague, who then worked for Compuware South Africa (we both worked at the same software development company), invited me for an interview for a load tester position. The interview was successful but I was offered a job in the APM space instead, and thus my career started using Network-, Server- and ClientVantage.
Compuware acquired Adlex and I became proficient in DCRUM (later called NAM) too, eventually getting Pro-level certified in the later Dynatrace years.
Dynatrace was also acquired at some point, however, the exact timelines of these acquisitions and eventual split of Dynatrace from Compuware again, is a bit hazy, but at one point the Compuware South Africa offices were closed down indefinitely and we started working for Mediro ICT, the Dynatrace RFO in South Africa.
I was even fortunate enough to travel to lovely Linz for AppMon training with my colleague Derick at one point! 😃
What is your story with Dynatrace? Why did you start using our products and for what project?
Having worked with and certifying Pro-level in AppMon, the move to Dynatrace was interesting, yet quite easy and natural for me.
I didn’t start using Dynatrace due to a specific reason, other than keeping up with the times and technological changes over the years – you can say I was forced to start using Dynatrace, since AppMon was EOL, lol!
As a consultant working for the local RFO, I’m involved with many different and interesting projects, the latest one being a 100% remotely deployed implementation for one of our largest retailers in South Africa, thanks to the Corona virus and lockdown. The client is based in Cape Town, whereas I’m living in Pretoria.
Have you ever had any interesting use case for Dynatrace platform that you found out to be particularly intriguing? Could you tell us about it?
Every project, every client’s requirement brings something interesting to the table. I don’t think there is one in particular that stands out for me.
But the Dynatrace platform, with all of its extension capabilities, has had interesting problems turn into interesting solutions – the possibilities seem almost endless!
With a fantastic team that I’m blessed to be part of, I’m able to take any problem to the team, and we’re bound to find a working solution for the client or our use case.
What brought you to our Community? What is your best memory about it?
I’ve always been part of the Compuware/Dynatrace communities/forums and I try to be active on them, not only asking questions or posting RFE’s, but also trying to help others out by answering theirs.
And how about your life outside the IT – what is your biggest passion?
I’ve always enjoyed photography, although I’m very bad at getting photos printed or making photobooks or albums from these, seeing as three kids tend to keep one quite busy, lol!
Apart from that, I enjoy being outdoor, camping with my family and friends, or taking my mountain bike out for a ride to stay fit and healthy.
It would also be great if you could share with us your favorite movie, song and/or a book. Let other Community members discover something new and interesting to watch/hear/read 🙂
Movie: any of the Jurassic Park movies, in fact, I can’t wait for the latest one to be released, next year, I think? Oh, and Terminator, perhaps because it reminds me of our own AI, DAVIS…hopefully, DAVIS will battle SkyNet, should it rise one day! 😉
Song: I enjoy our local Afrikaans music, my favourite band being ‘Spoegwolf’ but if I have to pick something a little more international: Blue Öyster Cult’s "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". It reminds me of the original mini-series ‘The Stand’, based on the Steven King book.
Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper (Audio)
Book: I’m not much of a book reader with work and family life keeping me pretty busy, but I guess I already answered this question in my comment about my favourite song? 😉
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Thank you so much for the interview, for being a part of our Community, and for making it better, Andre! I also love the Jurassic Park movies – I had a “glow-in-a-dark” skeleton of the T-rex next to my bed when I was a kid 😀
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