Let’s start with a quote from the popular series, House MD: “Think like House”. What does it mean, and does it only work in the medical industry?
Dr. House has a straight, no-chaser approach to patient care, sometimes provocative and unconventional, that aims to find the best solution to get rid of the pain. If, in the sentence above, we change “patient” to “customer”, and “pain” to “pain points”, and think about the whole IoT as a human body with the same millions of dependencies, we can say that all APM experts are Doctors.
This month we would like you to meet “Dr. Julien Egron”, who, for his commitment to helping and caring for Community members, has been awarded the Member of the Month award for June.
We invite you to read the article and get to know @jegron better!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Can you share some details about your past? What is your story, and how it happened that you decided to work in the IT / APM area?
I trained as an IT engineer in a small company providing cross-functional services to the IT industry. Integrating, training, and managing the support of various technologies allowed me to build a solid experience. My final year study project was about supervision and how it could help companies understand the life of our customers' production. I loved turning on the lights. Then I applied to a company specializing in network and application performance called Phenisys. The job posting was entitled: "Doctor House in Network and Application Performance". I knew right away that this was the job for me. I really enjoy helping customers find the needle in the haystack on all the silos of the IS: app, network, system, endpoint, etc.
"Is it still illegal to perform an autopsy on a living person?" D. House S2.E02
Doctor House applies a methodology to "measure", "find" and "prove". Well, so does Phenisys!
Can you tell us a little bit about your professional life? Where do you work, and what do you do in your job? And how does Dynatrace fit into the picture?
I am a French consultant based in Lyon. I help our customers to address the subject of IT performance. I perform audits, POCs, integration, consulting, training... Since I started as a Network Engineer I helped dozens of customers to improve worldwide network stability and performance. Then I switched to the world of observability a few years ago. Dynatrace is one of the cornerstones of our global approach to performance monitoring at the scale of the information system.
What was the biggest challenge Dynatrace helped you to overcome?
I had a customer who was in crisis on all these critical applications, with Citrix in the middle to make things easier.
The customer always focused on the OK/KO, but never on the "it's a mess". We deployed Dynatrace in a progressive way to regain control and understanding of the user complaints, hundreds of them stating that: "It's slow". Step by step, we were able to put out the fire on the whole system by objectifying the user's feelings. Then, by implementing an investment action plan, we could focus on the continuous improvement of the system. Today, the IT department is able to provide KPIs on all its critical applications, and the mood is peaceful.
What brought you to our Community? What made you stay? What best advice can you give someone who just started using Community?
I came to the Community looking for undocumented information that support was having a hard time informing me about because my question was in a particular context usually addressed by the PS. I found my answer in one of DynaMights's posts. At the time, I thought the DynaMights were part of Dynatrace because their answers were so relevant.
My advice for newcomers: 5/10 minutes of reading per week! And a little post every now and then if you feel like it.
Tell us something about you that most people don’t know. What is your biggest joy or passion in life?
I love to travel and discover new cultures. Thanks to Phenisys, I remotely worked from French Polynesia in 2021 for 9 months. Nearly nowhere in the Pacific. And with a 12 hours time difference from France. Since I started as a Network Engineer, I have helped dozens of customers improve worldwide network stability and performance. So, one of my fears, when I arrived on the island of Tahiti, was the quality of the Internet connection, which was necessary to cross the globe and work with French customers virtually. Then I discovered the world of submarine cables and the global network that operates at a depth of several hundred meters. Tahiti is connected to fiber through Hawaii. The network performance was incredibly excellent. 🙂
https://www.tahiti-infos.com/photo/art/grande/6714683-10262959.jpg?v=1402449341
I also discovered a population with incredible human values, and I started diving there: sharks, manta Rays, turtles, dolphins, many fishes... and whales!
What’s one thing on your bucket list? Your dream?
Japan and Egypt are definitely my next travel stops. One for its culture and the other for its history and the Red Sea, with its exceptional underwater biodiversity.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Julien, as we can see “Dr. House” approach works perfectly in your case. Lovely to see that you are not afraid to dive deep into the water but into the ocean of customers’ issues as well. Thank you for everything you do for other Community members. We’re happy that you value Community as a place that supports you in the process of helping customers solve their pain points and succeed in the long-term perspective!