Hello Michiel! Shed some light on your life’s journey.
I’ve always been curious about how things work—and once I understand them, I naturally want to improve them. That curiosity started early, with building my own PCs and developing websites, and it’s still what motivates me to keep learning and experimenting every day.
I studied Information & Communication Technology at bachelor level, where I built a solid technical foundation in databases, application development, and .NET and Java frameworks. During my studies, I also started working part-time at an IT helpdesk, which marked the beginning of my professional career. From there, I grew into roles such as MSSQL database administrator and Technical Application engineer, gaining hands-on experience in running and supporting production systems.
In those roles, I learned that problems around performance and reliability are rarely obvious. They require curiosity, the right questions, and good data to truly understand what’s happening. That’s why, since 2017, my focus has been on observability: turning insights into a deeper understanding of systems and using that knowledge to improve reliability, performance, and overall stability.
Outside of work, I’ve always been an active person. Growing up, I spent most of my time outdoors playing soccer, and sports are still an important part of my life today.
What is your professional background?
I’m a Dutch observability engineer with a strong focus on digital performance, automation, and end-to-end business process improvements. Dynatrace has been at the heart of my day-to-day work for many years. I’ve delivered professional services for customers running on Dynatrace SaaS as well as Dynatrace Managed, helping integrate Dynatrace into complex IT landscapes. The focus was never just on the technical implementation, but on making sure every user could truly benefit from the platform.
Using Dynatrace, I worked closely with customers to improve their digital experience through better automation and more insight into complete business processes. Observability was a key enabler in that journey, turning data into insights and insights into action.
I recently joined MeasureWorks as an Observability Engineer. In this role, I focus on deeply integrating observability into customer landscapes and delivering the best possible observability setup. The goal is simple: help teams really understand their systems and use observability to improve performance, reliability, and business outcomes.
How does Dynatrace fit into the picture, and what was the biggest challenge Dynatrace helped you overcome?
Dynatrace has become the core of my daily activities. I use everything Dynatrace has to offer, from Managed to the 3rd-generation platform, to solve the challenges of modern IT environments. It has helped me overcome issues such as massive slowdowns in advanced, end-to-end business processes that directly impact users and revenue. With full visibility across applications, services, and infrastructure, I can quickly pinpoint where performance degrades instead of relying on assumptions. This clarity gives me confidence in my decisions, speeds up resolution, and ultimately delivers what matters most: healthy systems and happy users.
What makes Dynatrace Community important to you?
The Dynatrace Community is important to me because it enables true knowledge sharing across the entire community.
"Learning from each other is far more effective than trying to figure everything out on your own, especially in complex environments."
It is also an essential resource when preparing for exams, offering real-world insights and practical tips that go beyond documentation. Additionally, the community is often the first place where I get introduced to new Dynatrace features. All of this enables me to help our clients faster and more accurately, while continuously improving the quality of my work.
What is your biggest joy or passion in life? What achievement are you most proud of?
My biggest joy in life is staying active with friends, playing sports, hanging out, and simply enjoying good times together. That is what really recharges me. Recently, I became a father, which is without a doubt the biggest achievement of my life. Yes, there are plenty of sleepless nights, but they honestly do not matter. Seeing that little smile makes every lost hour of sleep completely worth it.
As I mentioned when I was Community Member of the Month in 2023, seeing the northern lights is still high on my bucket list. I like to travel and visit the most beautiful places. Unfortunately, I have not been able to experience it yet. Traveling to Lapland to see the aurora borealis remains a dream of mine, as I imagine the nature there to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. After all, the best things in life often take the longest, and this is one dream I am happy to wait for.
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