Some heroes don't wear capes. Luckily, we can reward them with a Member of the Month award. 😊 Christian's contributions have significantly improved the lives of many Dynatracers. While everyone in Dynatrace uses Slack and Jira, it's fascinating to know that Christian @christian_kreuz was instrumental in developing the first connectors! We aren't the first ones whose lives he's made easier—his passion for technology and strategy has been evident from a young age. Read the article and discover Christian’s impact!
I have always been very technophile. At the age of 9, my neighbors called me to help them with "programming their TVs" - basically reading the manual and using the remote control to run the channel search/tuning.
At the age of 13, I had already written a ton of PHP, HTML, and JavaScript Code—needless to say, this code would not survive a code review. After finishing my technical education at a college specializing in Software Development and studying Mathematics at university, I went for a job as a Python Software Engineer. I eventually became a Dynatracer and started as a Team Lead in the Open Source project "Keptn".
Since then, I've worked my way through Dynatrace with various roles, and I've managed to build up quite some knowledge about the product.
Christian's giving a presentation in the Klagenfurt office.
The most challenging part for our department is to develop and maintain not one component, but multiple components spread across multiple repositories. While contributing to improvements to individual Connectors, I'm also driving and executing improvements for developer experience, like creating shared packages, as well as automating boring tasks.
In addition, I'm advocating internally for using our own product, specifically Workflows and Connectors, to achieve our goals. As part of this, I'm working together with multiple teams and stakeholders, providing feedback on new features early on, as well as helping customers with Workflows.
Chilling with other Dynatracers in Klagenfurt.
I really like problem solving—like almost every engineer. What excites me at Dynatrace is the scale. Solving a problem could mean solving it for hundreds, if not thousands, of customers!
"We can help customers adopt our product, and on top of that, the next customer with the same question might also benefit from it."
For me, the Dynatrace Community offers an informal way of communicating with customers. It helps us understand the pains that customers run through. Ideally, we can help customers adopt our product, and on top of that, the next customer with the same question might also benefit from it.
I love Formula 1! While the racing aspect has not been the most exciting lately, I'm a big fan of strategy. In addition, I relax by doing some work in my garden.
Besides that, my all-time favorites are the Iron Man and new Spiderman movies, but anything in the MCU would probably work.
If you ask the younger version of me: Sit in an F1 car and compete for the championship 😄
But right now, my goals are focused around my family. I have three kids, and helping them to grow into independent individuals is my main goal.
As Christian jokes: "I don't have many good pictures of me, as I'm either busy at work, or with my Family" 🙂
In 2022, I led two teams that created the first connectors for Dynatrace: Slack and Jira. We also navigated through the first releases of Dynatrace SDKs and Strato design system components.
We laid the groundwork for other teams to create connectors and Workflow actions.
Since then, I've been a part of multiple efforts to extend and improve connectors as well as relevant SDKs and UI components.
Thank you, Christian, for your unwavering dedication to Dynatrace and for being a true advocate for our Community. We appreciate your passion and commitment to making life easier for everyone around you!