Elie Assi – DevOps is a daily challenge

The story of Elie, Senior DevOps Engineer – Cloud Systems, from the country of his birth, Lebanon, to Kurago is one defined by a longing to continue learning and discovering new things, from one side of the world to the other.

Elie arrived in Spain, and more specifically in Bilbao, ten years ago, after studying in his home country and attending university in France. Once in Bilbao, he worked for a company headquartered in London “where they knew next to nothing about working with DevOps in the cloud, as everything was done on-premises, so we started to explore, find out more, and gradually begin to learn.” He then went to the US, where he met his wife, who brought him back to Bilbao.

Elie looks upon DevOps as a daily challenge, and this is one of the aspects he most likes about his job, and although he has also dedicated some of his time solely to the field of development, what he really enjoys is discovering new technologies, tools, and tackling an ever-changing environment.

“Whenever I have to hold an interview for the DevOps team at Kurago, I always ask the person if they would like to understand how things work, if they would like to learn something new. If they say they would, then this is probably the right job for them. If they say they wouldn’t, then this job is not likely to make them happy”.

In order to describe what Elie does, we first need to explain what used to happen with the different applications that were created in the past: once developed, they were saved to a CD or USB and then passed around, installed, tested… from one computer to another, with all the problems that entail involving their setup, changes, new versions … A huge investment in time was required for both the team and the customers themselves to download and test the applications.

Whenever I have to hold an interview for the DevOps team at Kurago, I always ask the person if they would like to understand how things work, if they would like to learn something new. If they say they would, then this is probably the right job for them.

To describe what Elie does, we first need to explain what used to happen with the different applications that were created: once developed, they were saved to a CD or USB and then passed around, installed, tested… from one computer to another, with all the problems that entail involving their setup, changes, new versions … A huge investment in time was required for both the team and the customers themselves to download and test the applications.

The team at DevOps creates environments in the cloud for deploying the applications and making them available online. This means a customer can access this environment and start operating with the applications almost immediately. Creating and maintaining this environment is one of the team’s main tasks. The other is to help out during the different developmental stages: from the drawing board through to testing, the tools for creating the applications, maintaining and deploying them…

Looking to the future, Elie considers that Kurago is on the course, heading in the right direction, “most companies work on-prem, and this creates numerous problems of all kinds. We are on the right track to ensure things operate better”. The whole team accepts the challenge of “educating” customers to understand that working on the cloud is not risky. Quite the contrary, it’s much safer, as the possibilities for testing and collaborating guarantee more and better updates, and speed of access helps to resolve any issues more quickly.

The whole team accepts the challenge of “educating” customers to understand that working on the cloud is not risky, quite the contrary, it’s much safer, as the possibilities for testing and collaborating it provides are a guarantee of more and better updates, and speed of access helps to resolve any issues more quickly.

About Kubernetes and KubeCon

Elie has shared his experience at KubeCon, one of the two major annual events in Kubernetes technology, an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and managing containerized applications.

“Part of an application developed by Bystronic and Kurago has been transferred from a virtual machine to Kubernetes, because it provides us with far more options. You should remember that when you use a virtual machine, you deploy the code there, with a server, and when more users connect up, you need another, and then another… It is extremely difficult to scale this solution when the number of users is constantly increasing. Kubernetes allows for the use of containers, which is a huge advantage”. This technology enables you to adapt the containers depending on customer demand; in other words, adapting the servers to the customers online. This improves a customer’s experience and the maintenance process.

At KubeCon, Elie described Kurago’s experience of migrating to Kubernetes, why the decision was made, and its advantages and drawbacks. Forums such as this one provide an opportunity to share knowledge and experience with experts from all over the world and gain a first-hand understanding of the latest technological developments.

This technology enables you to adapt the containers depending on customer demand; in other words, adapting the servers to the customers online.

As regards the uses that this technology may have in the digitisation of the sheet-metal forming industry, Elie explains that it is not possible to deploy all the systems in one plant, as there is still software that has yet to be uploaded to the cloud. The availability of systems, thanks to this technology, enables customers to connect to them directly with access from anywhere.

The main problem with Kubernetes involves a lack of exposure. Many people do not know that this technology is already being used in large corporations, which means it is very secure “the more people use it, the more secure it is, and that is what we have to make customers understand. There’s no point in us telling them it’s secure, as they will only be convinced when we show them the data and give them examples of companies that are already using it”.

Más detalles sobre mí…

• Experience: I have worked for several software companies, in Bilbao for a London-based company and in the US.
• Education: I studied in Lebanon and went to university in France.
• Motivation: I like to continue learning and face new challenges, which is a constant feature of my working environment.

My likes…

• A book: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and any by Yuval Noah Harari
• A series or film: Friends
• Favorite time of day: Breakfast
• A hobby: : I love going for a walk with my dog, sometimes listening to music.