Tech lead at Wild Goose
Meet Stijn, our tech lead.
Since the beginning of this year, he has been strengthening our team at a government client with a strong social impact. But what does his role actually entail?
Stijn comes from Zonhoven, is married and the proud father of three daughters. After completing his master's degree in computer science, he started working as a developer and gained extensive experience. At the weekend, he prefers to be outdoors on his bike, mountain biking and road cycling. If cycling is not an option, he goes for a walk. Today, he works as a tech lead in a team for the Digitisation department.
As tech lead, Stijn combines two important roles. On the one hand, he will monitor the technical direction of the team, but on the other hand, he will also contribute to the development of the application himself. He therefore ensures that the developers can work within clear technical frameworks and steps in where necessary.
One of the projects his team is working on concerns the digital enforcement of environmental regulations. The team is developing a modern application that enables efficient follow-up and handling of cases. These include cases involving environmental violations, such as illegal fires in nature reserves. The application is built with contemporary technologies such as Spring Boot, GraphQL, LIT (Javascript), CQRS, PostgreSQL and S3. The team is also working on a solution that allows large amounts of measurement data to be analysed in a smart and scalable way. This data is collected in a data lake and analysed using Apache Spark. The goal? To recognise patterns and automatically send out certain signals when values are exceeded, so that rules can be followed more smoothly without manual intervention.
But what exactly does a tech lead do?
In Stijn's case, we can divide his work into three main blocks:
Technical clearance and forward thinking
Stijn ensures that the team can start the sprint with clear technical frameworks. It is his job to think ahead and he investigates predetermined technical ideas in advance to ensure that there is as little uncertainty as possible before the sprint and that these occur less frequently during the sprint. If something does come up, it is picked up via analysis tickets. During refinement, he is the one who explains the technical concept so that the team can contribute ideas and provide feedback. The aim is to have a clear technical proposal at that point, so that constructive adjustments can be made.
Coordinate with other teams
If collaboration with other teams is required, Stijn takes the lead in clarifying everything. This includes questions such as: how do we approach this, how can we exchange data, who is responsible for what? This coordination takes place prior to the sprint so that the development team can focus fully on the task at hand.
Developing
Stijn still helps to programme the application himself, so it goes beyond just coaching; he also contributes to its development.
What is his main responsibility?
Technical clarification and ensuring that the team builds on a solid technical foundation. If something is not right technically, such as a complex integration or an error in the design, Stijn is the first person you contact. Of course, it remains a team responsibility, but Stijn ensures that the content is correct and that technical choices are well-founded.
Are there any challenges?
Certainly. Stijn has a background as a backend developer but now works mainly as a full-stack developer. That means you have to dive into modern frontend technology. Fortunately, the team also has an experienced frontend colleague. The start was also challenging in terms of content. The project required thorough analyses of complex technical regulations. Stijn saw this as an opportunity for growth, being able to quickly familiarise himself with a previously unknown domain and translate this into technical terms.
What soft skills do you need as a tech lead?
Communication is number one. You need to be able to explain complex technical matters in a simple way to people in the business so that they, in turn, can make the right decisions without being technical experts. You also need some persuasive power, because sometimes it is technically better to choose a different solution than what was originally requested. In that case, it is important to discuss this and come to a workable solution together. Finally, stress resistance is a bonus. If you remain calm, the team will too.
What does Stijn enjoy most about his job?
Every project is an opportunity to learn. New technologies, new fields and new people keep the work exciting. What's more, he has ended up in a great team, which makes a huge difference.
How did he come into contact with Wild Goose?
Just through a simple LinkedIn message. A brief conversation followed, and thanks to a few mutual contacts, the move to Wild Goose felt like the right thing to do. Sometimes you just have to dare to fly.