EOS Tech Lab: Because we’d rather share our know-how.

If we can get a coveted IT trainer to come to the company, why shouldn’t we open up the event to outsiders and position EOS as an exciting employer for experts? The EOS Tech Lab arose out of this idea. Now it’s set to become a regular event.

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  • Software professional Guus van Weelden imparted expert knowledge on the Kubernetes open source system at the EOS Tech Lab.
  • Participants in teams learned the main commands, instructions, and concepts.
  • EOS wants to use this format to position itself as a company for IT specialists.
When colleagues explain to others what they do, the same questions always come up. No, we do not program software to charge extra-high late payment fees so we can use the interest to throw parties. No, we also do not automatically dig around in social media profiles. And no, we do not send anyone out with a baseball bat to people’s houses to collect debts.

Yildirim Karal and Roland Kärcher from EOS Technology Solutions know the preconceptions that people have about their employer. That’s why they quickly clear up the crude ideas and misunderstandings, which they also did at the kickoff evening for the EOS Tech Lab, a new series of events with which EOS is opening its doors to IT developers. “Most of them had no real idea what we do at EOS Technology Solutions,” says Karal, team leader for software architecture. “We wanted to change that with the Tech Lab.”

The first Tech Lab was a two-day workshop on a hot topic in today’s IT community: Kubernetes, a relatively new cutting-edge open source system for automating the setup of complex software systems.
EOS Tech Lab: EOS се позиционира като работодател за специалисти в областта на ИТ с помощта на нов формат

Giving back to the open source community.

Karal and his colleagues promoted the workshop at the developer conference code.talks in Hamburg. “Interest was gratifyingly great,” says the software developer. The 20 spots for nonemployees were quickly filled. “Our guests really wanted to know what we do,” he says. Thus, they had a good feeling ahead of the premiere.

Also, because EOS was able to attract a sought-after expert as the workshop leader: the Kubernetes coach and software developer Guus van Weelden from the Hamburg startup Loodse. “That way, we were able to do three things at once,” says Karal. “For one, train our own employees in Kubernetes, for another, give something back to the open source community – and additionally present ourselves as an employer for potential applicants.”

That is an important topic for both the short and the long term. After all, EOS Technology Solutions is always looking for good people. “There is a need for around 70 to 80 new employees,” says the team leader. For a variety of tasks. “Big data, data protection, sensitive industry – and changing the organization to state-of-the art software systems.”

Kubernetes in brief.

Released just in 2015, the open source system Kubernetes is now a permanent fixture in the IT field. Developed by Google programmers, it now belongs to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The success of the system is based on the IT concept of containerization, which involves packing of the software application and all the files needed to execute it into a handy code package. This makes installation and operation of cloud services easier. Both the leading debt collection software Fidibus 2 and the new debt collection software Best Next Inkasso from EOS in Germany use this principle. Kubernetes automates many processes that had to be performed manually in the past – this saves time and labor. IT experts also refer to it as an orchestration solution. More information on Kubernetes can be found here.

В рамките на EOS Tech Lab освен всичко друго участниците научиха как могат по-бързо да въвеждат облачни приложения с Kubernetes.

Taking the EOS principle of sharing knowledge one step further.

What can happen when you also live the EOS principle of sharing your knowledge externally is shown by an example that Karal’s colleague Roland Kärcher reports on. “An ex-colleague of mine also participated. He never would have considered applying to EOS before. Now he would.” He himself had talked about his good working conditions and exciting tasks before, says Kärcher. “But those were words. When you can show it, that is something completely different.”

Many developers are individualists, says Kärcher. Thus, he was all the more surprised at how much he enjoyed the training part of the workshop. Apart from gaining knowledge about how to start programming a Kubernetes cluster, he especially gained motivation to delve further into the topic: “The trainer showed us that it is possible to master it.”

At any rate, it is already safe to say that EOS will also be at the next code.talks. “We are planning a somewhat bigger booth than last year and also our own speaker contribution this time,” says Karal. “And it is very likely that we will organize a Tech Lab again this year. I think it would be great if we would do that every year now.”

Want more information about the Tech Lab or EOS as an employer? Contact us.

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Photo Credits: EOS (2), Willie B. Thomas / DigitalVision / Getty Images