Hooked since childhood

I am Christophe Rahier, System Engineer. I have been working in IT since 1997: first web development, then infrastructure, which became my full-time job.

Like Obelix, I fell into the cauldron as a kid 😉. I am self-taught: I learnt by searching, testing and sometimes breaking things, and that is still how I keep improving.

From the web to infrastructure

For more than fifteen years, I built for the web while also running the servers behind it. At Partena HR and then at Qualifio, I switched between code and infrastructure as needed. Little by little, infrastructure took over, and I chose to focus on it.

Today I mainly work with Windows Server, Active Directory, SQL Server, VMware, Proxmox and Veeam, and I automate whatever can be automated with PowerShell, Ansible and Terraform.

Very different organisations

I have worked for small businesses as well as very large organisations: the European Commission in Luxembourg, Safran Aero Boosters and AB InBev’s European breweries. What I take from it is that a server is never an end in itself. Behind every machine, there are people who need things to work. So I start by understanding their needs before choosing a solution.

Technology, and people

I like problems that take some digging: understanding why a system was built the way it was, finding its weak spot, then putting in place something that is easy to maintain.

But I do not work alone in my corner. I enjoy discussing, challenging ideas and thinking things through together: that is how we make the most progress. To me, this job is as much about people as it is about technology.

Always learning

IT never stops changing, and that is what I like about it. At home, I run a small lab (a Proxmox cluster, containers, automation) where I try out tools before using them at work.

Away from IT

Away from the servers, I am building my model railway layout, and I am fascinated by Viking history.