I am a long-time systems engineer who got his first taste of Linux via Debian GNU/Linux back in the mid 90s. I started as a software developer (front-end and back-end), but soon dwelled into Internet services operations through dedicated servers and, later, virtualisation. Along the way, I also learned about monitoring, automation, and configuration management. What is now known nowadays as DevOps was common sense to me when I was in my twenties, as I never shared that development versus operations divide.
I spent some years alternating the roles of project manager and systems engineer and, eventually, co-founded a company offering VoIP and systems engineering services, which led me to a general manager role in the public administration for two terms (my small public service contribution).
I am currently learning how to apply artificial intelligence to my work.
Offline, I practice lots of sports (swimming, beach volleyball, stand-up paddle and hiking, among others) and I coach volleyball players.
The thing I like the most in life is learning, so I am always eager to meet new people and share knowledge and experiences. Usually very passionate about everything I do, I like practicing sports, attending to opera and classical music events, reading books, cooking, and watching films and series.
And I also like writing about what I learn and what I do, hence this blog. All the articles in it are based on free and open source software, and are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Open for business #
I would describe myself as a jack of many trades, master of some. Way back, when I was still a teenager, the being good at one thing mantra did not resonate with me so, instead, I took a more holistic approach to life, work, and social relationships.
Since then, I have spent all my life learning from many different practices, disciplines and roles in sports, at work, through hobbies and from people. This has turned me into a very versatile person, that easily adapts to change, with a broader perspective and a more open mind. I share John Carmack’s holistic understanding of technology.
The most important thing is to have a broad understanding of technology. You can be a specialist in one area, but you need to have a good understanding of the whole system. If you don’t, you will never be able to make the right decisions.
As a chief or manager, I strongly believe in the power of transformation through good leadership. Across my career, I have successfully worked with, and within, non-technical departments such as product, marketing or support, and also operations, administration and finances.
Planning ahead and leading by example, I try to encourage independent problem solving and decision making within a well defined framework, provide constructive feedback using clear, honest, and transparent communication, and empower team members to take ownership while avoiding micromanaging.
As a systems engineer, I am, mostly, a back-end guy: systems, platform, devops, site reliability, but I also have great interest in good software development practices and software architectures. I am a huge fan of TDD, VSA and DDD, and agile methodologies.
Beautiful is better than ugly. Explicit is better than implicit. Simple is better than complex. Complex is better than complicated.
About the site #
In Catalan, calabruix means hail, hailstones, or hailstorm, depending on how you use it. Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze. Hailstones then grow by colliding with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone’s surface.
The Summer storms are the wildest. They can really rip a place apart. There is nothing soft or gentle about the rain: it purs down, a huge, heavy torrent. The thunder is so close and loud, you feel it all around you. And sometimes there is hail.
Background picture in the home page by Korawat Thatinchan.