Bloom: Magaly Boddin
As a cloud expert, Magaly Boddin has her head in the clouds. Read her inspiring story below 👇🏻
The click
With her head on her shoulders, she wants Cloudar's customers to be 'in the clouds', technologically and proverbially.
Accurate technological knowledge and targeted expertise are the first impressions that come to mind when the knowledgeable, to the point, accurately coded answers fly around our ears, and 'girl' they sound good! It could be a partition entitled 'A woman's journey in deep cloud tech'. Magaly Boddin is driven and her ambition stretches far when it comes to providing the most appropriate answers to customers looking for cloud solutions. Her master's degree in computer science is a liberation. It is not so much the 'cum laude' that gives her the greatest satisfaction but rather a satisfied customer. With her head on her shoulders, she wants Cloudar's customers to be 'in the clouds', technologically and proverbially.
How did she end up in the tech world?
I could see myself doing that, that is really interesting!
Clusity's Bloom stories can almost count as research or déjà vu, depending on how you look at it. Magaly's fascination with tech catapults us back for a moment to Michèle Tahay's story. After secondary school, where she successfully studied science and mathematics, Magaly visited a study fair. She was not really interested in any course that matched her previous studies until she went to an open day on ICT courses: 'I could see myself doing that, it's really interesting! The teachers told her it was not an obvious choice. Most IT students came from a technical background and could already programme. I was going to have to start from scratch and work hard. was the verdict, but that did not stop her. I then started the bachelor's course and indeed saw that others had more background, but I managed well.
What appealed to you most on that open day? Was it writing code or data management?
Customers come to us asking for something specific to be done in the cloud and we make it for them. In no time at all, it's there and it works. Building a solution is really satisfying!
"What immediately appealed to me were a number of examples that showed that you write code and immediately see the result, the programme did something immediately. It gave me the feeling of 'I can really make something here and it just works!'" Her intonation reveals the same wonderment of the time, taking us back to the moment, as she tells us. "Now I'm not so much busy with programming, but much more with infrastructure. Customers come to us asking for something specific to be done in the cloud and we make it for them. In no time, it is there and it works. Building a solution is really satisfying!
Job selection
How did you get here? What did you do after your studies?
I started with a company that places recent graduates somewhere and ended up with the Flemish government as a system engineer. That was more of a supporting role, I did get more responsibilities and could try out different things, but it was rather layered. I was sandwiched between the company that had placed me and another consulting layer, and in that way I always fell by the wayside. I didn't like that, although I did like my work. My friend encouraged me to look further and he also said that I could do much more than what I was doing. So I started looking around and that's how Izzy (nvdr Claerhout) helped me. I started talking to different companies and finally ended up at Cloudar. Without any cloud experience, I followed several intensive trainings and now I've been there for three and a half years.
Futures
What made you decide to start at Cloudar?
Cloudassisted service is very future-oriented and very interesting in terms of technical skills. Especially the managing partners at Cloudar, who are easy to deal with, was a relief because I came from a government environment where everything is compartmentalised and rather static.
Are you at the customer's site or working from home?
I don't always have to be onsite with the customer, which allows me to go to the office and not lose touch with the people here.
That depends on the customer I am working for at the time and on the needs. Cloudar tries not to put us full-time at a customer, unless the consultant likes it or the customer needs it. For example, I am part-time with two different customers. I do not always have to be on-site with the customer, which allows me to go to the office as well and not lose touch with the people here. Because that is the danger of consulting: I really enjoy it, but in the long run you can lose touch with your own company. Here, the possibility of coming to the office, team meetings, etc. makes up for that.
Before we continue with your professional life, I wanted to ask you about your master's thesis.
I only had a bachelor's degree and felt I could and wanted to do more. So I decided to switch to industrial engineering. Because the master's did not match my bachelor's degree, I first had to follow a bridging programme, which meant taking the three-year bachelor industrial engineer in one year. All the tough subjects such as mathematics and physics were covered. That took a bit longer than expected to obtain the master's degree.
If I understand correctly, you graduated as a Master of Industrial Engineering with a specialisation inIT?
Indeed, as an industrial engineer in computer science.
Technically hands-on
You are a cloud engineer at Cloudar? How should we picture that? What does your day look like?
It is important that you understand the environment very well in order to manage everything and certainly not to interfere when you are adjusting things.
Cloudar does two different things. We do managed services where we take the customer in to manage the entire AWS environment and also consulting where we put experts in the customer to provide advice and additional services. That's what I'm doing at the moment. For example, the customer may want to build and organise something around a whole list of accounts that they have. As a consultant, you then have to arrange that with the technical people on site. It's important that you understand the environment very well in order to keep everything running smoothly and make sure you don't interrupt anything when you're adjusting things. You have the architect part where you work things out and also the implementation. Often, you can move from one to the other; personally, I like to be involved in the hands-on technical implementation part. If they send me out as the technical lead, I still like to be involved in the technical implementation.
What is that technical hands-on part for you?
"In other words, supporting the applications with containers, docker and AWS variants of those technologies, among others.
For one of my customers, for example, this means keeping the website up and running. I don't write code but I make sure the underlying servers and components are there, keep running and are updated. If a new version is required, I build it in parallel and then we migrate the application to the new stack, etc. In other words, supporting the applications with containers, docker and AWS variants of those technologies.
You are only working with AWS?
"Indeed, we want to focus with Cloudar mainly on AWS, there is certainly plenty to do in it.
Do you have to get new certificates every three or four years? How do you deal with that?
AWS regularly makes announcements about what new things they are going to do and that comes to us via Slack. That's one of the reasons why I asked not to be at the customer full-time so that I can make room for further training. You follow up on everything, of course, but there are details that don't come up every day in your job so it's still necessary to go through new things for the recertification.'
Success and challenge
What are your greatest successes when you look back on your life, private and professional?
When I read the other Bloom stories with women who have their own business, I am quite impressed. (laughs) For me there are two big milestones, the first being getting my master's degree. That meant freedom for me, finally stepping into work life, finally doing something because I never liked going to school. The second is my switch to Cloudar. At first I had my doubts because I liked my work and had great colleagues, but I am very happy that I finally took the step.
You have chosen a very tough study for someone who does not like studying?
I am very performance-oriented, tests, exams, delivering work has been very stressful for me. And not seeing any return on it doesn't exactly give the greatest satisfaction. You do get good marks, but now when I have a deadline to deliver something, I have a satisfied customer, in the best case scenario of course (laughs). That is a much greater reward than going to school.
The switch is a great success, you've been lying awake over it, are you a doubter?
Making big life decisions is difficult, yes.
Successes are often coupled with challenges. What is a big challenge for you?
I constantly challenge myself to do better for my customers and for Cloudar, to become better actually.
I just want to do my work really well. Despite the often very rewarding feedback about my work, I always think I can do better and deliver more. I continuously challenge myself to do better for my clients and for Cloudar, to become better actually.
So how do you measure 'getting better'?
That is difficult of course. Getting my certificates is a measurable point, another way of knowing is by asking myself how easily I can answer when a customer asks me something, how sure am I of my answer? Building up the self-confidence to get to: I can do it.'
Is that self-confidence in technical knowledge of the topic or is it more a matter of courage if you do know?
Both, I think. I certainly have enough knowledge, but sharing it with self-confidence is sometimes still a threshold.'
Could you give a keynote on AWS, for example?
That is not yet within my comfort zone'.
How come, do you link it to being a woman or to something else?
Because you are the only woman, they find you quickly. It plays more to my advantage than to my disadvantage.'
To be honest, I don't think much about it as a woman working in a man's world. I have never had any negative experiences with it. Because I am technically strong, I gain the necessary trust from the customer. They know immediately that I know what I am talking about. Because you are the only woman, they find you quickly. It is more to my advantage than to my disadvantage.
Looking ahead, what do you still want to achieve?
At a professional level, people at Cloudar regularly ask what the main reason would be if you were to leave Cloudar. Actually, I think to myself that there is no reason to leave, I am very comfortable here. I want to do my job for as long as possible and immerse myself in it as long as it remains technologically possible. The technology landscape is changing so fast'.
Coaching in tandem
You don't want to become a team leader or managing partner, for example?
At Cloudar, there is a very flat structure, so the concept of a team leader is currently not there, but there are tandem projects that I get involved in where a senior cloud engineer and a junior are brought together. That is something I would like to develop. Recently, I followed a training course on this subject to hone technical coaching skills, among other things, so that I can pull someone along without losing technical grip.
How should we see such a tandem at Cloudar? Is it a kind of mentorship?
In a tandem, Cloudar puts two people together on a project where they work alternately so that they can fall back on each other if necessary. Mentorship is not always the case because we are a small group and there can often be a different combination of profiles.'
Are there people you ever want to meet because they have inspired you?
'Getting ideas, different perspectives out of good conversations are also a source of inspiration, especially if they come from nowhere.'
The chances of meeting someone famous that you look up to are very small. My dream has to be realistic, so I prefer to look at the people around me. I have a number of good contacts with our clients, some of whom are not just technical profiles but people who are good at people management, for example. I would like to be able to do that as well, that is what I want to work on in the future. Getting ideas, other perspectives out of good conversations are also a source of inspiration, especially if they come from nowhere. Like with my boyfriend, for example, who is also an IT professional and with whom I regularly have conversations when I am faced with something. Our conversations often lead to a fresh perspective.
Other people find you inspiring and super talented, how do you feel about that?
People do say such things about me, but I'm quite modest about it myself. I just want to be able to keep doing what I like to do. I just like to build something up and take care of it like a baby that you have to give away with pain in your heart at some point.'
Why do you like your job so much? Is it to solve a problem, to build?
That is the making, being able to take a problem, unravel it and build it back up again. Building something, being able to make something and being really proud of it. The sudden awakening in the middle of the night and thinking 'ha, that's how it should be, and then you make that and it works!