CLOUD ENGINEER ALEXANDRU BOIERIU ON THE CHALLENGE AND EXCITEMENT OF WORKING WITH DATA AT SCALE

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: There’s big data, and then there’s CrowdStrike data. Our engineering team manages and processes events not by the millions or even billions, but trillions per week. That makes for an exciting and challenging task for our cloud engineers.

Here to talk about his experience working with data at scale is Romania-based Cloud Engineer Alexandru Boieriu.

Q. Tell us about being a Cloud Engineer at CrowdStrike and what you like about your job?

As a Cloud Engineer, I help develop the tools used by the security research analysts and other intelligence team members to help them prevent, detect or remediate security events.

The thing I like most about my job is the technology. It was the first thing that stood out to me about the company. No matter where you are in the world, CrowdStrike is one of the best places to be if you want to work with cutting-edge technology.

Before joining CrowdStrike Romania, I used to hear a lot about big data, but it was mostly theoretical. At CrowdStrike, I actually see it in a practical sense. We use data to solve problems. We have a huge amount of data coming in so we need to use the best technology available today to manage it — and we also have to develop new technologies to meet our evolving needs. So it’s a really exciting place to be.

Q. What is it about working with Big Data that’s exciting to you?

When you work in engineering, it can be really challenging to scale up simple programming problems. For example, if you want to add two numbers, it’s simple, right? One plus one is two. But if you try to do that at scale with very big numbers, it becomes  a challenge. It’s no longer just a simple and repetitive task.

In a sense, big data just makes things more interesting and exciting because everything becomes a challenge. Since I joined CrowdStrike, I feel like I’m solving complex problems and learning new things each day. I’m never doing the same task over and over again. I’m not working on problems that can be solved by anyone with a basic skill set. And, it also comes with a lot of satisfaction when you get the job done.

Q. What do you do during a typical day?

There’s a lot of variety in my days. It really depends on the project that I’m working on.

The better part of my time is spent working on how to improve the product. We’re developing new features, new systems that will make our team and our tools more efficient. Ultimately, we want to stay a step ahead of adversaries and our competition. That’s the goal we’re working toward.

One thing that I particularly like is that we always try to find ways to automate our processes. We have a lot of complex pieces that we need to put together to be able to deliver our products and services. It’s so rewarding when you get that really complex system to a point where it works almost by itself. It can handle the load; it can adapt itself; it can alert you when something goes wrong. It’s self-sufficient in some ways.

That’s something that our team works on, day in and day out. We really think about how to adapt and improve the system so that it is more self-sufficient. So that’s another point of satisfaction for me, because whenever I can automate something that was done manually, it feels like magic.

Q. What do you like about the CrowdStrike culture and CrowdStrike Romania specifically?

What I really enjoy about working at CrowdStrike is that everybody cares about the product. They want to deliver the best. Quality is more important than quantity here. And that is something that is really understood by everybody — not just the engineers.

Everyone really thinks through how to deliver products that will make a difference and bring value to our customers. That’s really appealing for us as engineers, because we feel that our effort is used in the best way possible. We don’t just make as many deliveries as possible. We produce the highest-quality products, and our customers value that commitment.

As for working in Romania, I really enjoy being able to work remotely. The culture here is really open in terms of how people communicate. People take the time to help you with problems and share knowledge. So that’s in line with the CrowdStrike culture overall. It’s a great learning environment, which is important when you’re working with cutting-edge tech.

Q. What advice would you give to other Cloud Engineers who want to work in cybersecurity?

First, I would say that a big misconception about joining a company like CrowdStrike is that you need to have cybersecurity experience. And that’s not really the case.

When I was applying, I had some concerns that I might not be a good fit because I did not have any professional experience in security or cybersecurity. I think there are a lot of very good and talented people that may be afraid to move toward this industry for the same reason.

But you really don’t need to have cybersecurity knowledge to work as a cloud engineer at CrowdStrike. We deal with the same issues, problems and challenges that any cloud engineer would encounter, just at a much bigger scale. So definitely set aside that doubt if you have it — because this is a really exciting industry, and you’ll want to be a part of it.

Find out more about Crowdstrike and their job opportunities here