Unbiased Examination

In the heart of Berlin, Germany, Nicolas Pepin-Perreault, a seasoned engineer, is making waves at Camunda, a company dedicated to creating products that tackle complex business processes.

Behind the scenes, Camunda's engineers work on a myriad of challenges, from distributed systems and long-running workflows to event-driven architecture and scale across multiple cloud environments. Nicolas, as the manager of the Distributed Systems team, is at the forefront of building and supporting the foundation of Camunda 8 Orchestration Cluster.

The team at Camunda operates with a high degree of autonomy, allowing them to self-serve in most instances. This independence is beneficial, especially for experienced engineers who can upskill their colleagues. The engineering teams at Camunda are focused on BPMN workflow modeling and process automation, working on creating unified data models and BPMN workflows across various industries like banking, insurance, energy providers, public administration, and telecommunications. They leverage technologies such as Java, JavaScript, REST, SOAP, and cloud platforms to deliver structured, process-oriented solutions.

Nicolas' career path has been shaped by two significant experiences. His first major experience was at SCL Medtech, where he worked on multi-protocol sensor integration. This experience taught him the importance of maintaining a solid understanding of concurrency, a solid network programming foundation, and knowledge of disk I/O. His second formative experience was at a small startup, where he wore all the hats, a challenge that honed his versatility and problem-solving skills.

Communication skills have been leveled up at Camunda to pass knowledge effectively in a remote setting. Weekly asynchronous updates, increased technical documentation, and internal guides have been implemented for effective communication. Collaboration within teams remains high, even in a remote setup, fostering an environment where unique thinking and technical skill thrive.

The "Meet a Camundi" series offers insights into the engineers behind the platform, giving glimpses into their problem-solving, system design, and debugging methods. Nicolas, with his BA of Arts in English Literature and four recorded CDs available on Spotify, brings a unique perspective to the team.

Nicolas advises new engineers at Camunda to get rid of their ego and always strive to learn. He joined Camunda after discovering the opportunity to work on a research project and the presence of a great engineer as his manager through Glassdoor. One project he is particularly proud of is Zeebe, which he worked on with others at Camunda.

What excites Nicolas the most about his work is working with his team, who are very smart and motivated, and tackling challenging problems together. Debugging distributed systems, with their complexity and the inability to directly observe them without changing their behavior, is a challenge he relishes. Engineering at Camunda feels different from other places Nicolas has worked because it is the first pure software company he's worked at, where engineering is the value, not simply a cost.