Whether it’s leveling up on a game, hitting a fitness goal or troubleshooting for a customer, Solution Architect Team Leader, Artem (better known as Dai), always welcomes a challenge. Because for every problem, there’s a solution waiting to be found.
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As the Solution Architect Team Leader at servers.com, my role boils down to three fundamental objectives: resolving customers’ pains, helping customers through their initial conversations with servers.com and, of course, designing infrastructure solutions.
In addition, as the team leader, it’s my job to help my team of solution architects solve technical challenges, review solution designs and align our work with wider business goals. It’s all about striking the right balance between technical oversight, coaching and strategic alignment.
Two shots of vodka and I’m ready to go...
Jokes aside, I always start my morning with a cup of coffee followed by some kind of exercise - whether that’s at home or at the gym. For me, it’s the best way to start the day - after that I feel energized and ready to bring my best self to work.
A typical day for me involves lots of conversations with our customers throughout the day (and lots more coffee to fuel me through). Most often, I’m helping a customer troubleshoot a specific technical issue that they’re facing or helping a business design their ideal setup.
Communication is so important in my role. As a team, we need to make it as easy as possible for our customers to communicate with us when they need help. We like to offer them the option to chat to us in whatever way is easiest for them - whether that’s on Discord, Telegram, Slack or another platform. It’s a small thing but I can see that it makes a big difference to their experience.
Any minute, any day, I’m ready for the phone to buzz. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s these conversations that form the foundation of what I love most about my job.
From a very young age, I was interested in technology. I was fascinated by computers, the internet and how it all works. That curiosity gradually evolved into a real passion for using technology to create innovative solutions and improve how things are done.
I’ve always enjoyed problem solving and I wanted a career path that would allow me to do this every single day. I decided to study within the Faculty of Computer Systems and Networks at Kryvyi Rih National University in Ukraine and following my studies, I began working in system administration before moving into a solution architecture role. I soon realized that it was the perfect fit and have never looked back.
Working in infrastructure as a service, we get a continuous stream of interesting, complex problems to solve. For me, tackling a complex issue and coming to a successful resolution is incredibly rewarding. And when we’re not fixing an acute problem, we’re usually thinking about how we can build solutions in a better way to improve our customers’ setups.
It’s challenging but never boring. Ultimately when we help our customers out, I feel good. That’s what makes me happy and keeps me in this line of work. Happiness is key - as we say at servers.com, it’s all about making customers happy and keeping them happy.
I’m also an avid gamer so I love working with our gaming customers and attending GDC in San Francisco with the team each year. It’s amazing when you can channel something that you’re passionate about into your work - and getting to meet the people who make the games you love is the icing on the cake.
Recently, we had a gaming customer come to us with an unexpected and very large order. Nobody knew that the game was going to gain so many players so quickly after launch, so we had to act as fast as possible to meet the demand.
Ultimately, we were able to help the customer deploy a few thousand servers over just a couple of days. It was a huge challenge, but the successful outcome was a massive win for everyone involved.
If somebody asked me about starting a career as a solution architect, I would always advise them to build a technical foundation first. Whether it’s through a university degree or another form of technical training, understanding core concepts like networking, APIs, operating systems, cloud and bare metal architecture and how web applications work is vital. You’ll also need to learn how to clearly explain complex ideas to both technical and non-technical people which is an often overlooked but incredibly high-level skill.
Soft skills are also important - at the end of the day, this role is all about helping people so if you’re not a ‘people person’ you likely won’t enjoy this line of work. And if you’re working within specific industries like we do here at servers.com, take some time to get to know and understand their intricacies as comprehensively as possible and as early as possible.
In an ideal world, I’d relax after work by playing some video games. To be honest, I’d play the whole weekend if I could, especially if I’m deep into a particular game. The reality is that that only happens if my kids let me (which isn’t that often). When I do find the time, I’ll play some multiplayer session games. Right now, I’m loving Apex Legends, have just finished Witcher 3 (can’t wait for the next one) and my son has discovered a love of Fortnite so I’m having the best time playing that with him.
