Tomas, organizer of Kubernetes community: studying does not end after graduation

09/10/2019

When hearing the stereotypical saying, "I graduated and started working," Cloud Architect Tomas Adomavičius simply shrugs. "I never thought like that. For me, learning is not a finite process. On the contrary, I have successfully combined work and education both at university and when I started my professional career," says the specialist, who works as the cloud architect at Dutch IT giant Centric's subdivision in Kaunas. Even today, after more than a decade of various jobs and positions held in Lithuanian, German, Irish and French companies, Tomas continues learning and exploring the constantly shifting technologies and gathers together the like-minded people by organizing Kubernetes meetings in Kaunas.

Tomas had decided very early - in the 6th grade - what he will study and at which university - only informatics and only in Kaunas University of Technology. A boy from a small village in Anykščiai district was crazy about computers. He was not even bothered by the fact that there was no Internet at home - he would ask his computer science teacher for necessary files or instructions for programming languages and would bring them home in CDs.

"When I started studying informatics in KTU, I found my first job at the end of the second year: when the professor asked who would like to do some work, I was the only one who stayed after the lecture and said yes, I do. One year later, I found a second job - that's how I finished my studies, studying and working in two jobs at once."

Tomas says that after gaining a bachelor's degree he thought about getting a master's too, but soon decided that the time he needed to get his diploma could be used differently. How? Well, of course, by doing more work!

It was curiosity that led to the Kubernetes

Starting from small positions and little companies, Tomas slowly climbed upwards. Dissatisfied with his knowledge and skills he continued to expand his expertise, learning new programming languages, diving into unfamiliar areas, looking for challenges, not hesitating to go work abroad.

“This is how I got into the telecommunications industry. I had to learn the in-house, product-specific programming language, and understand their framework. Intensive training took place in Dublin, Kuala Lumpur, and I worked in Paris," Tomas remembers.

Curiosity and a desire to touch upon various technologies were driving him further - from a startup in Lithuania to Spark Networks GmbH in Germany

"That's when a colleague suggested we try an innovation – Kubernetes - container orchestration and management technology. Once I tried it - I cannot let it go, and it has been four years now," Tomas laughs.

In Greek, Kubernetes means helmsman, pilot. It is no coincidence that the logo depicts a steering helm of a boat, a hint to the fact that this platform is designed for convenient and easy operation of containerized applications. Kubernetes, the open-source software introduced by Google just five years ago, instantly gained enormous interest from programmers around the world. One of them was Tomas, who claims that he does not get bored while deepening his knowledge in Kubernetes, "This system is changing and expanding so rapidly that it has grown into an impressive open-source giant that is extremely exciting to explore and work with."

Organizes a community of professionals

Tomas says he never doubted that accumulated knowledge should be shared and his years of work in Berlin introduced him to the idea of Kubernetes meetings, which he successfully applied in Lithuania: this year, a meeting of Kubernetes enthusiasts and people interested in the system has been organized several times in Kaunas.

“I think there is a lack of regular meetings for IT professionals in Kaunas. So, when I returned to Lithuania, I decided not only to share my technological knowledge but also to build a community of Kubernetes enthusiasts," Tomas says.

Meetings are usually held in the offices of IT companies. They feature presentations, sharing of emerging issues and solutions, making useful contacts, the companies announce about the talents they seek and professionals looking for new challenges present themselves. "You can join us via Meetup app. Usually, around 30-40 people come, many of them beginners who wish to try, see, get to know, and sometimes just find out where to start. Everyone who comes has a chance not only to talk to like-minded or more experienced people but also to make their way to Kubernetes," Tomas, who uses the platform in his daily work, says.

According to him, the sharing of technological knowledge between professionals using the same software is a natural and integral part of the open-source movement.

“It has always been fun for me to share my experience. Also, I want to enthuse young people with inspiring technology. Finally, I encourage communication within the community as well - I feel that it is still sorely lacking. I believe that the more we work in this direction, the easier it will be and the more enterprising, talented and curious people we will attract," Centric Cloud Architect says.

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