Java Developer in cloud-native technology

“I work at Nike as a Java Developer, not with monolithic applications. Here, we have moved to fast and agile coding by breaking tasks into the smallest possible units. I therefore help build microservices on AWS, Amazon's Cloud platform.”

I am a Java Developer and I work with cloud-native technology, but at my core I’m a Software Engineer.

Vasilis Serentellos is a senior Java Developer at Nike. ‘I spent a year at a bank developing Java for the Azure cloud but twelve months ago, with the help of Spilberg, I switched to Nike. There, they combine AWS with Java Development which required a different cloud environment. This meant refreshing my skills but that was not a problem. In the end, all platforms can do more-or-less the same thing. The biggest difference is that right now, AWS is a bit more mature than Azure. Therefore it’s much easier to find what functionality there is and what you can do with it.’

Keep growing in your role

Working together at Nike is a great experience. ‘There are two reasons for that. First and foremost is the working environment. You are not judged here on years of service and experience on paper, but on what you add. It’s a free environment where you are encouraged to ask questions and continue to grow in your role. You are given room to learn and as a result, you also get more done. For what you contribute, you then get real recognition and that works very well.’

From junior to senior

Vasilis grew from junior to senior Java Developer in one year. During that time, he developed several microservices. ‘I contributed to the development of a shopping cart that manages the whole flow from product selection to check-out. Another microservice collects all the data for the invoice and forwards it to underlying services. A third microservice I am proud to mention controls product promotions, such as discount offers.’

Rapid development environment

Speed of development is the second reason why working at Nike is a good experience.

‘My team uses the CI/CD approach. We use a ‘develop’ branch to push our changes to a test environment, and a ‘master’ branch to push our changes to production. This allows for rapid development.I am making contributions and changes to production almost daily. That is totally different than at the bank where I probably made three changes in a year.’

Developing is a mind set

A smooth development environment and friendly colleagues provide a perfect mix to continue growing as a Java Developer for cloud environments, which is important. ‘Technology develops at lightning speed and you have to make sure you keep up. I don't believe there is anyone who knows everything, so there is always room to learn more. I’m a Java Developer and I work with cloud-native technology, but at my core I’m a Software Engineer. In the end, it's not so much about the technology you use, but the mind set you work with. How quickly can you pick things up and how do you learn to use them? I am happy that Spilberg have paired me with a project where that mind set comes into its own.”

Vasilis Serentellos is a Java Developer at Nike. Before joining Nike, he worked for a large Dutch bank. Vasilis studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. During his Masters at TU Delft, he studied Data Science, such as Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning, Big Data, and Cyber Data Analytics. Spilberg introduced Vasilis to Nike.