Can you briefly introduce yourself?
Nathalie Perez, 33 years old, and currently 9 months into my assignment at KLM. I previously studied English Language and Culture at Leiden University.
Your impression of KLM in one word?
Timeless.
What is your role?
Technical Incident Coordinator at the Operations Center in Amsterdam.
What are you mainly working on at KLM right now?
I collaborate a lot with product teams on how we can improve our cooperation. As the operations center, we are present 24/7 at Schiphol, solving major IT incidents for KLM. My role is to ensure that we have the right tools for this. By discussing monitoring, documentation, changes, and incidents, I help to improve the process.
Which aspects of the job do you find the most interesting or motivating?
I find escalations the most interesting part of my role. It's like an escape room. You're searching for the solution to a problem while the clock is ticking. It can start off small and then, due to the complex IT infrastructure, escalate into something that takes hours or even days to resolve.
A major example was the incident with Crowdstrike, where, on the first day of the incident, I was responsible for writing an escalation report for Air France/KLM. I've never learned so much in such a short time, and I got to see everything that’s required to keep the IT infrastructure of a large company running smoothly.
What have you really learned about yourself so far?
I'm amazed by how much I've learned in 9 months and how much responsibility I've been given for certain aspects of the operation. The trust of my team has made me believe in myself, and, as they say here, I feel empowered to make decisions.
How do you experience the work environment and culture so far? Do you feel a match?
There’s definitely a match! There's a great atmosphere where my managers sit right next to me, and brainstorming and laughing go hand in hand. This makes me feel like I can approach them with any questions I have. Since we oversee multiple applications, every day is different, and I’m constantly learning. It's never boring here!
How do you think the experience you're gaining here will help you in your future career?
I’m soaking up information like a sponge and learning a lot from colleagues with decades of IT experience. Analyzing incidents often ends with ‘lessons learned.’ We review everything, from an architect's plan to changes in an application where the process can improve. You can then participate in new projects, like cloud migrations or new monitoring implementations, and share your experiences to improve the process. I think there will always be a need for this, and it will offer many opportunities in my career.