Achim Christ
Master Certified Technical Specialist
I am a Master Certified Technical Specialist at IBM. In this role I lead complex infrastructure modernization projects for the most innovative companies around the globe, to help them get the most out of their IBM Storage solutions.
I use my deep technical knowledge for enabling customers, business partners, and fellow IBM architects to build hybrid cloud infrastructure for high-performance big data and machine learning use cases. I successfully led international teams, helped launch new technologies, and expanded into new market segments. Furthermore, I am training instructor, conference speaker, open source maintainer, and author of numerous books, papers and articles.
I love to dig into customer problems and solve them with cutting-edge technology. This calls to all my passions; it incorporates curiosity, creativity, and problem solving. My specialties include quickly learning new skills, staying on top of industry trends, translating customer requirements into technical specifications, and applying DevOps principles to foster continuous improvement.
I am a graduate of RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, where I majored in Computer Science. I currently live in Mainz, Germany, with my wife and my son. When I'm not exploring new technology, you can find me listening to podcasts, taking pictures, cycling, or running.
Work Experience
IBM, Technology Expert Labs
IT Consultant
As senior technical specialist for IBM Systems I help clients deploy, modernize and efficiently manage cutting-edge infrastructure solutions. I head service development, delivery and training for various strategic IBM Storage products across EMEA. I am an expert on software defined storage and scale-out file and object solutions, specialized in automation and cloud orchestration. Furthermore, I am technical lead for a group of 8 senior specialists.
- 2021: Lab Services Award
- 2019: Lab Services Award for demonstrating the practice: Put the client first
- 2017: Lab Services Award for demonstrating the practice: Share expertise
- 2016: Lab Services Award for demonstrating the practice: Listen for need, envision the future
- 2015: Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for: Creating significant assets for IBM Spectrum Scale / ESS storage
- 2012: Lab Service Award for: Delivery excellence in the execution of IBM Storwize V7000 Unified service development & training
- 2011: Lab Service Award for: Delivery excellence in the development & execution of IBM Information Archive services with superior customer satisfaction feedback
IBM, Systems Lab Services, Storage
Chief Technology Officer
As Lab Services CTO for IBM Storage I developed and pioneered the EMEA team's strategic technical direction. I assessed new technology trends to ensure that 80+ consultants' skills are aligned to support customers in a rapidly evolving market. I liaised with senior leadership to replicate best practices among 9 geographies in Europe, Middle East & Africa.
Freelance
Open Source Maintainer
- 28 public GitHub repositories, 320+ stars, 180+ forks
- 26 GitHub Enterprise (inner source) repositories
- One project later adapted across IBM Storage product portfolio
IBM, Linux Integration Center
Degree Candidate
Thesis title: "Development of a Portal-based Business Application in Combination with an Eclipse Rich Client"
Education
RheinMain University of Applied Sciences
Computer Science
Diploma
Awards
The Open Group Master Certified Technical Specialist
IBM Level 2 Technical Specialist Profession Certification — Expert Level
The Open Group Certified Technical Specialist
IBM Level 1 Technical Specialist Profession Certification — Experienced Level
Publications
Speichernetze — Storage Networks Explained
Co-author of the 3rd edition of the publication: ISBN 978-3-86490-503-2 (dpunkt.verlag)
Managing data storage in a set of storage systems using usage counters
Co-inventor of United States Patent No. US 9-830-101 B2
Skills
Primary
Things I do every day
- Technical Leadership
- Systems Design / Systems Engineering
- Software Defined Storage / Clustered File Systems / Distributed Computing
- DevOps & Cloud Orchestration / Infrastructure as Code / Ansible / Terraform
- Linux / BSD / Unix Administration, Automation & Virtualization
- Cloud Computing / Public Cloud / AWS / IBM Cloud
Secondary
Things I do regularly
- Agile Methodologies
- Structured & Organized
- Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery / Jenkins / Travis CI / GitHub Actions
- Docker / Kubernetes / Red Hat OpenShift
- Kerberos / Microsoft Active Directory
- Hadoop / Cloudera Data Platform
- Monitoring / Nagios / Icinga / Prometheus / Grafana
- Web Technologies
Programming
- Version Control / Git
- Bash / KornShell
- C / C++
- Go / Golang
- Java / Java EE
- JavaScript / Node.js