Pablo_Verges

Profile - Pablo Vergés 🧑🏼‍💻

House of Test


Contents

About 🎙

I’m Pablo Vergés, a passionate Developer Experience Engineer. My journey began in 2004, and over the years, I’ve developed into a multifaceted professional committed to enhancing the quality and efficiency of software teams.

I specialize in helping teams achieve significantly better quality through Test-Driven Development (TDD), continuous integration, and ephemeral environments. My background in experimental physics has provided me with a strong foundation in hypothesis testing, analytical thinking, and problem-solving, but it’s my passion for software engineering that truly motivates me.

I have a talent for quickly grasping a project’s context, identifying the key principles, concepts, methods, and tools necessary for success. Whether it’s testing, product management, software operations, or development methodologies, I approach every challenge with enthusiasm, bringing valuable insights and a collaborative spirit to the table.

I’m also a strong advocate for collaborative practices like pairing and ensemble programming, always keen to explore new methods to enhance team efficiency and effectiveness.

When I’m not immersed in software engineering, you can find me pursuing my other passion—bouldering. Climbing provides the perfect balance to my professional life, offering physical challenges that keep me grounded and focused. Whether on the rock face or in the codebase, I’m always up for a good challenge and ready to make a real impact.

Professional Activity 🤺

Mar 2023 - present House of Test GmbH
  Test Engineer
Projects: Heating system temperature calibration testbench
  Test-Lab hardware reservation and setup system
  Concourse CI setup for a multirepo product
  Thrift Server Pytest plugin for mocking
  Gherkin and Behave rules for Bazel
  Environment definitions in Nix
  Model factories library
Sep 2018 - Oct 2022 DECTRIS AG
  Software Engineer
Projects: Automated heating system temperature calibration testbench
  Development of a program for data democratization
  Design and setup infrastructure for ERP solution
  Evaluation of manufacturing execution systems
  Git and collaboration training for coworkers
  Detector system calibration rebuild
  Proof of concept data warehouse
  Detector user interface rebuild
  Detector assembly test
  ERP upgrade
Jan 2017 - Jul 2018 4teamwork AG
  Software Engineer
Projects: Inspection administration and reporting software
  Web application for substitution management
  Meeting assistance web application
  Boilerplate for Django projects
  opengever.core
  Event calendar
Sep 2015 - Mai 2016 Adfinis SyGroup AG
  Software Engineer
Projects: Server monitoring, alarming and reporting system
  OpenOffice patch

Achievements 🎬

Mentorship and Onboarding: Mentored new coworkers, ensuring they quickly acclimated to their roles and contributed productively from day one. I’ve consistently supported teams by providing guidance and resources that lead to increased efficiency and smoother onboarding processes.

System Overhaul: Successfully analyzed and deconstructed a complex software system, enabling developers to rewrite it from scratch with clarity and confidence. My ability to translate intricate systems into understandable concepts was key in delivering a more streamlined and maintainable solution.

ERP Environment Replication: Designed and implemented a pipeline to create and replicate ERP environments, significantly enhancing debugging processes and reducing issue resolution times. This initiative resulted in faster, more reliable development cycles, saving the company hundreds of thousands of Swiss Francs.

Pipeline Optimization: Optimized a legacy system’s pipeline, reducing runtime by 90%. This improvement not only enhanced development speed but also made the system more attractive for ongoing development, encouraging team members to engage with and improve the system.

Mastering and Teaching Complex Tools: Developed effective methods for learning and teaching tools with steep learning curves, such as Git and Nix. My approach has empowered teams to adopt these tools more efficiently, improving overall productivity and collaboration.

Education 📚

My academic journey began at the prestigious EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), where I initially focused on computer science. However, my passion for programming led me to prioritize those subjects over others, resulting in insufficient grades in math and physics, and ultimately leading to me dropping out. Rather than seeing this as a setback, I viewed it as an opportunity to refine my path.

I continued my studies at the University of Applied Sciences (HSR), where I gained a broader and more balanced education. After a couple of semesters at HSR, I decided to gain practical experience in the industry, which led me to take a break from software engineering. Later, I decided to return to academia and pursue a degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Bern. I ultimately earned a Master’s degree in Experimental Physics, specializing in elementary particle physics.

This diverse educational background, spanning computer science, physics, and mathematics, has equipped me with a strong analytical foundation and the adaptability to tackle complex challenges in various fields.

What is important to me 💁

Collaboration 🤝

Collaboration is key to success, and I believe that everyone should put in equal effort to achieve their goals and those of their counterparts. Let’s create an open, honest, and trusting work environment where we can all thrive.

Emotions matter! That’s why I’m a big believer in emotional awareness and empathy in the workplace. After all, a little kindness and support can go a long way.

Collaboration shouldn’t just be a buzzword - it should be a way of life! Let’s make sure that we work together in all aspects of our work and create a culture of teamwork and cooperation.

Feedback and Decision-making 📈💡

Who needs a strict plan when you can have fast, data-based feedback instead? Let’s be adaptable, flexible, and always ready to pivot to achieve the best possible results.

When it comes to decision-making, I firmly believe that those with the best knowledge should be the ones calling the shots. Trust me, it’s a recipe for success!

Self-Organization and Support 🙌💪

Let’s take ownership of our work and organize ourselves for maximum efficiency. I’m all about self-organization and autonomy!

We’re all in this together, and that’s why I believe in supporting each other to achieve our goals. Together, we can make magic happen!

Openness to Failure 💥🙏

Let’s embrace the possibility of failure and use it as an opportunity for growth and learning. After all, it’s the journey that matters more than the destination!

Failure is not the end, but rather the beginning of a new journey. That’s why I value an environment that encourages experimentation and welcomes the learnings gathered along the way.

Support and Feedback 🤗💬

We all have something to learn and something to teach. Let’s support each other on our paths to success and give objective feedback to help each other grow and improve.

Growth is a journey, not a destination. That’s why I believe in supporting each other on our individual paths of personal and professional development.

Transparency 🕵️‍♀️🔍

Let’s create an open and honest work environment where transparency is the norm, even when the topic is difficult or controversial. When we can openly communicate and work through challenges, we can achieve great things together.

Transparency is the key to a strong and healthy work culture. Let’s work together to build a culture of trust, honesty, and open communication.

Skills/Expertise/Tools 🍳

Tech Stack
Bash, C, C++, Cucumber, CSS, Gnuplot, gRPC, HTML, Javascript, JSON, LaTeX, Make, Markdown, Mathematica, Matlab, Nix, Octave, PHP, py.test, Python, reStructuredText, Ruby, Rust, SCSS, SOAP, SQL, Starlark, Thrift, TOML, Vimscript, XHTML, XML, YAML, Zsh,
Tools  
API Development axios, curl, Django REST framework, gRPC; OpenAPI, PostgREST, Postman, requests, SOAP, Thrift, Zeep, ZeroMQ
Authentication and Security Bitwarden, jose, PyJWT, SOPS, Vault
Build and Deployment Argo CD, Bazel, Helm, K8s, kustomize, Make, Nix, npm, Vite, yarn
CI/CD Argo CD, Concourse, GitLab CI
Cloud Docker, Helm, K8s, kustomize, Podman, Skopeo
Collaboration Confluence, Jira, Miro
Data Visualization Gnuplot, Jupyter, Plotly
Databases Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Sqitch
Dependency and Package Management Homebrew, npm, Nix, pip, Poetry, yarn
Documentation AsciiDoc, Confluence, docopt, Markdown, reStructuredText, Sphinx
Environment Management pyenv, Nix, nodenv, Poetry
IDEs PyCharm, Vim, VS Code
Operations Grafana, Kibana, Logstash, Prometheus, SOPS, Vault
Server Apache HTTP Server, Caddy, Cherokee, Lighttpd, Nginx
Shell bats, curl, direnv, fasd, find, grep, jq, less, ranger, screen, Tmux, tree
Testing Chai, Cypress, Factory Boy, FreezeGun, Jest, marshmallow, Mocks Server, MSW, Playwright, Postman, py.test, Vitest
Version Control BitBucket, Git, GitHub, GitLab, Sqitch
Frameworks
Beer CSS, BPMN, Django, jQuery, Plone, py.test, React, Vue.js
Testing Skills
Continuous integration and delivery, Defect Tracking and Reporting, Exploratory Testing, Load Testing, Performance Testing, Security Testing, TDD, Test by Specifications, Test Planning and Design
Special Skills
Cynefin, Data Driven Decision Making, Domain Storytelling, Ensemble Programming, Example Mapping, Fostering a Positive and Productive Work Environment, Holistic View, Interest-Based Negotiation, Meeting Facilitation, Pairing, Software Architecture, Development and Operations, Thinking Outside the Box, Wardley Mapping
Human Languages
 English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

Certificates and Testimonials 📝

More information about me on 🌐

Want to know more about my professional experience and skills? Connect with me on LinkedIn! You can find me there and ask me anything you’d like.

I love attending conferences, and one of my favorites is the SoCraTes (Un)Conference held in Switzerland every winter. I co-organise the SoCraTes Day (Un)Conference held in Zürich every fall. You’ll also find me at the Global Day of Coderetreat and various tech-related meetups in the Zurich area.

Want to chat more about software engineering, testing, or any other related topics? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. You can reach me via LinkedIn, or shoot me an email.

House of Test contact 🤙🏽