DevCentral's Featured Member for January - Daniel Wolf

Our Featured Member series is a way for us to show appreciation and highlight active contributors in our community. Communities thrive on interaction and our Featured Series gives you some insight on some of our most engaged folks. DevCentral Member and newly minted MVP Daniel Wolf is our Featured Member to kick off 2022! Let's catch up with Daniel! 

DevCentral: First, please explain to the DC community a little about yourself, what you do and why it is important.

Daniel: I’m an enthusiast. When I was younger, I was a passionate handball player. Later I also became a passionate handball coach for children. Recently I became an avid cook. Almost ten years ago I moved to the Balkans, to the city of Skopje. I fell in love with the region, the people, and the Balkan way of life. I even found my wife there. Almost three years ago my family and I moved back to my hometown, a small city close to Frankfurt in Germany. And I have always been a tech enthusiast.

 

DevCentral: You’ve continued to be an active contributor in the DevCentral community. What keeps you involved?
Daniel: I find it interesting to read what challenges others from the community are facing. In case I know an answer to their question, I will reply. In case I don’t know the answer, but I think I can figure it out with a reasonable effort, I will try to. It helps me to broaden my knowledge but even more important to share the answers with others.

DevCentral: Tell us a little about the technical expertise you have.
Daniel: First time I touched a computer was an Intel 286 with DOS 5.0. After a couple of weeks, I deleted a couple of seemingly useless file to install Monkey Island. Since then, I became pretty good at solving computer problems. Nowadays they are called projects and the problems are often much more complex.

The last technology I was responsible before I decided to become an F5 consultant was Microsoft SharePoint and other .NET web apps. Roughly 7 years ago, there was a project to protect an online banking application with a WAF. So, unlike many other F5 specialists, I am not a network specialist but a web server dude.

DevCentral: You are a Senior Network Professional at Controlware GmbH. Can you describe your typical workday, how you manage work/life balance and the strong support of F5 solutions? How has the pandemic impacted your work?
Daniel: I appreciate that there is not a typical workday. I enjoy a challenging mix between projects, presales activities and occasional L3 support. Most fun for me are projects where I can help my customers to protect their apps and APIs. In the past two years we also had a lot of projects building, improving, or scaling out identity-aware access solutions. So, on a typical day, I’d say I am still solving computer problems.

The pandemic has improved my work/life balance, I don’t have to drive to the office anymore and I can have a walk in the field during lunchtime or enjoy a coffee with my wife (she’s also working from home).

DevCentral: Do you have any F5 Certifications? If so, why are these important to you and how have they helped with your career?
Daniel: I have the 401 since last year. The 401 was a very good exam, passing it required an understanding of many F5 solutions but also of broader security concepts. My employer is promoting to get certified and allowed me to prepare during working hours.

DevCentral: Describe one of your biggest Customer challenges and how the community helped in that situation.
Daniel: I’d say that this is one of my current projects. We are migrating from an end-of-life proxy platform to BIG-IP and we are building a lot of the content switching and rewrite features with iRules. Devcentral is a goldmine if you are looking for iRule documentation and code snippets.

DevCentral: Lastly, if you weren’t doing what you’re doing – what would be your dream career? Like, when you were a kid – what did you want to be when you grew up?
Daniel: I always wanted to be some sort of IT guy. I think I am fine where I am now, I enjoy my work. If I was granted a wish, carpenter would be an alternative. I like the idea that, at the end of each day, you can see what you have built with your own hands. The things I build, they are meaningful as long as there is a browser available.

 

---Thanks Dan! We really appreciate your willingness to share with the DevCentral Community. Stay connected with Daniel and Controlware on social media:

• Controlware GmbH on LinkedIn
• Daniel on LinkedIn
• Controlware GmbH on the Web