Len Goyvaerts - Elastic consultant

After my studies Applied Informatics, I started my career in a company where the main focus was fixing bugs in an ERP system. This wasn’t my cup of tea and I decided to search for another challenge. Several years ago, I found that new challenge at Formica.

From front-end to full stack

My specialization, multimedia applications, gave me a strong background in front-end development but back-end development always piqued my interest. Until a year ago, my work mostly included mobile and front-end development, like for example the online banking app for Crelan. Throughout different projects and working with experienced back-end developers, I got to know more and more about back-end development. Formica gave me the possibility to truly deepen my expertise and get started with Elasticsearch. The last year, I really gained the right experience and knowledge to call myself a full-stack developer today.

Projects with Elasticsearch

At the moment, I mostly work on backend projects with Elasticsearch. Elasticsearch is a search engine that enables end-users to search through multiple content repositories in an efficient and performant way. Why I love working with Elastic? Well, it’s a rather new product and it keeps you on your toes. It evolves every day and Formica gives me all the means to keep on track with the newest evolutions of Elasticsearch.

Currently, we are completing a project at the European Council where we made multiple content sources searchable: the public website with press releases, a public register with official documents and their internal business application Agora.

Next to the Council project, I’m also starting of a project at CEBEO and I work a few days a month for VDAB. That’s what makes my job so interesting. Each project or client is an opportunity to learn new things and grow professionally. In this way, no workday is really the same and I get to solve new problems and find ways to do my job even better on a daily basis.

A healthy work-life balance

At Formica, they really encourage you to get the best out of yourself. I got the chance to get my Elastic certificate, we have a company knowledge wiki and my colleagues are always here to doublecheck and analyze my code. From time to time, we also follow the newest releases with some drinks and pizza.

But we all know, there is more than work. At Formica, they also give us the flexibility to keep on a healthy work-life balance. This enables me to have a challenging job while having enough quality time with my family and newborn daughter. Occasionally I even find the time to go to a concert or movie and do some sports!

Do you want to join Len as a consultant at Formica? Take a look at our job opportunities here.