The first 60 days working for a sustainable cloud-native company.
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In November 2022, I decided to make a move in my career. From the non-profit world where I have dedicated the first 7 years of my professional life, I joined Aknostic, a for-profit company. If you know me, you know that I am passionate about sustainability. Not only is it the reason why I moved to the Netherlands back in 2014, but it is also a significant part of my identity. You have probably already heard (from me) the ‘hummingbird story’ (if not, I will write it at the end of this article).
I decided to join Aknostic thanks to their passion for cloud technology.
Working in a company where everyone is dedicated to helping our partners build, run and maintain their cloud infrastructure is very gratifying. Having access to a cloud infrastructure is like giving the keys to your home. For some people, their cloud infra is the foundation of the software that is defining their business. It requires a lot of trusts to let external people take care of this foundation. This is why our partners choose to work with us because we enable long-term collaboration and resilience, as a base of our collaboration.
I decided to join Aknostic thanks to its commitment to sustainability.
With Aknostic, we are working on several projects in sustainable cloud that will act as a blueprint for the rest of Europe. Most notably, “The Cloud of Amsterdam” is a collaboration between several parties to develop a local, green, and innovative cloud alternative, with a Kubernetes-as-a-Service platform.
In this context, we believe that you should have the choice to run your architecture with any cloud infrastructure (public, private or hybrid cloud infrastructure) and move to and from different cloud environments without any operational issues. This is why we make cloud-agnostic infrastructures possible using Kubernetes (container orchestration).
Have you ever wondered why the “K” in our name Aknostic? It stems from the K from Kubernetes.
Undoubtedly, we are aiming for more than just sustainability. It is all about bringing people together and creating a community where local companies can utilize this cloud infrastructure in an innovative way. The Cloud of Amsterdam is a step forward in building a sustainable European cloud platform, this is why we think globally and act locally.
We all have a responsibility to play in lowering our carbon footprint and we, at Aknostic, talk the talk and walk the walk. If you want to partner with us because you need help to build, run and optimize your cloud infrastructure, or want to migrate your on-premise infra to realize your private cloud using Kubernetes, feel free to contact us.
We have a beautiful office located on the Oudegracht in Utrecht and yes, we have excellent coffee!
And finally, here is the hummingbird story:
“One day says the legend, there is a terrible fire in the forest. All terrified animals watched helplessly the disaster. One the little hummingbird was busy, fetching a few drops with its beak to throw them on the fire. After a while and annoyed by the ridiculous agitation, the animals said to him: “Hummingbird! Are you crazy? It is not with these little drops of water that we will put out the fire”. And the hummingbird answered them “I know it, but at least, I’m doing my part”.
Julie Chenadec