Alexander Larionov leads the Zabbix Integration team, thus providing massive support to Zabbix users worldwide. At Zabbix Summit Online 2020, Alexander will uncover what has been accomplished since the creation of the Integration team. But for now, here is the interview where Alexander is sharing how the integration team’s work looks from the inside. He is one of Zabbix Summit Online 2020 speakers.
Aleksandr, you are the one who built the Zabbix integration team – how it was from the beginning and what you have achieved by now?
ZABBIX has a truly strong culture that offers mutual support and promotes trust. It has helped a lot in building together guidelines and best practices and making over 60 new integrations over the past year. Being part of open-source and taking an active part in communication with the community keeps us being motivated to deliver even more integrations to make the users get the best out of ZABBIX.
How do Zabbix set which integration to work on and which still needs to wait?
Probably that’s why we say, “it’s all about priorities”. Because it really is. We have procedures on revision and prioritization of requests on integrations taking into consideration community needs.
What is the one thing that unites integration developers? Or maybe just Zabbix integration developers
Things change very quickly in software development. It means that as a software developer you need to stay knowledge-hungry. Being part of the ZABBIX integration team is an excellent opportunity for those who have the willpower and put in the effort to capitalize on it. Each integration is quite unique and integration developers each time take a challenge to make their integrations as elegant as possible.
Which kind of integrations are the hardest ones for your team?
Complicated systems result in complicated integrations, the higher difficulty gets you more points.
As long as you are willing to learn the new stuff you can try something new. This keeps the work from getting mundane and boring. The hardest tasks are the most rewarding.
How does your team find new integration partners?
Our business development manager Sergey plays an important role in connecting us to potential integration partners. Over the years he has built an extensive network of ZABBIX business partners. For inquiries please feel free to contact [email protected].
Apart from the daily integration activities, you are a very active Zabbix internal team member. What do you like the most about being part of the Zabbix family?
ZABBIX’s working environment is very dynamic and within a team, it plays an important role during the development as it guarantees the level of synergy among different phases, functions, and people. I truly value the chance of working in ZABBIX with people that are open-minded and flexible – we have loads of fun while working together.
And what’s the best part of your work?
Hearing grateful feedback from users that have tried our latest integration solutions makes us know our work is meaningful.
I know Zabbix integrators are not working in one office. So for you, the remote working challenge has been on the table for a while. What are your suggestions for making the most of remote teams?
Building strong connections is an integral part of building a strong business and it is the same way with remote teams. A quick call always does the trick! So does the transparency! Positive recognition goes a long way in affirming good behaviors and can improve the team or individual performance significantly. On the other hand, constructive criticism is crucial in helping team members working remotely grow and improve their skills.
