Get to know Tina Elise
Name: Tina Elise Hansen
Position: Backup Engineer
Worked at Orange Business since: September 2018
Based: Oslo, Norway
Can you tell us about how you first came in contact with Orange Business?
I first came into contact with the company when they attended a career day at the school where I studied. There were several IT-companies attending who came to present themselves to us and I went around and talked to a lot of different companies. Back then it was hard to know what you were interested in, and I was open to see what would be possible and did not even know if I, for example, wanted to work with software or fixing hardware. However, Basefarm (as it was called back then) reached out to me after this event an offered me to do my apprenticeship with them in their Operation Center.
Today you work as a Backup Engineer in the Storage department, could you try and give us a short description of what the Storage department (part of the Platform & Managed Services area of expertise) does and are responsible for?
It is such a big department with a lot of different responsibilities which makes it hard to quickly describe, but we are, in very general terms, responsible for storage and backup. We maintain the backup servers, handle data integrity, make sure storage is safe and that the customers have something to restore back from if a server were to go down. In addition, we handle data integrity, mirroring, security, provisioning, troubleshooting etc and make sure everything regarding these topics works as expected and of course ensure customer satisfaction.
Could you tell us a bit about your work as a Backup Engineer and what you do?
We are a team of 4 working with TSM and Rubrik, which are our two main backup systems. I work with tickets, changes for both customers and internally and keeping everything up to date. We work together on tackling different problems and how to best solve them. I also go to the datacenters to fix some minor stuff. So, looking at my days, they vary a lot in terms of what I do and work on. I never really know what my day will entail, and that is one of the things I enjoy, because there is always something different and new going on which is something I find kind of exciting.
Continuing on the parts of your job that you find exciting, what do you enjoy the most about your position?
One of the things are probably the complexity, managing such huge systems and you always have to be up to date on the newest releases, stay one step ahead and plan. I feel like I make a difference, even though being a Backup Engineer probably is very underappreciated at times your importance becomes evident when something actually happens such as a server going down resulting in it having to be restored from backup. So, no one really needs you until they actually really need you and it is something about that that I really enjoy!
In addition to this, I am also the system manager for Rubrik, and having that ownership and responsibility is nice!
Have you known from the start that it was Storage and Backup that you were interested in developing further in?
To begin with I actually never planned on being a technician at all and thought I would end up becoming a paramedic, so it is weird how life finds its way. But no, I did not know I would go into storage when I worked at the Operation Center either, I actually though I would like to go into virtualization. I was also once told that I would be a good Service Manager but that was not an option for me as I did not want to lose any rights to work in the technical systems.
Looking back I did not really enjoy any of the backup tickets we got in Operation Center. But then it all started with the image backup system called actifio that I started to look at and found cool, I started to ask questions about how it worked and got some accesses I had not previously had and naturally got more involved in the topic. Later when one of the technicians in the Storage department was going on vacation they asked if I could cover for him during those 2 weeks, make sure everything was up and running nicely and that was kind of my introduction into the whole backup thing. A year later when I finished my apprenticeship in the Operation Center they asked if I wanted to work in Storage and here I am today.
What education is it that you have to be able to do this job?
I actually went straight from high school to do my apprenticeship here with Orange and do not have a university degree. So, I have mainly learned the things I know through the apprenticeship at the Operation Center which was a great start as you get to touch upon almost all systems we have, get to be in contact with all customers and solutions. Operation Center provides a great team who support you and which consists of people who have different knowledge and backgrounds so you can learn from each other. I believe that one of the nice things about working in IT is that you can learn a lot by yourself and by just being interested.
What do you personally think is the best thing about working at Orange Business in Oslo?
I work in a team where I have close colleagues within my department in both Stockholm and Oslo which means that I get to spend some time at the Stockholm office as well which is nice! For me one of the best things are the people here, I have a lot of friends from work whom I talk to outside of work as well and we are, for example, gaming together. I feel like everyone can find people who are in the same stage in life as themselves and even if you are not at the same stage you find a mutual ground and understanding. So, I am very happy that I have made great friends from work and that we have a good culture and social events here where you are given the opportunity to get to know people.
In addition, which I also mentioned earlier, I like the complexity of the systems we work with. I think it is a complexity you do not get at all companies and working with these systems together with your team where all are very helpful and want you to succeed is a nice feeling.