Patrick Mivière has been a DevOps engineer at Qim info since 2020. With an atypical background, insatiable curiosity and a passion for technological challenges, Patrick embodies the expertise and adaptability that are essential when it comes to meeting the challenges of a demanding profession. Discover his story and the experiences that have shaped his career in the DevOps world.
A promising start in collaborative messaging
Patrick began his career in Lyon, as a systems and network administrator at a small service company specialising in collaborative messaging.
“At the time, Gmail was revolutionising messaging,” he recalls.
The company, still modest and with a small team, offered Patrick an ideal environment in which to lay the foundations for his career in this field. He perfected his skills while working on a wide range of technologies, enriching his expertise in the process.
After seven years with the company, he was looking for a new professional challenge. He became Key Account Manager, in charge of the company’s five largest customers, four of which are based in Switzerland. This position enables him to combine technical expertise with strategic coordination.
“I was really at the interface between our customers and our teams, ensuring that their needs were met with customised solutions,” he explains.
Swissquote, a springboard to DevOps engineering
Seduced by Swiss business relations and their rigorous working environment, Patrick decided to take things a step further by moving to Switzerland in 2016. He started out with a web hosting company, before joining Swissquote as a Linux systems engineer. In this role, he managed and maintained Linux servers, while guaranteeing their performance and security. This position enabled him to take charge of strategically important projects and assert himself in a demanding banking environment.
“Swissquote was an important step in my career, helping me consolidate my technical skills while managing large-scale projects.”
Banking and technology: key missions for a DevOps engineer in Switzerland
In January 2020, Patrick joined Qim info as a consultant. As soon as he arrived, he was assigned to a major Swiss bank, where he joined a team dedicated to setting up and deploying banking applications.
“My role involved integrating banking applications into complex environments, particularly for trading and wealth management.”
Thanks to his project management experience and technical expertise, Patrick quickly made a name for himself. His role evolved and he was given broader responsibilities, such as coordinating teams on critical projects, where he had to ensure that objectives were met while respecting technical constraints.
It was also in this role that Patrick had the opportunity to deepen his knowledge of DevOps practices. The DevOps engineer is the link between the development and operations teams, automating processes, optimising infrastructures and guaranteeing fast, reliable deliveries. Patrick implements automation and orchestration solutions, drawing on his mastery of tools such as Ansible and Kubernetes.
One specific aspect of his work concerned the integration of SaaS (Software as a Service) applications. This process involved a series of meticulous checks to ensure that the tools met the bank’s strict criteria, particularly in terms of security, compliance and performance. These detailed audits ensured that each application could be integrated without compromising the integrity of the existing infrastructure.
“These experiences have enriched my strategic vision of IT infrastructures and given me a global perspective,” Patrick adds.
With the skills he has acquired in complex, demanding environments, Patrick is ready to take on any challenge. This know-how led him to take part, in September 2024, in a large-scale international project for a major oil company, under the aegis of Qim info.
Migration of information systems: a sizeable challenge
Patrick worked with a major energy group on an ambitious information systems migration project.
“The aim was to integrate the Swiss entity into the Group’s global systems,” he explains.
Patrick has excellent memories of this mission. “The working conditions were exceptional and the atmosphere very motivating.”
This experience perfectly illustrates the diversity and breadth of projects to which Qim info consultants can contribute. To find out more about Qim info’s expertise in migration and DevOps solutions, visit our dedicated Cloud and DevOps page.
DevOps engineer: a strategic role for the future of IT infrastructures in Switzerland
For Patrick, DevOps embodies the natural evolution of the systems administrator profession, enriched by a development dimension.
“What’s interesting is the way the job of system administrator has evolved, with the addition of the whole dev side, which makes the picture more complete,” he explains.
Automation is also playing a central role in this transformation:
“Thanks to the dev part, piloting all the new technologies allows us to automate all the platform management and deployment aspects.”
Among the essential technologies Patrick uses in his day-to-day activities are:
- Ansible: a powerful tool for automating system configuration and application deployment, reducing the risk of manual errors.
- Terraform: an Infrastructure as Code solution, ideal for creating and maintaining complex environments in the cloud or on physical servers.
- Kubernetes: the essential platform for orchestrating containers, deploying large-scale applications and ensuring that they are resilient and available.
- Linux: the operating system that underpins many modern platforms.
- Bash and Python: scripting languages for automating tasks and developing customised tools.
- F5: specialised technologies for web flow management, including load balancers and proxy solutions.
- Nagios, CheckMK and Prometheus: tools for monitoring and collecting critical system data, to guarantee optimum performance.
- Grafana: a platform dedicated to the creation of dashboards, to visualise and analyse data from monitoring solutions.
These tools, combined with a methodical and innovative approach, enable Patrick to meet the complex needs of modern infrastructures. Thanks to his expertise, he also provides comprehensive supervision of systems, something that is essential when it comes to guaranteeing their reliability.
For him, DevOps offers a unique balance between technology and innovation, making every assignment challenging and full of possibilities. To find out more about the profession, read our article “Everything you need to know about the DevOps engineer profession”.
Ongoing training: developing skills for DevOps development
To keep up to date in such a dynamic field, Patrick undertook a DevOps engineer training course at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne. This one-year online programme covers key technologies such as Python and infrastructure automation.
“That training course enabled me to consolidate my skills and develop new ones, particularly in data processing.”
Patrick is also considering specialising in related fields such as data science, a field he finds interesting in terms of potential career development.
“This opens up some exciting new prospects and allows us to explore even more possibilities.”
Succeeding as a DevOps engineer in Switzerland: some tips from Patrick Mivière
According to Patrick, the key to success in this business lies in curiosity and the ability to constantly evolve.
“You have to constantly stay abreast of new technologies and invest in continuous learning.”
He also recommends creating home test environments to experiment with new solutions and enhance your technical skills.
“It’s a great way to get hands-on training and develop expertise.”
Patrick stresses the importance of remaining proactive in the face of rapid industry change. In particular, he recommends familiarising oneself with artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, which simplify and accelerate complex processes while increasing technical teams’ efficiency.
“These tools don’t replace human skills, but they do simplify and speed up complex processes.”
For him, these practices are essential in terms of anticipating the future, where AI will play a central role in the design and management of IT infrastructures.
Trust and human relations at Qim info
Patrick stresses the importance of human relations, which he sees as an essential aspect of his experience at Qim info.
“With my manager at Qim info, there’s a real relationship of trust. This creates a motivating and pleasant working environment.”
He also emphasises the fluid communication with the administrative teams, which simplifies his day-to-day work.
“There’s always been a very good rapport, we communicate in a very straightforward and free-flowing way.”
Patrick also talks about his attachment to the company:
“In all the time I’ve been here at Qim info, I’ve never had the urge to look elsewhere.”
This feeling stems as much from the working relationships as from the constant support he receives, reinforcing his desire to continue developing in this environment. Read more testimonials and articles featuring the Qim Family in our dedicated news section.
DevOps engineer in Switzerland: boost your career with Qim info
Patrick Mivière’s background perfectly reflects what makes Qim info an excellent partner for DevOps professionals. If you’re motivated by large-scale projects, technical challenges and a friendly atmosphere at work, don’t wait any longer. Contact us and join a company that values your potential.
