Christos Kontas
It fascinated me how the ''web'' and the ''internet'' are not the same
Who is NL-ix?
Behind the world of the Internet, behind the world of fibers, protocols, peers and terabytes, are actual people making it all work. But who are these people? In other words: Who is NL-ix?
Today: 🤝 Christos Kontas, Software Engineer
I'm Christos, a software engineer, originally from Greece. I've been living in The Hague with my family for the past eleven years. The sun may not always shine here, but the opportunities in technology certainly do.
My passion for software started early on when I began tinkering with 8-bit computers as a teenager in the '80s. Like the other kids, I was playing games but at some point I wanted more; I not only wanted to play these games but I wanted to build them as well.
This curiosity led me to study computer engineering, which was quite revolutionary by Greek standards as the subject taught by professors was new for the whole society. I was lucky enough to watch the adoption of the Internet in Greece, almost from the beginning, which was some years before the boom of the Web. We were using some other protocols already, and HTTP, which the web is based on, only became popular years after I was already playing around with the Internet. That's something that fascinated me, how the ''web'' and the ''internet'' are not the same.
My journey in software engineering began right after university. I've held various positions, from working in network security and CDN (Content Delivery Networks) to working with Internet protocols. But it wasn't until I landed at NL-ix that I truly grasped the nuts and bolts of high-traffic networks. Until then, I didn't know the details on the speed, size or traffic of the Internet but I was certainly eager to learn.
At NL-ix, I'm responsible for the software services that we create and use in the company. These services serve both our staff and external customers. Our team strives to go ''unnoticed'' which means that we want to create software that just works, doesn't break, and runs all services automatically.
Our goal is to go unnoticed. That means that everything just works.
Christos Kontas
What I love about software engineering is that you become the master of a complex machine, or many machines even, and have the ability to solve problems. But the real highlight of working at NL-ix is the people. We have some really, really amazing people. They are very modest. You will probably never hear about them, but they know almost every detail about networking or software engineering. Something we all use everyday.
As engineers, we are standing on the shoulders of giants, but at NL-ix I am sitting right next to them. The culture is friendly, easygoing, and it amazes me how we truly prioritise happiness and well-being alongside company success. There's a refreshing openness to admitting mistakes and a collective effort to solve them – something you don't often find in other organisations.
One project I'm particularly proud of is NL-ix's partnership with Nokia. NL-ix is partnering closely with Nokia and I was participating in the software side – how we can use this equipment, these routers, for example, with our software stack. It was an incredible experience to collaborate on promoting and integrating their powerful networking equipment.
NL-ix connects big networks together, making us the 'inter' part of the Internet. We play a significant role in not just the Dutch, but the international Internet landscape. And while we may not be the biggest player, we're certainly one of the most innovative ones.
