Instaclustr Insights provide meaningful insights into team members’ work lives. This time it is Mussa Shirazi, Senior Consultant, Instaclustr

What does your role at Instaclustr entail?

I work as Senior consultant at Instaclustr, as part of the Consulting team. I’m involved in customer consultancy projects for technologies like Kafka, Elasticsearch, and Cassandra. I work very closely with the Sales team to provide technical pre-sales support to our clients and identify sales opportunities. I am also involved in preparing and delivering online and instructor-led workshops/meetups on technologies like Kafka, Cassandra, and Elasticsearch. Recently I’ve also been busy writing blogs on Elasticsearch, the most recent being on Elasticsearch Security.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every single day is different—that is why I love working here at Instaclustr! For example, when I am involved in customer projects most of my time is spent with customers in meetings, presentations, screen-sharing sessions, project designs, and documentation. Other days I’ll be delivering consulting services through deployment health checks, workshops, or ticket-based consulting. Lately, I have also been very busy in outreach activities like meetups, webinars, and free workshops for the technical community. A lot of effort goes in preparing content for such events. Our sales team also keeps me busy with pre-sales technical support and identifying new sales opportunities.

How did you first get interested in a technology career?

It all started when my parents bought me my first computer when I was in primary school. I started assembling my own PCs at a very early age. I remember being very popular in my neighbourhood because I was fixing computers for everyone as I was obsessed with computers!

After completing high school, I really wanted to pursue studies in IT and that’s where my technology career started. 

And your formal education followed in that path?

Yes, after completing high school I completed my Bachelor’s degree and two Master’s degrees in computer science.

When did you join Instaclustr, and why?

I joined Instaclustr in October 2019. Personally, I am a big fan of open source technologies, and in my previous roles I was involved in implementing Kafka and Elasticsearch, so I was looking for a dynamic role where I could be involved in different types of open source technologies. When I came across an opening at Instaclustr for a consultant, the role and the company ticked all the boxes as I would be working on different projects involving open source technologies. I am glad I made the right decision in joining a company founded on open source technology.

What’s been your favorite part about Instaclustr since joining?

My favorite part of Instaclustr is that it truly promotes open source technologies and I am able to work on a variety of different technologies at the same time. As a consultant, I fly all over the world and meet different people and acquire new ideas which is amazing. Another favorite part of Instaclustr is the working culture which is very positive. Everyone genuinely respects and appreciates one another’s ideas and helps each other.

In your opinion, what makes someone a good fit to be in the Consulting team

In my opinion, there are a few attributes that are important for the consulting role:

• Solid technical understanding and a love of technical work.
• Keenness to learn new technologies
• Good communication skills
• Ability to have patience with challenging problems
• Flexibility.

Interested in working for Instaclustr? View our current openings here. Alternatively, you can write to us at [email protected].