About Chris Childers
I'm a Sr. Technical Architect on GitLab's Professional Services team.
Work Style
I'm based out of New Jersey and am most active between 9am and 5pm. I'll often log on throughout the evening to get myself setup for the next day and respond to asynchronous requests.
As a result, I sometimes work flexible hours and send messages at the time that works for me. I ask that you feel free to read, action or reply at a time that works for you. If I'm sending messages outside of normal hours I do not expect an immediate response.
Messaging Tools
Slack: Slack is my preferred communication platform for any ad-hoc questions, updates, or just generally chatting. I'm most responsive in slack as long as my notifications are enabled. The situations where my notifications are disabled are that I try to set aside some time each day for the Pomodoro Technique and meetings. I align slack with the Important - Urgent
and Not Important - Urgent
classications on the Eisenhower Method
Email: I primarily use email for mass communication and interacting with anyone external to GitLab. I check my email at set times each day, causing slower responsiveness than slack. I align emails with the Important - Not Urgent
classification on the Eisenhower Method
Cell Phone: I prefer all work communication go through the work provided apps such as Slack
, email
, zoom
, and GitLab Issues and Merge Requests
. My Cell Phone is available for emergency situations only.
GitLab Issues and Merge Requests: I'm a big fan of dogfooding and as such I prefer to use GitLab Issues and Merge Requests for all collaboration work, tracking decisions, and communicating on both customer and internal project scoping, statuses, and future plans.
Focus Time
Focus time is a key component of my work approach. I've found it essential for tackling complex problems and delivering high-quality results. To ensure I have dedicated time for deep work, I block approximately 15 hours each week, distributed across each workday (about 3 hours per day). For those interested in the science behind this practice, the Human multitasking Wikipedia page offers some insightful information.
To structure my focus time effectively, I use techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, which helps me maintain concentration and take regular breaks. During these periods, I may have limited availability on the communication platforms mentioned above.
As a general rule, I decline meetings scheduled during my focus time to maintain its integrity. However, I recognize that exceptional circumstances may arise, and I'm willing to make occasional adjustments when absolutely necessary. If you need to schedule a meeting during my focus time, please reach out to discuss the urgency and explore alternative options first.
About Me (Professional)
My career trajectory has spanned a few different areas of technology, giving me a few different perspectives to approach the challenges our customers face. Below are the high level summaries of each role, and how I feel it helps gives me the mental models needed to be successful.
College Degree - I have a B.S in Physics
- If I were to summarize a Phyics degree, it's the art of breaking down problems to their smallest solveable chunk, solving for it, and putting the pieces back together into something larger. These ideas transition seamlessly to technology. Once a problem can be defined, the skills I learned through my Physics studies take over.
Help Desk
- Working in Help Desk taught me how to empathize with end-users, seeing how the same type of problem could affect individuals differently. It was the first role where I was able to apply my problem solving skills specifically to technology, while building out the soft skills required to help my customers navigate problems causing them varying levels of confusion.
Enterprise Software Support
- Providing Enterprise software support was my first introduction to seeing how things break at scale, the importance of time management and priotization to make sure the crucial stuff got done, and seeing how the root of big problems was often small things. I learned how many large organizations were structured, how that related to the software they supported (My first introduction to Conway's Law), and the types of challenges that came with working as a vendor.
Systems Engineer
- Being a systems engineer taught me more about the specific types of technical problems engineers have and all the troubleshooting they go through before contacting the vendor. It helped put in perspective all the times my customers would call with elevated frustration levels, letting me experience first hand what we try to do before asking for help. Sometimes getting technology to work the way you want it is more complicated than expected, and I lived through a few iterations of the X-Y problem. This was also my first experience using Cloud Computing, starting me down the DevOps journey.
DevOps Engineer
- After learning about Cloud Computing and seeing an opportunity to use my infrastructure background to learn to code, DevOps inevitably became the next step of my career. I began obsessively automating every process I could, while accidentally stumbling across Pareto's Principle as I continually focused in the small problem areas. Being a DevOps engineer was where I first embraced small iterations and continual improvement, concepts that I now use to guide my professional life.
Cloud Infrastructure Architect Consultant
- I took my obsession with automation to the next level and began working in Professional Services to deliver Cloud Infrastructure. This was my introduction into how to be a consultant, understanding business value and working backwards from outcomes. I was lucky enough to see dozens of different cloud implementations, the problems they faced, and the unique way each organization went about solving them. I learned to be agile and the power of "I don't know, but I'll get back to you".
Product Engineer / Offering Developer
- I was able to take my learnings from consulting and work on packaging those (where applicable) into repeatable offerings, helping scale what good delivery looks like and making the lives of customers and consultants easier.
YOU ARE HERE - Technical Architect
- The current stage of my journey. Learn more about what I do as a Technical Architect
About Me (Personal)
Things I'd love to chat about in a coffee chat
- Sports
- Basketball
- Go NY Knicks!
- I play recreationally, although less since I tore my ACL
- Baseball
- I play in a wood bat adult league
- I'm a fan of the NY Yankees
- Bowling
- In a weekly league, usually average 190-200
- High game of unsanctioned game 299 (once ever)
- High sanctioned game of 279
- High sanctioned series of 769
- Football
- NY Jets
- Fantasy football
- Basketball
- Nature
- US National Parks
- I prefer mountains and forests over beaches
- Nature Therapy
- Video Games
- Rocket League
- Factorio
- Some FPS (COD, CSGO)
- Real Time Strategies
- Reading
- Favorite books coming soon...
- Television
- Favorite shows coming soon...
- Other(s)
- Etch a Sketch
Personal projects
View allAbout
Pronouns: He/Him