Imagine you're not at the office but on a downhill bike ride with winding roads that open up to majestic views. From the trails to the wilds, let's meet Brooke and listen to him share passionately about cycling as his greatest hobby. Despite not being a professional cyclist, he has conquered numerous tournaments and achieved fantastic records.
Brooke: I am currently the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Deployment Director. Those two teams roll up to me. By primarily focusing on bringing value to Katalon, ideally, from Deployment, it's getting our applications to the SaaS platform and on-prem. Then, on the Site Reliability side, it's making sure that our applications and other things are available and have good uptime so that our customers can access stuff all the time.
Q. What is it like to pursue cycling as a hobby?
Brooke: Well, I have three kids who are all teenagers, mostly in high school, and taking care of them has kept me quite busy, so cycling is how I stay in shape. I grew up playing soccer and running cross-country or long-distance races. But now I'm at an age where cycling, which I've always done, is about the only thing that I can still do, where my knees and ankles started to get angry with me. And I genuinely like it. I started racing about three or four years ago, and that has been a lot of fun. I race mountain bikes as well as cyclocross on a road bike. I enjoy getting to meet many people at the races and have made a lot of friends through cycling. It's been incredibly beneficial to me personally, as it is healthful while also keeping me happy and sane, so I can focus on my job and parenting the kids. Definitely enjoy it!
Q. Have you ever experienced working from the wild during a long ride? Tell us your most memorable experience
Brooke: Yeah, I enjoy going out, especially now it starts to be more winter weather here. Because it is warmest around lunchtime, I go out for lunch rides. Occasionally, I'll have to jump on calls or attend meetings. So even before I came to Katalon, there were times when I would ride my bike somewhere with my laptop and sit in a park. I love the outdoors, which is awesome. Once I was on a very long ride from my house up to a mountain bike trail, and was out in the woods when I had to jump on a call, and you could hear all these people we were talking to, plus all the noises of nature. I was smiling the entire time because I knew that everybody else was sitting at their desk while I was outside enjoying the weather and nature.
But, yes, I love mountain biking: going up into the forests and mountains, having the views and being able to see down the valley, being up really high, and going really fast through the trails. It's not like road cycling or even cyclocross. It's really calm, with stunning landscapes. Being out in nature is what I truly relate to. And it's simply fantastic.
Q. What is the proudest record you have achieved?
Brooke: Well, for cycling, I've got some rules in there. First and foremost, have fun. Try not to die like a wreck or a crash, whatever. And if possible, try not to come in last. I'm not a professional athlete by any means. I just go out and have a great time. But I've been on the podium several times for second and third place. I've done some team races and we've placed pretty high. I have yet to finish first in any of my races, so that is a goal. But because I race in a lot of series with many events during the season, I am currently in first place for the mountain bike racing thing. As long as I don't crash and I finish my race next weekend, I will actually win the season, despite never finishing first. That will be my proudest moment because I'll get a jersey set and other goodies, hopefully.
Q. How does your work at Katalon support your hobby in terms of a flexible schedule and work-life balance?
Brooke: It works incredibly well because the majority of the individuals I interact with are from Vietnam. I have a lot of meetings that either start early in the morning or late in the evening. So I have a block of time during the day when I can get out and go for a bike if I'm not conversing with someone in the US. It works fairly well. I believe that the work-life balance at Katalon is generally pretty good. It's very amenable to me, mainly because the advantages are incorporated into the programs where we are able to utilize our Personal Development Budget for sporting activities or anything else that fits in nicely. It really does support me being healthy and enjoying my passion, which makes it better for providing value to the company. It all works together really well.