Adrian Ilie is a Future-Focused Application Architect and Senior Software Engineer at Cegeka. Over his +7 years of IT experience, he built a solid foundation in clean architecture and agile development, with a knack for .NET C# and Azure Cloud.
Discover what experiences shaped his perspective and why event modeling is a must-have in mature projects.
☁️ Azure Cloud & Smart Parking
“I thought Cegeka’s smart parking customer was interesting, so I applied. Cegeka is a Microsoft Partner, specialized in Azure Cloud, so this was another reason I joined the company. I didn't have much Azure experience at that time, but I was finding myself to work well with Microsoft solutions, so I wanted to learn more. Plus, looking at the technologies and projects built today, everything relies on the cloud.
In my four years here, I’ve only worked on this project. It's particularly challenging, as it pushes you to be up to date, follow best practices and adhere to high standards. We’re developing smart parking capabilities for the largest European parking provider. Users can prebook a spot, purchase a subscription or even access combo mixes, like Park & Fly. You book a spot near an airport, park, and go to the airport/ buy a ticket for public transport that takes to the airport.”
🎙️Why Event Modeling
“It helped me better understand our application. I could see how the data flows, when the event is published, who manages it, what happens in a capability or in a flow of that capability, etc. Then, it became a habit. Every time we add a new capability, we rely on event modelling to learn how it will interact with the other systems, because it's so expressive. Everybody can understand it because it only uses drawings. It's like mathematics – a universal language. With event modeling, you can understand a mature project even better than you thought you did.”
📚 Inspiration
“Peter Thiel’s “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future” is a book I received from the first team leader I worked with. It talks about building a successful business, but you have to see beyond that because it also tells you how to grow as an individual. This book helped me understand how to go through life.”
🚀 When the back-up plan is the right plan
“I wanted to become a dentist, so I had to memorize a lot, word by word. The last book I had to study was 770 pages long. That’s when I said “enough” and decided to shift my focus.
Since I wanted to do something more hands-on, I chose automatics, where I worked primarily with engines - DC or CC engines. We were programming the engines, optimizations, microcontrollers. In my third year, I discovered C# .NET, and it clicked. During my internship, I began working with Dynamics 365, alongside two people who were my mentors at the time and who now are two of my best friends.When I was a kid, I thought that only doctors must learn every day. Even if you’re a developer, the process of learning is continuous. If you like what you do, you learn every day. This isn’t just a job; I also see it as a hobby.”
🚴♂️ Adrian’s Non-Technical Passions
“I do endurance cycling, and the start is always the hardest. It's not easy to leave home at 5 AM in the summer to have a nice temperature for the entire ride. Cycling gives me the freedom to explore the environment, and when I do a 100-150 km ride, the satisfaction is huge. In the winter, I hit the slopes, and I snowboard five to six weeks a season. My newest passion is motorcycling. It started out of curiosity, and now I go on motorcycle rides as often as I can. I like to push my limits, but I always do it in a responsible way.”
🧠 Mindset
“You can get a university degree or not, but if you really want to learn something, you will. With the right attitude, you will definitely achieve everything you want. You must persevere, keep going even if you don't see immediate results - it's like going to the gym. If you’re consistent, in a few months, you see differences and you’re thrilled to do more.”
🧑🏫 Mentors
“I was lucky to meet people who didn’t just help me and explain things to me, they also pushed me to learn more advanced things, even if I wasn’t feeling prepared. Their patience made a difference. Recently, I met with one of them at a conference and he told me “I'm proud of your progress, and of where you are now.” He felt that the time and energy he put in weren't in vain.”
🏫 Teaching
“I taught for three years as an undergraduate teacher at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. Afterwards, I contributed to a research project, and I coordinated two dissertations.
The biggest lesson I learned was how to be more patient. When I started teaching, I expected students to know some of the things I already knew, things I considered easy. A student would ask a question one time, while another would ask it seven times. I had to be patient and keep explaining, but they understood, so it was time well spent.
Since I want to take on a full application architect role, I need to learn more, so I chose to stop working for the university.”
Join Adrian Ilie on November 12th as he uncovers how Event Modeling bridges the gap between business goals and technical solutions, simplifying the design of complex systems for optimal outcomes.
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