Robert Lansing

Behind the scenes of ABN AMRO’s networks

“Around 14 years ago, when I was 25, I started out as a network engineer at ABN AMRO Hypotheken (mortgages), which was the bank’s subsidiary back then. We had a small IT department, which consisted of around 200 people. I was responsible for implementation and administration activities that related to the network and the contact centre, covering everything from data centre and campus networks to Wi-Fi, load balancers and firewalls. Within those domains, I was able to do all kinds of work and I had a lot of freedom to develop and implement solutions with colleagues. I learnt a lot and had a great time! But in that kind of role, you do not really have a specialty to focus on. So, that was still something I wanted to pursue.”

Specialisation is something you can learn

“After a reorganisation, I transitioned to the network department of the ‘main’ ABN AMRO organisation. This also meant a new focus for me: from being a network consultant in a small team to becoming a specialist in a much larger and more complex organisation. The scale and impact of my work are on a completely different level here. As a DevOps engineer and lead engineer, I now focus on our interconnect environment and I ensure the connections between data centres and cloud solutions are secure.”

DevOps team

“Within my team I have twelve colleagues - both network engineers and automation experts. Together, we build and manage all outgoing network connections. When you make payments through the ABN AMRO app, they go through the infrastructure that we built ourselves! We have the important task of ensuring all connections are secure and robust. We operate according to a DevOps methodology, meaning we are responsible for both the development and maintenance of the systems. This also includes matters such as compliance, patch management and lifecycle management. We also make sure that everything is fully automated according to infrastructure as code.”

Think, talk, build

“An example of something we are currently working on is the migration of cloud solutions and internet connections that interact with many third parties. A migration of this kind calls for highly detailed planning, coordination and implementation. I like the fact that I am in the lead and that I get to organise meetings, brainstorm with network architects and report back to the business. I think I spend around half of my time hands-on with the controls, and the rest of the time I am mostly talking to people and developing use cases. It’s a nice balance!”

Keep on running

“It goes without saying that ABN AMRO provides essential services for many people. Not being able to access your bank account even for a short time can cause a lot of issues. That is why ensuring the continuity of our network is our most important challenge. Not long ago, there was an outage in our payment system over the weekend. You can bet I got called at home to find the glitch. At times like that you feel a huge amount of pressure to help resolve the matter before too many people are affected. But I  was able to identify the root cause quickly, and that was very satisfying.”  

Growing at ABN AMRO

“At ABN AMRO, you have plenty of opportunities for personal development. I recently completed a Cybersecurity & Cloud study programme at a university for applied sciences – alongside my work! It was quite challenging but I am glad that I did it and that I was given all the space and time I needed. The bank encourages you to keep learning through training, courses and challenging projects.”  

“In my work, I still see a lot of growth opportunities, for example, as a specialist or consultant within the bank. I have been approached for other roles, but at the moment, I still enjoy being hands-on. For me, the combination of technology and problem solving is what I like best. Fortunately, there is still plenty to do within the bank!”