When Gertjan Oude Lohuis joined CloudSuite in 2017, it wasn't initially as CTO. With over 12.5 years of experience as a software developer and network engineer, he started as a team lead. In 2023, he earned the title of co-CTO, and as of 2024, he swims as CTO without training wheels.
At my previous employer, I did a lot of coaching but never held an official leadership position. In the initial discussions at CloudSuite, I clearly expressed my interest in exploring leadership alongside software development. They were very open to that. Ultimately, that's why I chose CloudSuite, that openness. I immediately saw various opportunities to grow and progress, alongside a passion for the product.
Step by step. I began with overseeing people's work, gradually taking on more responsibilities. About three years ago, I started talking with Eric Klaasse, one of the founders and the former CTO of CloudSuite. I thought to myself: you'd be crazy not to take this chance - how often do you get such an opportunity? To make the transition as natural and smooth as possible, we both became co-CTOs before I fully took over.
It's not just a directive role with meetings and high-level decisions. I always try to make time to dive into the code and brainstorm about bugs or issues. It's that mix of high-level strategy and getting your hands dirty that I find super enjoyable.
It's that mix of high-level strategy and getting your hands dirty that I find super enjoyable.
View our vacanciesGertjan Oude Lohuis
CTO
CloudSuite
I've always had a preference for conceiving and developing broadly applicable solutions. Not for custom work, putting a lot of effort into one solution for one client. At CloudSuite, we try to discern a common thread in the challenges and issues of our diverse clients, creating the most applicable tool for a broad audience that we continuously enhance. That makes us truly unique as a product and a company: that continuous focus on improvement.
Our challenge lies mainly in continuous improvement. Our product has been around for over 13 years, meaning we use code written 13 years ago. It usually withstands the test of time, but to remain future-proof, we need to rewrite that old code and adapt it to modern techniques and standards.
That's why we started the transition to microservices about two years ago. Within this method, you divide the software into logical domains that functionally belong together. This makes it easier and faster to continue development. Additionally, at CloudSuite, we devised a unique way to undergo this transition to microservices while still working on the product. All in all, a beautiful and exciting challenge.
As a leader, I find it important to know what's happening with my team, both at work and in their personal lives. You don't discover this during that annual performance review; you need to talk with each other regularly. During such conversations, I also always try to uncover ambitions. Knowing where you want or can go, and then giving people the space and opportunities to realize those ambitions, makes them happy. That path can also be a search. It's not strange if a particular goal doesn't fit at all. As long as you dare to speak it out to each other. Talking and listening well, that's good leadership for me.
More information
EN
Dutch
