Meet Max Golov, who works in MuleSoft’s Training and Certification team as a Principal Technical Instructor, based in Amsterdam. His main responsibility is to help existing and new instructors transition across multiple classes from a technical perspective. He also works closely with MuleSoft’s portfolio team to ensure that feedback from the EMEA instructor team and student feedback is considered as they work on evolving and improving our courses.
What led to you joining MuleSoft?
I was born in Ukraine and graduated from the university there with an MSc degree in applied mathematics and computer science. When I was 21 years old, I moved to Germany and started to work as a system engineer at one of the world’s biggest telecommunication suppliers.
In 2004, I relocated to the Netherlands where I worked as a software and hardware engineer. While working for a software company specialized in the delivery of value-added service for the telecoms sector, I became increasingly involved in the pre-sales and training processes. That was the beginning of a decade-long journey as an instructor teaching various IT-related technologies.
In 2017, I joined MuleSoft as a senior technical instructor for the EMEA region. In August 2019 I was promoted to Principal Technical Instructor.
What is the most interesting problem you’re working on solving right now?
Right now I’m working on the improvement of a new Architecture class “Integration Solutions” which is in very high demand and is growing increasing popularity. This class is a quintessence of the Mulesoft technology which can be used to create a modern project-based on the API-connectivity approach.
It is a five-day class where we explain all the technical aspects that MuleSoft offers. The technical complexity of the class requires a deep knowledge of not just architectural aspects, but operations development and testing technologies as well.
My task is to make a ramping-up process for this class smoother and faster to have more instructors teaching this class to fulfill the high demands for this course.
How did you become a Principal Technical Instructor?
After more than two years as a Senior Technical Instructor, I realized that successfully teaching various classes is not all I can provide to MuleSoft. During my non-teaching time, I started to get involved in other technical projects, supporting our curriculum team in testing and developing new classes. I was actively thinking of a new way of sharing technical knowledge between team members. After successfully implementing some new methodologies the management team decided to grant me the sole responsibility for the technical aspects of the classes we are teaching.
Why did you decide to come to work for MuleSoft?
I worked for five years for one of our major competitors when I realized that MuleSoft could offer me the opportunity to work with the latest technology the IT industry uses at the moment. It is my privilege to work for such a modern and dynamic company.
Take us through a typical workday for you.
Regardless of the day, it always starts with the morning routine. Work-out, shower, breakfast. Then it depends on whether it is a teaching day or not.
If it is a teaching day, I have to be ready to start the class 45 minutes before it begins.
In the case of an online class, I climb the stairs to my office and get everything ready. If I’m teaching at a customer site, I am in the training room ready to answer all morning questions and solve any unexpected issues before class begins.
If I’m not teaching, I’m usually working from home, but it doesn’t mean I do not stick to my working schedule. Always at 9am, I’m at my desk and working until noon. After lunch,work until 5:30pm-6pm. Then the obligatory family time until the children go to bed, then I might work some extra hours often between 9pm and midnight.
What three things are always on your desk and why?
- Photo of my wife and two beloved kids. It always brings me energy and willingness to make the world a better place at least for the three of them.
- A cup of nice green tea. “Sencha Goji Berry” is my current favorite.
- Amazon Alexa. I completely forgot how to set reminders, alarms, notifications and playing music without asking Alexa to do so. Right now, I asked Alexa to play for me one of my favorite singers “Nino Katamadze”. She is perfect.
What teams do you work with most, and how do you collaborate?
I work mostly with our training curriculum team that creates training materials for us. As a principal instructor, I want to make sure that the classes they are releasing are nice to teach and easy to ramp-up on. I have established a very good relationship with the team and talk to them directly and avoid any unnecessary bureaucracy.
What is your favorite activity outside of the office?
I like to spend time with my family. My six and eight-year-old children are the brightest part of my life and I’m always trying to organize activities in which they are involved. It could be anything from rollerblades to disassembling an old PC to see how the hard disk spins the data plate.
What is your proudest accomplishment in your role here so far?
Delivering training workshops to over a hundred of the Salesforce architects. It was very challenging to prepare and very difficult to deliver to a demanding audience however, overall it was a great success.
What is the latest technology you’ve learned to use?
It is the Runtime Fabric deployment option. It is an amazing product that is a perfect combination of containerization and MuleSoft technology. I see great potential in it. We have a wonderful class where we explain every step on setting up RTF and make it run to host your cloud and on-prem services.
What is your favorite thing about working on the training team at MuleSoft?
We have a perfect team. Honestly, the best team I have worked with during my 20+ year career. I think that we are all acting as members of a family and always willing to help each other. We can honestly share our thoughts and ideas. It is very difficult to get aboard, but as soon as you are in you’ll be part of not just a team, but a family. Thank you, folks, for being who you are.
