International Yoga Day - 5 Questions for John Van Buskerk, Software Engineer at Stratus Technologies
After 26 years at Stratus Technologies, John Van Buskerk has learned a thing or two about patience, control, and embracing change - many of which he learned through yoga. During the International Yoga Day celebrations, we spoke to John to understand how the practice influenced his role in Stratus.
What brought you to the engineering path? Did you know you
want to do this as a child or adolescent?
Not exactly - although as a child I had mechanical
inclinations. I've always had a nature to take things apart and put them back
together. And when I was choosing my career, the computer industry really
developed. So thinking about my childhood ultimately helped me make a decision.
What was your career path before joining Stratus? Could
you tell us more about your current role in the team?
Before joining Stratus, I had a lot of work and different
positions. As a child, my family owned a cafeteria in Hudson City - the Hudson
Diner - where I worked from age 14 to high school as a waiter and then as a
cook. After graduation, I had several jobs in the industry until I got worried
and decided that this was not for me. So I decided to go back to school,
Nichols College, where I majored in computer science.
Currently at Stratus I work mainly in the Windows
development area, but again, I wear a lot of different hats. I work as a
Windows Release Engineer and am responsible for all builds and product release
processes. This applies to many things like modifying ECO queries, test builds,
etc. I also work as a helper for legacy databases. I worked with VOS for
quality assurance, eventually for products like ftServer and ztC Edge that we
have now.
What's most exciting about working with and with Stratus
solutions? What turns you on the most?
What really motivates me is solving any customer problem.
From an early age, I have always wanted the customer to be satisfied. And, of
course, my mother always told me that "the buyer is always right!" I
still take this very seriously.
We understand that you are doing yoga at Stratus! When did
you start responsibility yoga and what prompted you to bring this experience to
the office?
I got to know yoga many years ago when Stratus taught in the
previous building. At the time, I was about 40 years old, and since I sat at
the table all day, I felt that I wanted to become more active. The yoga
instructor at the time was Rich Chapelle, who really opened my eyes to the
benefits of yoga. I found myself feeling pretty good after each lesson.
When they stopped teaching, I decided to go alone. I
switched from twice a week to a daily one. When we got to the new building,
although there is little space, I continued and now a few more people have
joined us.
The benefits of yoga were what motivated me to keep
practicing. It is a great stress reliever for me and helps clear my head and
keep my balance. There can be a lot of chaos around me, but with yoga it is
much easier to disconnect. Also, my yoga partner Mo even told me that his back
problems had improved significantly.
One important lesson he taught me: embracing change, which
is easy to say but can be extremely difficult to do. In yoga there are postures
in which some are easier than others. For myself, I've found that the poses I
don't like are the ones I need to focus on.
The changes always apply to my day-to-day work. I am
constantly drawn to different things, and I help when necessary. It can be
difficult to change, but I welcome it.
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