Meet Deon, our new Infrastructure Engineer

We're growing again. Deon has joined Pebble IT as our Infrastructure Engineer, bringing 13 years in IT experience with him.

His job is the layer most people never see. Deon looks after cloud infrastructure, ours and our clients', making sure it stays updated, secure and built the way it should be. Patching, hardening, tidying up the things that get left half done, and keeping an eye on the platforms our clients run their businesses on. When infrastructure is done properly, nobody notices it. That is the point.

It also means our engineers on the service desk have someone dedicated to the deeper work behind their tickets, so problems get fixed at the root instead of being patched over week after week.

We put a few questions to him so you can get to know him a bit.

Seven questions for Deon

How do you take your coffee?

Regular full cream, no sugar. But when the mood strikes, I'll go for an Italian latte macchiato.

You're 13 years deep in the IT world. What's one tech tip you'd give a business owner that could save them a real headache?

Don't treat backups as something you "probably have". Make sure they're regularly tested and that you can actually restore your data when you need it. A backup that hasn't been tested isn't really a backup. I'd also say enable multi-factor authentication everywhere you can. It's one of the simplest ways to improve your security.

(Deon is right, and it comes up more often than you'd think. Our take on backup and disaster recovery and on cyber security starts from the same place.)

What drew you to Pebble IT?

I was looking for a company that values great customer service as much as technical expertise. Pebble IT focuses on building long-term relationships with clients, and that's the kind of environment I enjoy being part of.

You work remotely. What's your advice for staying productive?

For me, productivity comes down to structure and communication. I stick to a routine, set up a dedicated workspace, and make sure I check in regularly with my team.

What's the best part of working in the MSP world?

Every day is different. You get to work with a variety of businesses, technologies and challenges, so you're constantly learning. I also enjoy helping people solve problems and making technology work for them instead of against them.

What are you looking forward to most at Pebble IT?

Getting to know the team, learning how Pebble IT does things, and building strong relationships with our customers. I'm excited to contribute my experience while continuing to learn and grow.

Anything else our customers should know about you? Hobbies, interests, hidden talents?

Outside of work, I'm a tech enthusiast and an avid gamer. When I'm not looking at a screen, you'll find me outdoors spending quality time with my wife and our three dogs.

Welcome to the team

Deon joins a team that has grown from zero to 30 clients and 500 users in two years, without losing a single one. Hiring an engineer whose entire focus is infrastructure is part of how we keep it that way.

You can meet the rest of the team on our about page. If your cloud setup has been running on "it works, mostly" for a while, get in touch and we'll take a proper look at it.