Blink Spotlight: Niv Schneiderman

I'm Niv Schneiderman, 31 years old, residing in Tel Aviv and happily married to Sharon. My primary role centers around backend development, but I’m also involved in other aspects of the software development pipeline like product definition, system design, BE + FE implementation, and DevOps. I particularly appreciate the multidisciplinary nature of my work.

What do you like to do when you aren’t working?

When I'm not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I'm also an active sports enthusiast, engaging in activities like going to the gym, running, snowboarding, and hiking. In addition, I'm passionate about continuous learning, which I pursue by reading online, watching videos, and listening to podcasts on topics like technology, economics, and entrepreneurship.

Your personal motto/mantra is: 

My family calls me the "optimizer" because I'm always striving to optimize my time management and find ways to reduce the time spent on everyday tasks. Whenever I encounter tasks that I don't particularly enjoy, I'm determined to leverage technology to replace manual efforts. Whether it's using a robotic vacuum cleaner, smart locks, or automated tools and programs for handling bureaucratic tasks, I believe in embracing technology to streamline and simplify our lives.

This is one of the reasons I love my work - the process of developing a program once and then seeing it benefit users without my active involvement is something that fulfills me every single time.

Why did you choose to work at Blink Ops, and when did you join?

I made the transition to Blink Ops about a year ago after spending four fantastic years at Microsoft, where I honed my skills as a backend developer. During my time at Microsoft, I dedicated myself to studying how to develop highly scaled systems and had the opportunity to build complex services from the ground up.

However, my natural inclination has always been towards the startup environment. I thrive in small organizations where I can take ownership of the product, and my work is diverse. The high-paced and urgent nature of startups empowers me, making me feel that my work truly matters.

As for why I specifically chose Blink Ops, it's an ideal fit for someone like me who has a passion for automating tasks currently done by humans. Blink's product aligns perfectly with this, as it enables users to secure their systems effortlessly without the need for human intervention.

What does a typical day at Blink Ops look like for you?

A typical day at Blink Ops involves engaging in interesting technical discussions with colleagues, working on the development of new features, and planning the system design for exciting new features.

What advice do you have for someone new at Blink?

My primary focus at work is on developing Blink's workflow engine, a rather complex component responsible for executing automations. We place a strong emphasis on finding the simplest and most elegant solutions for each new feature we implement. This approach is crucial to maintain our codebase effectively and extend its functionality. So, my advice to every new engineer in this area is to invest a lot of effort in finding simplicity in solutions rather than implementing overly complex designs. In short - keep it simple :)

What’s your favorite thing about the Blink platform? Any tips? 

With Blink, every organization can address a multitude of cybersecurity scenarios using our extensive automation library. However, to effectively manage and tailor these automations to an organization's specific needs, a highly organized and customizable platform is essential, and Blink excels in this regard.

Two notable features that make Blink exceptionally organized and easy to maintain:

1. Organized Work Environment: When users need to link multiple automations to cover a security operation, they can create an "uber automation" that calls these automations sequentially or asynchronously as subflows. This hierarchical approach allows users to create lightweight automations with self-explanatory names, enhancing the ease of maintenance and the platform's overall effectiveness. This approach aligns with the widely recognized design principle known as "Separation of concerns."
2. Progressive Deployment: Blink has recently introduced a feature that enables users to deploy their automations across different workspaces. This feature allows our customers to maintain separate workspaces for various cloud environments (e.g., development, staging, production). After completing their automation edits, users can gradually deploy them from pre-production to production workspaces, ensuring each workspace interacts with resources in the corresponding environment. This facilitates the implementation of the "progressive delivery" and "canary deployment" concepts.

These features not only make Blink an organized and powerful platform but also enhance safety and reliability, making it a valuable tool for addressing complex cybersecurity scenarios.

Here at Blink Ops, we’re cybersecurity experts helping security teams all around the world operate better. We're hiring – view our open roles and kickstart your career growth today.