Meet the game developers: HT-Jens

For the 5th edition of "Meet the game developers" we had the honor to interview the most important member of the entire HT team: the guy responsible for the servers. If you are seeing this, it is because the interview went well and he did not disconnect the cables. We present to you... HT-Jens (10884017)!

Written by Mod-Fleming (10382507) and HPE-rikdaan (13289066)

Hi Jens, thanks for joining us! Could you introduce yourself to everyone who doesn't know you yet?
My name is Jens, as you mentioned, and I'm living in the university town of Lund in South Sweden, where Hattrick once was founded. Here I live with my wife, daughters and dog.


What's your role inside the team? Any major project where you are enrolled in at the moment?
I'm the server guy you always blame when stuff doesn't work 🙂 I mainly work with server hardware, DevOps and database maintenance/administrating stuff, but when I have some spare time left I help out with some small coding projects


How did you get in touch with Hattrick? Were you playing it before being hired?
I was hand picked by former HT-Chris to join the team when they moved the dev headquarters from Stockholm (the capital of Sweden) to Malmö in South Sweden. At that time I had heard about Hattrick many times, but I didn't start a team until I joined the crew.


Unlike Aartspam, Bodin, Johan, Gusy and Tasos you're part of the smaller group of HTs that usually don't participate in forums? Why?
As you know by now, I'm not that much into developing and managing the game, so I have not so much to add to conversations 😉


Does the ongoing coronavirus pandemic influence the working circumstances for you and other HTs?
We have an office in Malmö (Sweden), but for now we have closed that one and work from home. The public health authority is saying "Stay home" and "work from home if you can" so that's what we do.


Let's talk about your core daily task: running the servers. On what kind of servers does Hattrick run and what are your exact tasks in order to keep them running?
Hattrick is mainly built to run on Windows web servers, so 95% or the servers are Windows Servers, but some backend stuff is running on Linux. To handle our servers I have made automatic checks to inform us if something happens or is about to happen, so we can be a little proactive. I'm also checking the databases if they are feeling okay.


I still remember when HT had 20/30k, or more, users online at the same time. Nowadays whats the maximum quantity of online users that HT servers can handle without starts lagging?
Today we are prepared for more user load than before, and since our start better servers have been developed so we can easily handle the servers if we see a positive trend in more simultaneous logged in users.


Have you guys ever considered to run the site serverless? If not, why?
We have never considered to go into the cloud. We always have an updated view of what these services have to offer, but right now it's nothing for Hattrick. We have too much historic data, and it will cost a lot of money to move to that type of platform.


What is your favorite task outside of maintaining the servers?
Is there something else in the world out of that?


As usual there are always moments of stress in every workplace and Hattrick is probably no exception. Do you remember any of those that can be shared with us and our readers?
There have been some server upgrades and database maintenance tasks that didn't go the way I planned them, so the planned downtime got extended. It's really stressful when you stand there and the time just ticks away...


One of the major obstacles new users face in the beginning is the steep learning curve. What do you think that could be done in order to address this issue?
Everything in this game is about communication and information. The challenge for us is to know which part is most difficult in the game to understand, and try to fix that part so it becomes more clear for users. We have done some changes recently from feedback from new signups and we still listen.


What is, in your opinion, the most underrated feature in HT?
The new design of match order, both live and post match.


Do you have any hobbies? Which ones?
What!? Hobbies? is there anything else than Hattrick!?

Of course :-) I'm a runner, and I like it a lot. My favorite distance is half marathon.


Have you ever traveled outside Sweden to run a half-marathon or a similar competition?
Have done one in Portugal. It's nice to talk to the type of idiots that is running and sharing the same passion :p


If you had the choice to either win a marathon or the Hattrick Masters, which one would you chose?
A marathon. It's not so much need of tactic skills, just a lot of effort and will.


In your opinion what are the biggest challenges Hattrick will have to face in the next, let's say, 3 years?
Timing of implementing new big features before any competitors in the industry do it. The industry is moving faster and faster, and you need to be in the front and give quality.

If you like the article, feel free to click "Like" and/or leave a comment. You can discuss the article on the forum: (17322896.1).

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After two unplanned interviews with HT-Aartspam and HT-Johan, HPE-rikdaan and Mod-Fleming decided to work together to interview - most of - the other HTs. This was the fifth part of the series.

(21001) - interview with HT-Aartspam
(21090) - interview with HT-Johan
(21191) - interview with HT-Gusy
(21397) - interview with HT-Bodin

Next time: who knows?

Previous article: Meet the game developers: HT-Bodin (21397).

Đường dẫn trực tiếp đến chủ đề (HT-ML, dành cho diễn đàn): [ArticleID=21553]