Maxime Herbelot, DevOps at Engie Digital (Master ETE 2010).

It was during his high school years that Maxime discovered economics for the first time: very interested in the humanities, he then followed at the end of his baccalaureate – section economic and social -, a double degree in law & economics at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. A fairly general course according to him: he wished to improve his master’s degree in mathematics and then passed a degree in applied mathematics within the same university. With these new skills, he felt better able to understand the economic models that serve as the basis or justification for economic policy decisions.

He then decided to follow the Master ETE – Economie Théorique et Empirique (PSE/University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne). These two years allowed him to get a solid base of knowledge in quantitative economics. The subjects he appreciated: econometrics, microeconomics and game theory. After graduating in 2010, he felt like taking a break. A rainy September in Paris pushed him to take a one-way ticket to Cairo. Eight months of travel followed, allowing him to reflect on career choices available to him.

Back in Paris and looking for a job, he received a large number of proposals from digital companies. He then decided to leave the field of the economy and turned to the one of computing that he left behind. For seven years, he has been involved in a large number of missions as a consultant. He discovered, through a wide variety of clients – ministries, banking, retail, energy -, different aspects of the business: software qualification, system administration, testing processes, and he even became a trainer on these subjects.

In 2017, one of his missions led him to work for the Engie group. That same year, a new entity within the group, Engie Digital, was created to develop software covering the entire energy chain. In 2019, Maxime joined Engie Digital as DevOps: he was involved in software development (Dev) and IT systems administration (Ops, for operations). A profession far removed from his initial training in economics, of which he still measures the knowledge acquired, especially in his ability to model various situations – a skill that is very useful today in the field of software quality!

Source: Lettre PSE n°38