Why MuleSoft?
In the last 14 years, I have been working for some amazing companies with a focus on Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), Quality Management, Automated Testing, and DevOps. I worked with one of the best professionals in the market in the ALM space and I learned a lot of great approaches and powerful tools.
Now it is time for me to learn something new – something, which would put me out of my comfort zone.
IT culture and technology changed a lot since I started at HP in 2007. Back in 2007, integration between tools was nice to have an asset, but not mandatory. COM interfaces were on the daily agenda and already at that time, I enjoyed building integrations from system to system to enable users and businesses to gain higher visibility into the processes.
Over the years the organization's mindset changed from an isolated to a shared approach. Today, integrations have gained more importance, and that is why every software product is providing plugins and integration possibilities. Even products without an integration possibility are being modernized and equipped with an Application Programming Interface (API).
I knew APIs from my recent role at Micro Focus and have worked with the REST API Interface of several tools, but only as a consumer. I started to research jobs in the API market space and found the most innovative approach towards digital transformation called “API-led connectivity” for developing, managing, and orchestrating APIs with a unified platform. Before going deeper into that approach, let us discuss why APIs are needed.
Why are APIs needed?
APIs are needed to connect applications together in order to perform defined processes around sharing data. An API acts as the middleman, allowing developers/engineers to build interactions between applications people and businesses use daily.
When I look back on recent projects in 2020-21, the usage of APIs was the key to success for the project delivery. Providing out-of-the-box plugins is great and helps customers to utilize the “standard” capabilities of a tool, but in many cases, custom integration between systems is higher in demand.
Imagine, we have a simple System A, which is being introduced into an organization’s business unit. This system requires integration to 3 other systems (System B, System C, and System D). Each system has a responsible architect/engineer who would build a programmatic interaction with System A.
Each architect/engineer has a different level of expertise and choice of programming language to build the desired integration. With high initial effort, the integrations are built and put into operation.
Now imagine a change in the API of System A?
A major change in System A’s API would:
Another downside of such an isolated approach is, that the knowledge on the integration is with the skilled engineer - If the engineer retires or leaves the company, the maintenance of that specific integration becomes difficult.
And in this simple example, we are talking about just 3 systems to integrate.
In a real-world example, if you are driving a transformation initiative to build a new e-commerce platform for your customers, there would be a minimum of up to 70 or more integrations required to allow an end-to-end experience for customers, partners, and employees. Think about a CRM migration project, a new mobile customer app, or a database switch from SQL to No-SQL.
Leveraging APIs only as “technology that connects systems” will forcibly build a heterogeneous approach to drive digital transformation, which on one hand may be quick but on the other hand, it is fragile, not maintainable, and error-prone. This is due to the integrations between system-to-system, system-to-database, database-to-database, etc. as nothing between the teams is orchestrated, shared, or reused.
API-led connectivity
Applying a central and unified approach to API Management will solve these challenges and allow organizations to build an organized ecosystem towards digital transformation by enabling business and IT to share application assets across business units.
Let me introduce you to the API-led connectivity approach of MuleSoft. API-led connectivity is an approach that defines methods for connecting and exposing your assets. The approach shifts the way IT operates and promotes decentralized access to data and capabilities, while not compromising governance. And the outcome of API-led connectivity is an application network: a network of applications, data, and devices that are ‘pluggable’, providing the agility that the speed of today’s digital transformation demands.
The beauty of the API-led connectivity approach is the flexibility and agility it provides through its three-layered architecture.
The first and lowest layer is for the System APIs, which provide a means of accessing underlying systems of record and exposing that data. These APIs will also change more infrequently and will be governed by central IT given the importance of the underlying systems.
The second layer is for the Process APIs, which represent all underlying business processes that interact and shape data should be strictly encapsulated independently of the source systems from which the data originates, as well as the target channels through which that data is to be delivered. For example, in a purchase order process, there is some logic that is common across products, geographies, and retail channels that can and should be distilled into a single service.
The third and top layer is for the Experience APIs, which are the means by which data can be reconfigured so that it is most easily consumed by its intended audience, all from a common data source, rather than setting up separate point-to-point integrations for each channel.
How I came to MuleSoft, a Salesforce company?
And that approach fascinated me so much that I developed a passion for it and actually at that time MuleSoft was looking for a Solution Engineer, so I applied. Soon after my application, a recruiter team of MuleSoft contacted me and guided me smoothly through the whole application and interview process. It was one of the best recruiter experiences ever for me and the credit for it goes to Leslie Braune and Christina Fröschl. Leslie and Christina, thank you, and stay amazing.
There is one more great thing about the MuleSoft recruiting process, especially when you get selected for a panel roleplay and interview, which was the case for me. Beside the challenge I had to solve, MuleSoft also provided a “buddy” to me, who did also a great job in order to prepare myself for the interview. My buddy was Eugen Klass, a very professional Solution Engineer, who questioned the approach I was taken for the panel and gave me input for new thoughts. Thank You Eugen, it was already a great experience with you, and I am looking forward to work with you.
And then there were the “fantastic four”, the panel interview, which was led by Oleg Bascurov in the role of the CIO and his team with Iris Gallmann, Jens Dollenbacher, and Philipp Schöne. I had talks with Oleg before the interview and his guidance was very beneficial for me. For sure it was a panel interview and I had to prepare for it, but the whole MuleSoft team was supportive and wanted me to be successful. So, I did the interview, and it was successful, but not yet over. I appreciate all the great feedback and advice from the panel jury. Thanks to the whole Panel Team.
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I had 1 more session with Wolfgang Kelz, an amazing director and leader for the EMEA Solution Engineering Team. He was on vacation but took the time for us to talk. We planned for 30 minutes but ended up in more than 60 minutes. He also explained to me the whole Solution Engineer Organization and the engagement during the sales process. Thanks, Wolfgang for your support.
1 team member was not able to attend, and it was an important one for me. It was Marc Schindler, Solution Engineer Management for Switzerland, and my “future boss”, in case MuleSoft/Salesforce would hire me. Super nice guy, he motivated me already in the 10 minutes we talked, and it was clear from my side, I am going to work for MuleSoft. Thank Marc for everything you have already done and the many things you will for sure do in the future for the Swiss Solution Engineering Team!
The positive energy, strong spirit, and great passion towards a mission, is what makes the MuleSoft team so special and MuleSoft a great place to work. I am super excited to be part of an amazing team and an awesome company.
And here my journey starts…
What's next
In the next few weeks, I will be intensively learning more about API Management using Anypoint Platform & Studio. As usual, I will try to share my learnings as small, social, and easy to consumable posts on several topics.
If your organization is establishing a digital strategy, then an application network is indispensable. I invite and encourage everyone, who wants to learn more about API End-to-End Management from design to deployment including embedded security and exchange portal, to consider the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform.
Following some highlights on the MuleSoft solutions.
MuleSoft: The API-led connectivity platform
MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform™ is a single, unified platform that allows organizations to easily build and rapidly scale application networks. Anypoint Platform is the world’s leading integration solution and is trusted by more than 1,600 enterprise customers across every major industry. Anypoint Platform enables end-to-end connectivity across APIs, service orchestration, and application integration. This allows developers to rapidly connect, orchestrate, and enable any internal or external endpoint. The result is a 2x to 5x faster time to launch new initiatives, connect systems, and unlock data across the enterprise and a 30% reduction in integration costs.
MuleSoft: Anypoint Studio
Build and test APIs and integrations quickly with Anypoint Platform’s desktop IDE.
Boost development productivity
Accelerate implementation with an IDE for integration and API development that has prebuilt modules for common integration requirements — including querying backend systems, routing events, business transformation logic, and error handling.
MuleSoft Connectors
MuleSoft Anypoint platform comes with many out-of-the-box and pre-built connectors. These Connectors are reusable extensions to Mule runtime engine (Mule) that enable you to integrate a Mule app with third-party APIs, databases, and standard integration protocols. Connectors abstract the technical details involved with connecting to a target system. All connectivity in Mule 4 is provided through connectors.
Connect to any endpoint
Besides all out-of-the-box connectors, MuleSoft also provides a Connector SDK to build custom connectors for the Anypoint platform.
Learn more about APIs and MuleSoft
If you want to learn more about APIs and the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, find below some useful links.
Self-paced (Free) Trainings
MuleSoft YouTube Channel
A great collection of short videos and tutorials to understand the concept of API Management end-to-end. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/user/mulesoftvids/featured. Don’t forget to subscribe.
MuleSoft Community
Become an integration pro — learn, network, and share with the MuleSoft Community.
Welcome Amir Khan! And what a great post actually, glad to have somebody that passionate on board!
Amir , good luck, their win :)
Gabriel Rauchenbichler
Congratulations Amir Khan ! I m happy for you.
Good luck, Amir