From microservices to the future of quantum computing, with CTO Juan Manuel

CTO by day, astronomer by night

Who are you, where are you from, and what do you do?

I’m Juan Manuel, but I go by Fluxa. I’m Chilean and I love Patagonia! Strategic technology and astronomy are my things. 

I’m the Chief Technology Officer at Reign, a software design and development company based in Chile. We think that people deserve great digital experiences everyday. Technology is ubiquitous, and we care a lot about every interaction people have with it. 

By day I work at Reign but, by night, I look for clear skies with my telescope — I can’t wake up without looking at the “Clear Outside” app. It’s a weather app for astronomers and astrophotographers. Knowing that I’ll have a great opportunity to search the night sky gets me up in the morning.

Quantum computing and virtual reality  

What technology is going to be big that people haven’t started talking about? 

I think there’s been a lot of progress in quantum computing during 2020, and we’re getting close to having a commercially available quantum computer. Quantum computers are going to revolutionize the world. They are capable of quickly solving problems that traditional computers could take more than the lifespan of the universe to solve. I’m looking forward to the match between Quantum Deep Blue vs Kasparov. (LOL!)

Which will be bigger in five years, augmented reality or virtual reality?

I still remember the early days of VR. The technology was not there yet, the headsets were bulky and the lack of processing power made the experience feel clumsy. I think today VR is something that feels right, the tech is there and the market is filled with devices and software. AR is much more accessible than VR since everyone already has an AR-capable device in its hands with a much bigger chance of monetization.

Microservices help us solve complex problems

Why do microservices matter?  

To solve a complex problem, we need to break it down into smaller, simple pieces. That’s the key role of microservices. Microservices replaces traditional, complex monolithic architecture with a group of controllable services. These services are faster to develop, easier to understand and efficient to maintain.

Microservices also easily integrate. We really like Agolia, for example. We’ve successfully implemented Algolia in many projects, especially eCommerce projects. Our clients are in awe when they see how fast and customizable it is. Our developers love how well designed the SDKs and APIs are. 

If you could give headless a new name, what would it be?

Hydra, because business changes fast and you need the ability to cut a head off and have a new head grow back that serves a new business purpose.  We need to go mythic and celebrate multihead monsters. I’m very fond of hydras and chimeras! Regardless of name, we must all agree upon the need to behead the monolithic monsters out there today. 

Why do you choose Contentful?

We originally found Contentful when we started a new project that needed a headless CMS. Contentful has been great—like going from driving a donkey carriage for too many years to piloting a space shuttle with Contentful.

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