From Jenkins X Contributor to Jenkins Infrastructure SRE: A Career Journey

Today I translated an article I found on the Jenkins Contributors page, originally written by Hervé Le Meur, a French SRE who joined the Jenkins infrastructure team via the Jenkins‑X community.

Hervé is an SRE on the Jenkins infrastructure team; he entered the open‑source community through Jenkins X and later moved to a full‑time role on Jenkins infrastructure.

His father was a carpenter and his mother an interior designer. Growing up in a technically inclined family, he first encountered computers at age six with an Amstrad CPC 464.

Outside of Jenkins work, he enjoys outdoor walks, reading, and watching his favorite shows with family.

What was your background before joining Jenkins?

After university, I spent ten years at a small B2B marketing consultancy where I was a jack‑of‑all‑trades building internal tools, but there was no CI/CD or open‑source involvement.

I then joined a BIM software company as a software developer. Some teams used Jenkins, but at the time Jenkins felt cumbersome and slow.

As I grew into a software architect, I was tasked with building a new CI/CD system based on Jenkins X, which took several months. Jenkins X was brand new and I was a Kubernetes novice, making the task far harder than expected; after Jenkins X entered testing, I had to redo most of the work multiple times.

Through this effort I learned a great deal about Kubernetes and CI/CD and contributed significantly to Jenkins X. After being let go, I contacted James Strachan and James Rawlings, who gave me a link to a vacancy from Oleg Nenashev at CloudBees, which became my current position.

In my mind I was a programmer, not a system administrator. When Mark Waite explained that the final interview would focus on networking, I was nervous, fearing I would lose the opportunity. However, during interviews with Mark, Damien Duportal, and Olivier Vernin they asked how I would integrate CI/CD with Jenkins X—a fascinating discussion that put me at ease and helped me decide.

Fifteen minutes before the interview I received a final offer from another company (where Damien and Jean‑Marc Meessen had previously worked). I hesitated but chose the Jenkins role, which turned out to be my dream job.

I also have experience moderating online forums, so community work feels familiar.

How long have you been using Jenkins?

I started with Jenkins X and never used Jenkins itself until later. Apart from sharing the name, they have nothing in common. My initial impression of Jenkins was negative—it seemed heavy, outdated, and complex, a view I heard from colleagues at previous companies. Once I started using Jenkins, that perception vanished; I realized it was far from the clunky, slow tool I had imagined.

Why choose Jenkins over other projects?

I didn’t necessarily choose Jenkins; it became central to my work. When I examined the work of Tyler, Olivier, Damien, and Mark on Jenkins infrastructure, I realized Jenkins was far more polished and efficient than I expected. I also appreciate that we develop and release Jenkins itself using Jenkins—a unique feedback loop not common in most open‑source tools. Jenkins invests significant time aligning with developer workflows and integrates tools like Terraform, Puppet, Kubernetes, and Helmfile, acting as a coordinator.

Working on Jenkins feels like my greatest achievement because I love building and developing tools, even if I’m not part of the core Jenkins development team.

What growth have you observed in Jenkins since you joined?

We now define more instances as code, allowing us to recreate any instance without manual configuration, greatly improving resilience. We are also gradually managing ci.jenkins.io as code.

Which aspects of Jenkins interest you the most?

Currently I am refactoring the official Docker images for Jenkins controllers and agents, which I find very exciting. I also enjoy contributor work because it feels like a puzzle—knowing the goal and my starting point makes the process rewarding.

What contributions have been most successful or impactful?

Basil Crow suggested replacing the file system with SQLite, a compelling idea. Switching to JDK 17 was very successful, and with JDK 21 Jenkins can run on newer platforms, keeping pace with advancements. To keep the infrastructure ahead (e.g., always running the latest Jenkins Weekly), the next step is introducing JDK 22. The plugin health score provides a useful visualization of the overall plugin ecosystem health.

Advice for new developers and newcomers to open‑source communities

First, be aware of the project's size and start by focusing on one thing.

Don’t hesitate; be bold. Open‑source is open to everyone. Don’t fear submitting pull requests—they don’t need to be perfect.

You may end up loving it and continue contributing!

References

[1]

Jenkins Contributors: https://contributors.jenkins.io/

[2]

Original article: https://contributors.jenkins.io/pages/contributors/herve-le-meur/

[3]

James Strachan: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/jstrachan/

[4]

James Rawlings: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/jrawlings/

[5]

Oleg Nenashev: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/oleg_nenashev/

[6]

Mark Waite: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/markewaite/

[7]

Damien Duportal: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/dduportal/

[8]

Olivier Vernin: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/olblak/

[9]

Jean‑Marc Meessen: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/jmmeessen/

[10]

Basil Crow: https://www.jenkins.io/blog/authors/basil/