Meet our Alumni
Peter Vine
Senior Datacentre Architect and Engineer for DeepL
Curiosity, Adventure and a Career at the Heart of AI Infrastructure
From a placement year at QinetiQ to managing global datacentre projects for DeepL, this RGU alumnus has built an impressive career in network engineering. His journey highlights the value of staying curious, embracing opportunities and never stopping learning.
Do you remember your first day at RGU?
I remember getting the old Scotrail Caledonian sleeper up from London - my stuff was being sent up by courier from where I lived in Essex, and it was the first proper time I had been this far north on my own and it was such a wild adventure! I do remember one of the fresher’s team meeting me at Aberdeen station and getting me to Woolmanhill and helping me get settled in as my other flatmates arrived. It was a very exciting time to be studying at RGU and to be moving to a city like Aberdeen and the University was fantastic in supporting people like me moving from far away.
How would you describe the learning environment and support at RGU?
I remember the environment being very collaborative, open and relaxed. We had excellent staff introduce us to the cutting edge of network engineering and computing. Doors were always open and support was always available when needed. It was great working with staff like Angus Brown and Tony Miller, their insights were invaluable.
Did you take part in any placements, internships, or industry projects during your studies?
I did a year in industry at QinetiQ, a defence and technology research company based in the West of England. The work was exciting and it was a fantastic experience for me as a young student in IT with a focus on Datacentre and Network engineering.
How well do you feel your course prepared you for your career?
I feel the course prepared me for my career in several ways. For the first time it helped me get acquainted with networking hardware from tech giants such as Cisco Systems and Juniper.
Tell us about your current role and what a typical day looks like.
I work as a Senior Datacentre Architect and Engineer for DeepL. My day-to-day work usually covers capacity planning work for our datacentre estate ensuring that our core sites have the cooling, power and space they need for our requirements. I also coordinate with our key vendors, planning and installing Nvidia GPU clusters including the latest GB200 servers which are vital for running complex AI training and inference jobs.
What’s one thing you learned at RGU that still shapes your life or work today?
If there is one thing which I learned at RGU which sticks with me today, it’s to always be curious. How can we solve a seemingly intractable problem? How can we work together to solve the challenges facing our field? It’s only by being consistently curious that we can find the answers to these questions and more.
What’s a career moment you’ll never forget?
I think one career moment I'll never forget is flying to a datacentre in India on a 24-hour mission to replace a mission critical network switch. I flew there with the replacement part in my luggage, arrived early in the morning, grabbed some sleep at the hotel, and then headed to the site to perform the work during the change window. I returned to the hotel for dinner before heading back to the airport! The cabin crew on the return flight, the same crew that flew out with me were shocked to see me when they came trundling past with the hot towels!
What’s one piece of advice you’d give an RGU student today?
Don't stop learning when you leave the lecture hall! Take what you've learned and experiment with it. During my time, we were able to use the labs to rack equipment and play with it. At home we were building home labs, small data racks housing network switches, small computer servers and so forth to learn in the summer and winter breaks. In terms of tech, there is so much online these days that can supplement what you learn on your course, adding much-needed context and expansion. Work with the course staff and see where they direct you. It'll make you a much more rounded and complete expert in your field upon graduation.