Integration Development Analyst.

TIF-Exit is a project where we are replacing the bank’s old communication layer with a clean REST API. Endpoint by endpoint, no big bang, because this is a bank and not a startup.

About the project

The system we are replacing is an Oracle stack from a time when REST was still a buzzword at conferences. It did its job, but today nobody really knows why it works the way it works. Adding a new use case meant another workaround, a new colleague needed a month to find their footing, and every change waited on a two-week release.

The project is now in a workshop phase with all the systems connected to TIF. Every team has different priorities and a different idea of what “done” looks like. My job is to keep the whole transition together.

What I actually do

I map existing integration flows and that is largely detective work. I read legacy code nobody remembers writing, then call people who were there eight years ago and ask why that unfortunate boolean flag is sitting there. The answer is always different but the point is the same: it was the fastest way at the time. Now it is technical debt holding the whole department hostage.

That turns into REST interface specs, UML and sequence diagrams. I coordinate development, integration and external vendors. Typical day: five people in a meeting, four opinions, one agreement needed by the end.

RB as an AI lab

RB is one of the first banks to give employees access to modern AI models and tools, without unnecessary barriers or having to file a special request.

I made the most of it. I built several MCP tools to automate things that were slowing me down every day, from API definition documentation to syntax checking in specs. Then I showed the results to colleagues and managers, not as a presentation about what AI might one day do, but as a real difference in hours of work that simply disappeared.

Today most analysts in the integration department use those tools.

What I learned

Migrating old systems is 80% about understanding and 20% about code. The best integration is the one nobody notices got replaced.

When a company gives people access to good tools, what matters is who actually does something with that access. Showing a result works better than explaining the potential.