Behind that beard is a man who used to travel the world with a folk dance group and now develops Java back ends in our Warsaw office while drinking six cups of coffee a day. Meet our Back End Developer Konrad!
Tell us about your professional background and how did you end up a back end developer working in Sangre?
I began my career working for Ericsson in Poland (I have a telecommunication background from my studies). In the beginning, I was working in 2G/3G/LTE Network Optimization Team as a kind of a SysAdmin taking care of all internal tools we had and writing new ones to manage all the data we had from the telecom networks. A few years later, I moved to a more programming-oriented team and started developing and maintaining CMS for telecoms, meanwhile also developing and maintaining internal Ericsson tools. I had also started working as a contractor, but when Ericsson’s policy regarding B2B contracts changed, I had to find a job. That’s when I found Sangre.
Describe your typical day at Sangre.
I take care of the JAVA backends we have in Sangre for certain clients. It means that I come to work, have some coffee, then write some code, have meetings if required, discuss architecture if needed, more coffee, then I develop, integrate and sometimes deploy stuff. Sounds easy.
What do you like the most about the projects you work on?
What’s different here in Sangre from where I’ve worked before is that the projects are smaller and usually shorter. The resulting advantage is that we can always use new frameworks or libs that are available and learn them. I really like that, I don’t have to work with old technologies like CORBA again. :)
“Working in smaller and shorter projects means that we can always use new frameworks or libs that are available. I really like that.”
What inspires you currently in your work?
In developing stuff in general, the most inspiring thing is that it constantly changes, so you have to gain new skills continuously. Also, there are many ways to achieve the final effect so you always have to discuss, find and decide on the solution when designing systems or apps.
What kind of skills or expertise are you currently learning?
I'm learning some new things about AWS cloud - how to manage services, setup load balancers, etc. for current project needs. In my free time, I'm trying to get to know WebFlux from Spring and in general, get the reactive programming idea.
How do you find working in projects with a distributed team on a daily basis?
I don't mind it when projects are managed properly and I know what to do. I think this is what most developers would say because it doesn’t really matter whether the developer is working from the office, the basement, or whatever place on Earth. Working in a distributed team requires more effort from the project management or Scrum Master than from developers themselves. Sometimes, of course, it's harder to explain something over the phone/Slack/email, and it may take more time than discussing things face-to-face. Hence, I wouldn’t recommend it for immature teams, that don’t yet know their velocity and have no proper WoW (Ways of Working).
In three words, describe the vibe at the Warsaw office.
Peaceful, calm, work-oriented. :D I really like coming to the office, I can concentrate and focus here.
Tell us an interesting fact about the person who sits next to you.
I know Aleksi was in a metal band and was the supporting act before Slayer once.
Did you use to dance in a folk group? Tell us more about the role that folk has played in your life.
It was a long time ago when I was in middle school and then in high school. I really liked that, you know, when you're young you have a lot of energy and mental problems :), so it was kind of a way to be part of something, to meet great people, make friends and get physically tired. It was also really rewarding because we traveled abroad frequently for folk festivals. Now it doesn’t sound like anything special (Editors note: I beg to disagree!), but back then it wasn’t very common and not everyone could really afford it in Poland. So already as a young person, I visited Italy, Hungary, France, Turkey, and Mexico, and met people from all around the world. It was a great time in my life.
What's your favourite part about living in Warsaw and what are your top recommendations for places to see?
There are a lot of things happening here and there’s always something interesting to do.
I would recommend visiting Jazdów. It's an area in Warsaw where Finnish houses were built after the Second World War. During the summer, a lot of cultural events are held here.
I also recommend visiting Mysia 3, the shopping mall where my wife's clothing shop Elementy is located. :)
