Developer Spotlight: Part-time tech lead keen to contribute to greenfield projects

Profile

Occupation: Software engineer

Years of experience: 7+ years

Based in: Sydney

Strengths: Full-stack web development, Rapid prototyping, Developing MVPs

Programming languages & frameworks: JavaScript/Typescript, C#, Python

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Can you please introduce yourself?

I was born in Kazakhstan, grew up in Russia, then lived in Portugal and the Netherlands before moving to Australia. I have two masters degrees, one in space systems and another in information technology. 

At the beginning of my career I worked in a cybersecurity company, a translation services platform company and even one year as a product manager. One year was enough. I decided I liked the technical side of development more. It was useful in helping me think about products in terms of user needs though. 

Now I work as the technical lead at a fintech company which provides payment services to merchants.

What got you into software engineering to start with?

When I was a kid, one of my mum’s good friend’s husband was a software developer. He used to tell me interesting stories about writing software and how it benefited people’s lives. When I finished school, I thought back to this family friend and decided to explore it more. 

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What are you looking for as part of your next career move?

I really enjoy my current work however I am looking to move away working 9-5 full-time. Ideally I want to find a part-time arrangement or maybe even do some consulting. 

I was interested in connecting with people on SkillsRobin because I like  the startup community and building things from scratch. That’s always the most exciting part of working for a company - going through the initial build stage. I’m not a fan of working in big scale companies.

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What should people hire you for? 

I like solving problems. Whether that’s designing the system from scratch or making sure it's  secure and reliable in the future. I can help people overcome issues with their current designs, or help them build out their MVP.

And by MVP, I don’t necessarily mean a system that’s crappy. I mean delivering the initial functionality while having something that you can keep building on top.

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What makes you unique as a software engineer?

My product management background does make it easier for me to understand the business’s needs. I don’t get stuck in the technical details way too deep because I have this understanding that the goal is not to have a perfect system, but a solid product people like. 

Also I actually enjoy working with people. That’s one of the most important things - because if the people are not right - it doesn’t matter what you are doing. If you’re not with the right people, it feels like you are wasting your life. 

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What parts of software engineering do you like the most?

I like designing systems and thinking about the overall architectures which will later be implemented.  Also just getting things working. I really enjoy rapid prototyping. When you need to build an MVP, quite often you can do it in like one weekend - and it’s quite exciting. To start the weekend with nothing then by Sunday evening actually have some useful stuff.

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Are there any kinds of projects you would be especially interested in?

Some of the things in generative AI are really interesting. There’s so many things happening there right now - new frameworks, new opportunities - everything is just exploding. It feels like it’s completely reshaping how developers work right now. I’m doing some of my own projects involving AI in my spare time right now, so I’d be quite happy to help other people with theirs. 

I can be quite passionate about learning new things and sharing them with people. Even now, with all the AI tools for developers - it’s crazy when you see how much more efficient you can be using these tools. I’m already pushing it within my company - that we should have some sessions just to educate developers on what kinds of tools they can use and what tasks they can outsource to AI. I think it would be nice just to bring this educational piece to other companies as well. 

Also projects related to health, sport, fitness and traveling. Those things align with my personal interests.

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Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I would be interested in working on my own business within an industry that aligns with my interests. I wouldn’t want to be CEO though - if there is already someone working on an idea and handling the business side - that’s great. I don’t want to be the one deciding the course of the company. I would just want to have my say and have my opinion listened to. Obviously no one wants to work on something that obviously doesn’t make sense. 

It’s important to work somewhere, people listen to each other and your concerns are taken into account. 

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What would be the perfect place to work for you?

Good culture and good people around.

A modern tech stack - for example some people still write websites on PHP, and it’s painful to work with such outdated technology. 

Also to see that your company impacts the world in a positive way. That it makes people happier or saves a few hours a day so they can spend more time with their family or something like that. The mission and having something aligned with my values is important. 

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What kind of advice would you have for someone who wants to hire a good software developer?

Don’t give them those generic data science and algorithmic projects. It has nothing to do with what they do day to day. I know they’re common in larger companies. It's annoying to see people needing to spend so many months preparing and essentially memorizing solutions to these sorts of tests. Even if you pass - it doesn’t really qualify you as a developer. It just means you can prepare well for the interview and spend a certain amount of hours on it. Some of the best developers I know, can't actually complete all these tasks at any given moment of time. 

I think it’s better to give them home assignments and limit the time they can spend on them. That’s closer to what they’re expected to do at work. It doesn’t matter if they use Google or ChatGPT. Once they deliver, it just asks some questions. And most of the time, it's clear, if they did it themselves or not.

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What advice do you have for people just starting out in software engineering? 

The most important thing is to find a good manager. Your supervisor matters more than whether the company’s a startup or if it's Google.

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What’s a fun fact about yourself maybe not everyone would know

I like action sports. On the weekend, you’d find me either, like, hiking on the beach or climbing the mountains.

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