Developer tales: The untold stories of the IT world

What is it?

I'm happy to announce the launch of our new section: Developer tales. The idea behind it is to show successful stories, failures and/or sharing experience. So if you want to be part of Developer tales just send me a message or comment below.

I want to say 'Thanks' to our first guest for his achievements and courage to be the first one.

What you are about to read is a true story of an IT veteran and loyal with more than 15 years in the industry. Despite his impressive experience he is quite a young man still passionate and in love with his profession. A big fan of sci-fi and fantasy reader who has been in the business with cryptocurrencies for some time.

Tell us about yourself?

I've been in the computer industry since about 1999. The beginning was with small and ugly HTML pages that we were 'coding' with friends. I was fascinated by the freedom and creativity power of computers. After that I had a programming course in the high school, and I've done a little bit of everything. I've started programming with some 'modern' languages - for this time - Pascal, C, C++ and more trendy ones (Java), with a few painful moments with Linux. In my long carrier I've been on different roles: a web programmer, system administrator, quality assurance, tech support engineer, and performance engineer, team and project lead.
I'm currently working as a freelancer programmer and open source contributor to several projects. I'm following trends in IT world and so I really want to be on the crest of a wave at the moment.

How long is your workday?

Most people in the IT industry spend long hours in the office: developers, testers, business people, managers. You can hear people that work 50, 60, even 80 hour per week.
I was in the same situation initially. 40 hours were never enough to complete crazy deadlines that we had. Luckily I as able to improve my skills and automate every task that was possible. Now I'm working 20 - 25 hours per week with free schedule(meaning that I can decide which day and how much to work). I like the freedom of freelance and the flexible working time.

Do you have favorite technology, language?

It's time for 'stack wars'! Right ? Maybe I'll surprise all of you but I don't have favorite technology or language. I use what I find best for the technical specifications, budget and my expertise and time. So I can use Python for neural networks, Java for business solutions, groovy for scripts, PHP for web, JavaScript etc. It's difficult to say that I'm fan of Windows, Linux or Mac - I just want to do my job and to satisfy client needs. No fancy coding, no trendy styles, no - this is best because I like it. And I firmly believe that best today can be worst tomorrow or vice versa. The coin has two sides always - the first side is the technology and the second is developer time. If I need to spend more time for the same result I can change my mind
The other cornerstone is performance. Many would argue that performance is the most important key of a system. But for me - it depends. Would you develop something in C instead of C# in order to gain 2 ms execution time for cost of 4 more weeks of development time. I would say - it depends!

How do you improve your skills?

I do some projects as a hobby and this is my best way of improving my skills. I prefer working on real problems instead of endless improving of theoretical knowledge. Don't get me wrong I also spend one two hours daily reading news, articles, tutorials or white papers. Without practice this knowledge will be useless and waste of time.
So I work on several side projects - their target is me and my friends. For example do a small chat bot that would replace me when I'm off :)

What is next big thing in IT world?

Before I begin, I would like to point out that is not an easy task to predict future. Who can imagine the impact of computers, internet or mobile phones. The crazy in the past is reality now and we have to accept it.
I think that several options can be defined as next big thing:

• Cryptocurrencies - a revolution in financial system. This could change our life entirely. Recently I spend more our on the subject - it's interesting and profitable :)
• virtual reality - I guess this will be the next big think or at least with huge impact. No more limits, no more work from office :)
• artificial intelligence - unpredictable future and impact. Most of our day life is already impacted somehow from AI. Maybe you can write a bot that answer your questions instead of doing boring interviews :)

There are several more possible answers but I would like to stick to these ones. And more over they could come combined. Imagine that you are in the virtual reality and your new boss(the newest and most clever bot) inform you that your 'crypto-salary' will be increased :)

How do you relax?

I prefer an active rest/relax - like tourism, playing some sports - swimming, tennis. I prefer to stay as much as possible on open air when I'm not working so I like to hike and climb mountains. I like to listen music while coding that's why I appreciate the nature sounds when I'm not working.
Another good way to relax is to read nice book or play games with friends.

P.S. Please excuse me for my English, it's not my native :)