How Did It All Get Started?

I started working as a full-stack software engineer when I was 15 years old. The first few projects I found by contacting people in internet radio forums. That brought me some really good money. Sometimes, as a child, I was earning more than my parents. When I started my studies, I officially joined a small 3-person company and worked mostly as a PHP developer, but also, when necessary, I was doing the front-end part. That was pretty challenging, especially at the beginning of my professional journey.

Some people ask me if it’s too early or too late to become a software engineer. My answer for both is a strong NO. It is never too early or too late to develop software. The only thing you need is strong motivation and a drive to achieve the goal.

Being Close To Software Users

The coolest thing I experienced in my first job was on-site work along with orthodontic technicians, trying to improve the system they used for tracking work. I recommend to everyone to do it at least once in their life, to work directly with people who are using the product. It taught me that being close to software users is a critical aspect of making the software successful and well-suited to market needs. Would you think why the buttons in this software needed to be big and the colors dark? Because technicians’ hands were often dirty after doing the appliances and covered with white powder. Without seeing it, I probably would never have considered this requirement.

Travelling Back In Time

After 7 years, I realized I needed something new and started looking for another job. At the same moment, I decided to focus fully on the back-end and forget about the front-end stuff. That was my first decision which led me to be happier about what I’m doing and made me who I am now. Do I regret being in one company for 7 years? No. It allowed me to have experiences in a way that is usually not possible at bigger companies and to be independent in almost every situation.

I was scared to death when I switched companies. It was completely different, with a bigger team, working in Agile, more work around the product, designs, and maintenance. It was a challenging time for me. But I promised myself that I would do everything to satisfy the expectations. I was spending long after-hours reading books, watching tutorials, and just doing projects to understand and get up-to-date with the modern world. I felt like that 15-year-old child again.

Importance of Changes

This experience taught me that changes are important and necessary and it’s me who is responsible for looking for them. Some may think that I’m suggesting changing companies often is a good idea, but I’m actually against it. If you find a good company, you don’t need to change it. A good company supports you in finding new opportunities and challenges whenever you feel that you need to try something else. Fortunately, I managed to find such a company, which was Shoplo, and now it is SumUp. Sometimes I say that I changed the company without really changing the company, and not only twice but multiple times already.

From my experience, I can only tell you that you should never be afraid to say that you need a change. If you wait for someone to notice that something is not all right, usually it’s too late. You are the driver of your career; nobody will tell you that you should change the team, tech stack, or company. Here I can recommend doing the CliftonStrengths test for yourself to see what your strengths are. It helped me a lot with making decisions about my career.

Find And Praise A Good Boss

Before my company was acquired, we were quite a small developer team (on average around 10 people). It was a time when all of us were discovering new things and new technologies. Thankfully, we had full support for that from our CTO, so we could learn together as a team. Back then I made really good progress in being a better back-end engineer. It would not have happened without the support of my boss and the team, where people all were hungry to learn new things together. Our motivation was at the highest possible levels, so the progress was too.

Here I would like to underline how important it is to have a boss that supports the team with development. Making a product is something important, but if it is not followed by good technical decisions, the team is never going to be happy and performant. If you feel like your boss is not challenging you or instead is forcing you to use specific technologies — it’s time for a change. Software engineers are good only when they constantly develop. Having no field to develop means you are not staying at the current level of knowledge. The world is moving on, but you’re not. In a few months, you’ll start to be weaker.