Frontend Interview Series Begins Here! Interview With Krystian Koper
Frontend Interview Series Begins Here! Here's an interview with Krystian Koper - Frontend Engineering Manager.
Read his story!
Do you have any experience before NG? If so, tell us about what you did before Netguru?
I started my professional career (I do not count all the websites I have done earlier as a "freelancer") by being a Quality Assurance at Orange (formerly Telekomunikacja Polska). I was responsible for the quality of the Orange Livebox implementation. I prepared test scenarios, uploaded different firmware versions, simulated every possible scenario, various network loads, prepared reports, etc.
I quickly moved to the R&D department of Orange Labs, where I became a member of the team responsible for mobile accessibility applications. I participated in the implementation of mobile applications for deaf and blind people.
Later, I started working with electronics and microcontrollers for a while. I did several projects that combined hardware with mobile apps. I began to be a freelancer on my own, where I was doing custom electronics and mobile applications, and finally fell in love with web development. Gaining experience on the web, I finally entered a product where we implemented a custom CRM (web and mobile) from scratch.
Then I joined a small software house for a few years. There, I participated in dozens of projects with a wide range of technologies (electronics, web (FE + BE), mobile). I participated in both small and large-scale projects. I worked on projects for private companies, projects for large corporations, and projects for public institutions. The project that I remember the most from this period is software for a new car model's cockpit. I also took part in the assembly of this cockpit in the USA.
Later I joined a massive project at IGT (a multinational gambling company that produces slot machines and other gambling technology), where I was responsible for the frontend part of the retail branch of the company. In the meantime, I started a business with my colleagues. We began hiring people, we had a few projects, but I decided to give it up because of health and personal issues.
Then I joined Netguru as a Senior Frontend Developer.
What are the projects you have experienced so far at Netguru?
At Netguru, I was involved in a project for SolarisBank for seven months. After that time, I changed my path to management.
What’s your favorite technology and why?
JavaScript. Why? I think it's because of the flexibility. I can use JavaScript for frontend, backend, desktop applications, mobile applications, IoT, etc.
What would you like to learn in the next 12 months?
I would like to get to know the cloud a bit more because it seems like everything is going there and it's also a very interesting topic.
What do you consider to be your most significant learning up to date (success or failure)?
If you have to do the same thing several times, you need to change/automate something.
Use what already exists. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Always look ahead. Do not focus only on what you have to do today, but how it will affect the project's future, the team's future.
Don't be afraid to ask and do it right away if you don't know something.
How do you grow yourself outside Netguru, and what could you recommend to others (books, podcasts, courses, platforms, vlogs, etc.)?
There is a lot , but I can give you a few examples.
- Websites:
- Courses:
- YT:
- Hello Roman
- Zaiste
- JsWiz
- Fun Fun Function
- Conferences
- Podcasts:
- Newsletters:
- Books - I prefer non-work related books, but I have some interesting examples:
- The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
- The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data
- Clean Architecture
- Clean Code
- Mythical Man-Month
- Other
- Writing code, small projects, spending time on programming.
- Don't limit yourself to your current stack!
- I've been doing Java, C #, Node and started a bit of Rails. I want to sit down more with Rails and Python.
- IoT - Arduino, Raspberry Pi.
- Talking to people about projects, what they are learning, and what technologies they have recently learned (great value!).
- Chatting with friends from other companies and exchanging information.
- Conversations with people, e.g. on LinkedIn.
