As a team lead and a full-stack developer, Patrik has his hands full. But he still dedicated some time to showing you his world and what his day looks like in our company. So, deep dive into what makes him tick and how he decided to jump into this career.

Tell us who you are and what you do in Deegloo.

My name is Patrik and I am a team lead at Deegloo. Some of my daily to-do tasks are organizing projects, and making sure that each of my team members is good and has stuff to do, and if some of them are stuck somewhere, I am always here to help. Also, I am a full-stack developer on the project.

What does your typical day look like?

I usually start my work part of the day at 8 or 9 a.m. I have scheduled todos that guide me every day through that morning part of it. I have some sort of checklist for each day so I don’t miss something. The afternoon is more dynamic, there is lunch, maybe some talk with teammates, some time for focus work, and a bunch of meetings with the client. And that’s it. At the end of the day, I tend to prepare everything for tomorrow so that I don’t need to think about what to do when I come in the next morning.

What made you decide to develop your career in this field?

Mostly my passion for math and the influence of my CS teachers in high school. They were awesome and the way they approached the students and the way they taught us programming is something that influenced me the most. That’s something where I can see myself in the future. Part-time developer, part-time CS teacher somewhere.

What drives you in your work?

Mostly client satisfaction when a successful project is delivered. Also, constant learning about new stuff, not technology-wise. More like domain-specific stuff. I like to learn new things about different industries, people, ways of doing things…

What’s the best part about your position?

If I have to single out one thing from the last answer, that would be learning new stuff every day.

What don’t you like about your job?

Meetings without agenda. There needs to be some sort of penalty if you create a meeting without an agenda.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career or what ups moment you had?

Nothing that huge. Once I worked on the feature for a long time, and I thought I pushed changes to the remote branch so I wanted to reset the current state to remote, I did `git reset –hard` and that unpleasant tingling went through my entire body. Stress level arose. Sweat started to break out on the surface of my skin…  Ultimately, it was not as dramatic as it felt at that moment. It took me a day or two more to implement that feature and that’s all. 

What drives you crazy about your job or your daily activities?

I’ll repeat myself. Meetings without agenda. And meeting with 7+ people invited. Those types of meetings are mostly unproductive, unnecessary, and often indicative of a flawed process.

Which technology/tech stack do you like the most?

I have a preference for React paired with Java Spring Boot on the backend. However, I’m not as enthusiastic about Next.js, but given the direction of the React community, I find myself using it despite my hesitations.

What advice would you give to someone entering this field?

• Be patient. It is a steep climb in the beginning. 
• Don’t focus on a framework. Frameworks will change. Focus on the principles behind it.
• Don’t learn everything. Find some project and start working on it. Learn deeper as you go.
• Remember that it’s a process, not a project. It’s never completed. Improve daily.

Do you have any funny or interesting stories that happened here in the company?

There is one office event that is stored deeply in my heart (I don’t know why, it just is) and that is an event when Dario, Renato, and I transplanted flowers into a larger pot.

Your favorite person to work with?

I enjoy working with all of my colleagues, but there’s something particularly enjoyable about working with Jakov. He does things with remarkable simplicity as if the most complex challenges were effortlessly within his grasp.

If you can compare your job to one movie or show, what would it be?

Ufff, this is a tough one for me. I am not really a movie guy but if I had to pick one, I’d pick “Peaceful Warrior.”. If you haven’t already watched it, it’s definitely worth checking out.

If you can choose one song to go along with your job or which would make you be really in the zone while working, what would it be?

I am not listening to songs while I work. Music with lyrics distracts me from the thinking. I am mostly listening to some lo-fi or some other instrumental alternatives (soundtracks from movies like Interstellar).