This week, we caught up with Jakub Wojtach, one of our Front End Developers based in Poland.
It’s a bit more than a year now. I started my career here during the ‘Squiz Camp’, before finding my way to becoming part of the big Squiz family’; it’s been the key to me helping me to improve my life and be satisfied about other things.
I still do - I’m in the final semester of my first degree. The name of my university is Zachodniopomorski Uniwersytet Technologiczny and I am studying IT, of course.
I start my day, more or less, at about 7:15, when I begin the battle with myself to get out from bed. At about 7:40, I’ll eat my favourite breakfast (cereal) and listen to some good music (I love discovering new things on Spotify - at the moment, I’m loving the Lemaitre band, whose song ‘Closer’ has been used in the new Google Pixel phone commercial).
After that, it usually takes me half an hour to get to the office. First step: coffee - period - then I check my task list. I work for a global team, working as a developer, so implementation, hotfixes etc. At present, a lot of my job here revolves around a huge project for an international law company.
That you can improve yourself, really fast. I have learnt more in a few months at Squiz, than ever before in my freelance career. I have discovered that you can always find a better solution to specific programming problems - this is the best way to make yourself a better developer.
Another thing is the awesome atmosphere - everyone here is helpful and have a great sense of humour, especially the guys around my desk.
I wanted to be a professional football player, like my idols then (Torres, Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima - the Brazilian one, Beckham), but to be like one of them you have to do it for your whole life. I still do love football, but my football career started too late to achieve anything.
Of course I still love playing football from time to time, but things have changed, I want to be a front-end ninja right now.
I think that it is possible to have both. For me, after work, I go to gym, spend time with my girlfriend and friends, listen to music, watch good TV (I’m a huge fan of Netflix) and reading good books - but not all of that at the same time!
The ability to slow down time, to control it and use it in the way that I want to.
What they do not know is better to remain that way :).
What’s new and exciting right now in the world of IT for you?
The possibility of creating web applications - I am really into frameworks like React + Redux, Angular etc. which allows us to build fast and modern websites with dynamic content. I think that it is the way that all the best companies will create their websites in the future.
To be honest, it was the really awesome office and opportunity to work with an international team. I love the fact that we are able to improve our skills and language at the same time.
It is a great place to find yourself in the IT world. I find a lot of satisfaction working here :).
Jakub will be tweeting his week at @lifeatsquiz between 17-21 October - follow along to see what he gets up to during the week.