A conversation about growth and front-end development

Having interviewed Ciprian, Senior Front end developer here at OceanoBe, was one inspiring moment. He is an introvert with a brilliant structured mind. His speech was so structured and it had a note of motivation added to it, while also being super funny and witty. 

If I were to describe Ciprian, I would say that he has a very professional work attitude and he has a driven mindset, and a go-getter attitude. He is one of the people who will work to get where they want, no matter what. In this interview, we talked so much about growth and I do believe that it’s an inspiring story that will give you the necessary boost of confidence if you want to join the front-end community. If you are already a front-end developer and feel somewhat stuck, it will give you a boost to push your boundaries. 

Getting to know you

• Ciprian, tell the world what is it that you do, what’s your expertise?

I am a senior front-end developer here at OceanoBe where I contribute to the architecture and development of a variety of projects and customers. Currently, I am involved in banking and fintech industry services. 

• You are a man of few words and much action. Do you feel that this is an accurate description? What would you add to that?

Yeah, I am a man of action and also an introvert. I think I’m rather serious and I always deliver on my promises. The thing that I really am trying now to improve is time management. I’m rather disorganized or better yet I have my own organized chaos (smiling). As I said, I am really working on being more efficient and improving in this area. 

• What do you do to relax? Still playing on PS, if so tell me what game are you currently on? 

Yes, I do love a good game. I’m currently playing Red dead redemption 2 and Resident evil because I like to spice things up. Other than this, I’m a big fan of city breaks, although I must admit my fiancee is the one doing all the planning mostly.

Growth

• Talking about career, when did you know you wanted to become a web developer? Were you interested in the subject early on?

I think it’s started really early on. In high school, I graduated with an intensive computer science degree. We worked on writing Pascal code back then and I found this area very interesting. After that, I decided to enroll for a bachelor's degree in computer science at the University of Iasi. I always wanted to do more and learn on the subject and early on I joined an internship program where they worked with WordPress, PHP, and Flash. At the time Flash was really the thing and most websites used it. 

• Yeah, I recall, that was a long time ago (smiling). When did you decide to move on from WordPress? I know some developers choose this path and stay on it.

Well after the internship I got a job with an agency where we did just that, building WordPress, but they also had a front-end development team. I remember working late so that I can improve my skills and knowledge. I felt in a way that this was a good direction. I got really good at working with WordPress, so I successfully developed themes from scratch and even build e-commerce platforms for customers from Holland or even the USA. For a while, I worked remotely and after some time, I need an office job, ironically I was tired of working at home back then. I landed a corporate job and dived more into JavaScript, I had a really good mentor there and I did get to experience and travel in the USA and get a better understanding of the possibilities. 

Since I have a lot of software developer friends it’s very easy to get the motivation to change and grow. New technologies like Angular and React began being really popular and I decided that I needed to experience the technical capabilities of these new technologies and even NodeJs.  I think I always tend to do that, go and discover more, and learn more. 

• Do you recall a specific project that was challenging? 

There was one project in the beginning that was really interesting. It was a greenfield project for an app similar to Skype. It was a lot of brainstorming and working in Agile, which was quite exciting. This project sent me to America for 4 months, and it was a very thrilling experience. I learned a massive amount of things, met new people, interacting with different cultures and backgrounds, and all in a short amount of time. It was a strong team, very focused on performance and it pushed my boundaries like nothing before. Of course, I got to do some traveling which was quite the bonus.

• You dabble in a variety of technologies from Angular, ReactJs, NodeJs, and so on. What can you tell me about your professional growth process? 

I always wanted to learn more. The software world is always changing and evolving, new technologies are rising, and others are left behind. You can see things changing around you and people are doing new things. In such circumstances, it’s very easy to feel like you’re standing still and if you have a growth mindset then you will want to take action and change, learn and do more. For me it’s important to do new things, learn, grow and push myself to the next level. I think this is the best driver for a professional growth process. 

Innovation

• As a front-end developer with more than 10 years of experience, what is your take on innovation? What exactly is innovation from your point of view?

Development and technology. I think it’s very important to have an open approach to new technologies. There are so many people that are anchored in the past, so to say, that have worked for years on the same projects. You have to be really open to learning new things. It’s the basic thing that leads to innovation - curiosity.

• I know you blog on tech subjects. When and why did you start doing it? 

I started doing it because I wanted to write down what I was learning or situations I encountered and how I solved them. It’s a great way to contribute to the community and help others. And as they say, the best way to learn is to teach. And seeing the traffic and the interest from others has really given me a sense of accomplishment. I also use my blog as a personal business card and add my repository from Github. 

Excellence

• How do you feel about your contribution to what we do here at OceanoBe?

We have been through a lot as a team. From the smallest projects, we worked together in building bigger and better solutions. Together with Robert and Ilie, we made many projects and ideas work. We brought together a successful team and launched MVPs and projects that will have an impact on the business and the financial market. It has been amazing to share the journey so far and I am looking forward to the new opportunities that are right now opening. 

Also, it is worth mentioning that the team had an impact on me. I grew a lot here at OceanoBe, in the sense that I grew more patient, I am now able to listen to all ideas with a calm, which was uncharacteristic of me before. 

• Is there any advice you would give to someone that is looking to become a front-end/web developer?

Have patience and also put a filter on the information you read on the internet. Front-end is like a glass mirror,  if you do something out of place it will surely break. Also, there are many tools here that must align in the right order to provide the desired outcome. You should be careful about how you structure your work in order to make it agile. So you have to have patience and also need self-motivation that will help you push forward and become better, learn more. It’s also great to have a mentor in the process, but you always have to remember that it’s all up to you. If you are driven, then you will surely succeed.

Experience

• So, Ciprian, are there any new challenges ahead? Is there anything new you would like to explore?

Well, I do wanna dive deeper into full-stack technology, NodeJs, and Go (Golang) which is kind of new to me. Maybe even Python could be interesting (smiling). And my new thing is cryptocurrency and NFTs, I become really passionate about financial analysis, trends, and predictions.

• My final question... I asked once a front-end what is the difference between Angular and React and how do you choose between the two. He said to me that it’s like choosing a TV, you pick between two brands, they both do the same thing in the end but follow different paths. So, my question for you is… If given the opportunity to choose between Angular and React, which would you choose and why?

I would work with both. The technology you choose depends on how big your software development project is. From my point of view, Angular is better for bigger projects because it's more structured and it’s less prone to bugs. React, on the other hand, you need to really master it, have smart decisions, and a good strategy, otherwise, there is a chance you will get many bugs, especially if you have junior talent on your team. 

Thank you, Ciprian, this concludes our interview. We invite you all to find out more about the OceanoBe culture and also to browse our Join our Team page and discover our Front-end developer positions available. 

#Time to Be Driven