After the first Team Spotlight interview with one of our developers, Alex, we’re giving you a glimpse into how we collaborate internally to get the best out of our ourselves through a process of constant learning. You’ve met Serban before. This time he’s talking about the Reading Group he started as a teacher and you will also meet Gabi, one of the participants and currently a junior dev. Both will talk more about how they are diving into the learning process at Q.
Guys, can you tell us a bit about yourselves, who you are and what your roles are?
Serban: I have more than one role in Q but iOS Dev remains the one I love the most. I started programming over 5 years ago, after graduating the Politehnica University of Bucharest with an Artificial Intelligence specialization. I chose mobile development because it implies a good understanding of both hardware and software and I began with android apps. After graduation I switched to iOS and sticked to it. I’m now moving towards software architecture. Besides my dev role, I also have technical leading responsibilities and I’m involved in organizing technical reading groups.
Gabi: I would describe myself as a positive and enthusiastic person, and even though I’m pretty new in the industry, I’m already highly motivated and up for the challenge. I graduated from the Politehnica University in Bucharest, Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science in 2011. I spent the following years pursuing my passion, basketball. Last summer I felt it’s time for a change and a friend of mine, currently senior dev in QUALITANCE, recommended me for an internship so I’m here now as a front-end junior developer.
What’s your relationship with learning?
Serban: Committed! In software development constant learning is vital, so it’s as important as eating. Each day, gigabytes of new learning materials are produced so, for me, the important thing is to make the right selection.
“Progress cannot exist without learning and I want to get better in everything I do, so learning is essential.”
So you both agree constant learning is an essential element in your lives. In that case, what’s your easiest and most effective way of learning?
Serban: I like to combine both theory and practice with a lot of coffee.
Gabi: By putting new knowledge and skills into practice. We have a lot of tutorials and documentation at our disposal, but without repeated implementation it’s hard to improve. One thing that really helped me learn a lot more efficient was attending the Design Pattern Reading Group organized at our HQ by Serban. I work a lot with Angular JS and learning to consider issues that may not be visible until later in the implementation and using design patterns with Angular JS helps to prevent major problems and seriously improves code readability. 
Serban, tell us a bit more about this reading group.
Serban: I started this technical reading group by talking about clean code. Because a lot of people have shown interest, I continued with a couple of meetings about versioning systems. The most exciting topic was design patterns and a lot of Q people told me afterwards that they found it really useful for their day to day work. We are now talking about web api design and more interesting subjects are coming soon.
How does it feel to teach a / learn from a colleague?
Serban: I always find it exciting because sharing my knowledge brings me A LOT of satisfaction and knowledge for myself as well. Teaching can also be a learning process for yourself.
Gabi: All the people in the office, no matter the experience or the position held, are very eager to share their knowledge – and with me being pretty sociable, it’s always a very relaxed process. I hate it when I have to give the “I don’t know how to do that” answer. So with every skill added, I know that answer will be used rarely: that’s a great motivator!
What would you like to teach / learn next?
Serban: I have multiple ideas for future reading groups like: unit testing, TDD or operation systems.
Gabi: Short-term, I would like to create a mobile app with Ionic 2 and Angular 2, so I will be focusing on this two frameworks. I have to set up a plan with my People Manager, so this will be a learning by practice process.
Want to learn more about the how our team works? Or maybe you’d like to check out other stories about our programs at QUALITANCE? Just follow us on Facebook and be sure to check out our blog for more.
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