Erminesoft’s Team Lead is a winner of Ukrainian Championship on Mobile Development
Meet Vlad. He is an iOS Team Lead in our company, and you know, there is not a mere word. Behind it something more is hidden; moreover Vlad could be a good conspirator. Why? Because he modestly disguised one great achievement!
Vlad is young, bold and experienced beyond his years. He is modest, intelligent and keen on football. Today Vlad is a mentor for young local startuppers. He has profound knowledge in the processes of creation of IT startups, and kindly shares his experience with the colleagues at Erminesoft. He is a guru of tvOS building solutions for AppleTV app. Working with clients, he prefers excellent quality, dedication and passion towards the projects his team is working at. Today we are interviewing Vlad, since there is something we want to congratulate him with, namely with winning the first prize at Mobile Challenge contest!
Mobile Challenge is All-Ukrainian Web-development Championship. This prominent event was held in our country for the first time, and it gathered many young and passionate persons, who chose to make this work better by developing IT industry. During two months its participants were contesting for title of the best developer in their nomination. There were four nominations: Android, iOS, Mobile Design and Team, which were subdivided into two categories: Junior and Middle/Senior – depending. The championship consisted of two stages: qualification stage, and then final one. This event gathered the best 389 participants from all over Ukraine. On the 28th of November 39 winners were chosen, among which Vlad was.
Me: Hi Vlad! Please tell us more about the event you participated in, who organized it and was it interesting for you.
Vlad: In fact, I found information about it at DOU in the list of events. There was a note that any iOS developer could try their hands in this open contest. The rules were clear as well: register online, download the task, perform and then handle it. After that, qualification stage was held, and then the best ones were invited to final tour, where we were given a limited amount of time, during which we needed to complete the task.
Me: How many stages there were?
Vlad: There were two of them: qualification stage (we did the task remotely), and final stage (participants were invited to Kyiv, where each category was represented by about 10 participants). There was a main division into web and mobile development. Mobile development was subdivided into iOS and Android, and both web and mobile departments were divided into Junior and Senior. I participated in iOS Senior category.
Me: Do you know which participants represented which companies? Did you get aquatinted with any of them?
Vlad: Yes, I met some people there, but I was hanging out mostly with web developers.
Me: Did the majority was represented by some companies? Or there were freelancers as well?
Vlad: Participants did not actually represent any companies. Each member was acting for themselves. So was I.
Me: What were the tasks and were they difficult?
Vlad: Anyone can download the task form their web site and familiarize oneself with it. For instance, the first task was to create the map, where you should have uploaded a set of pictures and created pointers for switching to next picture. Let’s say, the user uploads the picture, and when one clicks on fork, one needs to get to the picture I uploaded as the third one, for instance. And on this photo there are, let’s say, ten zones, you may click at switch to other photos etc. So, by this we get a photo map.
Me: How much time did it take?
Vlad: We were given one week to perform the first task, and during the final stage, we had 6 hours for development. It should have been done at Jenkin build-server. In fact, it’s almost unreal to meet such tight deadlines. Besides, it was prohibited to use any third party libraries. I think such severe requirements were meant to reveal the challenge and see who will be able to move forward more than others.
Me: Ok, thanks. Generally, which particular events you are interested in?
Vlad: I’m planning to attend some workshops and meetups local and abroud and listen to some iOS gurus…
Me: Who are gurus for you?
Vlad: Well, you know… You may easily distinguish guru from mediocrity. If a person speaks at the seminar, and he is then invited again and again – it means he or she tells something important and interesting. It worth listening to such persons.
Me: It makes sense. Well, Vlad! Why did you conceal your participation in this project from the company you are working in?
Vlad: I’m a spy! (laughing) Joking. I did not hide anything, I just did it for myself.
Me: What are the aims you are setting for the next year?
Vlad: I usually make plans for half a year. Therefore, until August I am eager to try some cross-platform development. There are very nice tools like Xamarin Phone gap. It would be cool to be able to write one code for two platforms at a time. Also, I’d like to try some computer graphics, OpenGL…And, of course, some management stuff. Because I’ve become a team lead, yo!
Me: Thanks for the interview, Vlad!
We are extremely happy our city is a solid platform for IT development and a launching pad for many talented people. And we are not less happy to be part of Erminesoft team, which consists of devoted people who never stop self-improving and growing professionally. That’s why if you have an idea of an application in your mind, and you feel it’s time to strike life into it, Vlad and his team would be glad to help you with developing an ideal native solution for iOS-based devices. Well… are you ready to create an app for AppleTV? Push the button!