Introducing two new Superdesk developers
Whenever our team grows (and that’s quite often) we take the time to get to know our newest additions better. It is the perfect way to discover (or re-discover rather) how interesting and international the Sourcefabric’s team is.
Aleksandar and Nemanja are both passionate and experienced developers. They joined our Superdesk team in Belgrade. Nemanja Pavlović holds a B.Sc. degree in Information Technology from the Faculty of Information Technology from the Metropolitan University in Belgrade. Before joining Sourcefabric, he worked as a front-end developer for a company producing creative visual communication and new media. He is passionate about web development and loves innovation.
Aleksandar Jovanović graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade as an Engineer in Computer Science and Informatics. He worked in the Serbian military as an officer for 5 years as a SQL/.Net/Javascript developer, and then as a frontend developer in a few companies. This has enabled him to have extensive experience in web development. His rich portfolio covers a broad range of complex software development projects and a number of various large and small-scale web applications.
What’s the coolest thing you did this summer?
Aleksandar: I visited three cool festivals in Serbia - Exit, Nishville and Belgrade beer fest, enjoyed good music and lots of positive energy.
Nemanja: I enjoyed a Trip to the Greek island Ammouliani. A couple of friends and I took our motorcycles for a 10 day trip in which we crossed a little more than 1,500 km. It is a great feeling to drive along the beautiful Greek landscape on a bike. It is not the same feeling you get from going by car. With a car you focus on everything that is happening around you, you talk to people in the car and listen to music. Riding motorcycles is something quite different, you are completely isolated, you only hear the sound of the angry machine under you and are fascinated with landscape around you.
What brought you to Sourcefabric?
Aleksandar: There was good energy in the Belgrade office and I felt it was an interesting project to work on.
Nemanja: Previously, I worked for a company which developed websites for various industries. I felt like a little worker in a large furniture factory. My job was to assemble things and send them away, literally like an assembly line. I didn’t feel like a part of something bigger. Soon I was fed up and went in search of something new. I went to look at a local job site to search for new positions. I saw an open position for the Sourcefabric office in Belgrade. I started investigating, and soon I was sure that this was what I wanted and I submitted my application. I have not regretted a single moment, finally I feel like a part of something big and that what I am doing is worth my effort.
What do you like to do when you’re not sitting at the computer?
Aleksandar: Sleeping :) And sometimes when I need to get away from the computer and am not sleeping, I ride bikes, or roller skates or just take a walk.
Nemanja: Traveling and exploring nature! After a hard working week I prefer to take my bike and with my girlfriend go somewhere in the nature for a well-deserved vacation. I love mountains, so a drive through the winding roads of Zlatibor and Kopaonik is very relaxing for me.
What do you personally consider the most interesting thing about Superdesk?
Aleksandar: It’s definitely the variety of people working on it.
Nemanja: Organisation! The project is perfectly organised. It’s amazing how so many people can work on a single source and everything seems to be perfectly aligned. Another thing that is most interesting in this project are the people... always cheerful and smiling and always ready for a joke! But when we are working, we are working hard!
From your perspective as a developer, which function is the most challenging/difficult to develop?
Aleksandar: Hm… Probably dictionary and spell checker.
Nemanja: The customer is always right! Is it? As a frontend developer I’m in charge of developing the interface, the part that the user interacts with the most. The hardest thing is to meet the needs of different clients and to make it easy for everyone to use.
As a developer what are you particularly proud of having developed within Superdesk?
Aleksandar: I work mostly on UI and on improving existing solutions, so in this short period I haven't developed something big to mention...
Nemanja: Superdesk is a huge project on which a lot of developers are working. When I began to work on this project, for me it was a huge forest in which I felt lost. But thanks to the good organisation, I soon got used to it and started to contribute to the development of the project. One of the first tasks was developing new functionality, some input field. It took me a while, but I think I was most proud when I finally managed to finish it, and when it was working as I expected. Two fingers up in this pull request made me the happiest man in the world. And yes, before I forget, I was happiest when I wrote the first test which worked perfectly! :)
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Would you like to become part of the Sourcefabric team and help us build open source tools for journalists? Have a look at our open jobs.