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Welcome to the latest edition of our "Colleague Spotlight" series, where we delve into the unique professional perspectives and experiences of our team members.  The grapevine leaked that „we couldn't have achieved what we've achieved without Hudi' input. He's become indispensable to us.” So, without further ado, ladies and gents: Mihai „Hudi” Hudișteanu. [AM] Tell us a bit about yourself and your background so far. Who are you inside the role and outside of it? What's the favorite part of your role? [MH] As a web developer, my primary role involves the creative and technical process of coding to breathe life into websites, giving them functionality, interactivity, and a user-friendly experience. On a personal level, I'm someone who values team collaboration and camaraderie. I believe in starting the day with a coffee and a quick, impromptu stand-up meeting with my team, finding it a more personal way to gauge the team's pulse. My favorite part about my role is the freedom to experiment. I feel like work becomes much more rewarding when it is creative. Pair that with cool people and a collaborative environment and it's downright fun. [AM] You joined after an internship at techquarter, but what made you stay with us? What's a favorite project that you've worked on so far? [MH] The reason I decided to stay with your company is primarily the people. Especially when I first joined, I found myself in an environment that encouraged my growth and development. As I continued to improve, my responsibilities became more challenging, and I was given greater freedom to experiment. I absolutely love that aspect of the job; it turns work into a creative process. As for my favorite project so far, it would have to be Cascada. It was uniquely unconventional and unlike anything I had previously worked on. This project pushed us out of our comfort zones, and it was incredibly rewarding. With a small, close-knit team, we were able to work efficiently and adapt swiftly. It was highly satisfying to tackle complex tasks and pivot our focus rapidly. That's when I truly felt agile. [AM] Do you have any unusual rituals or habits that help you get in the working zone? [MH] Yeah, sort of. Before I kickstart my workday, I typically enjoy a cup of coffee and share a morning cigarette with my team. It has turned into a regular ritual, and now we naturally end up having an impromptu stand-up. It's not a formal meeting; it's more of a face-to-face interaction. It feels personal and provides an easier way to gauge the team's overall vibe and progress. [AM] If you were to confess one coding-related guilty pleasure, what would it be? To be honest, I have a couple of coding-related guilty pleasures. First and foremost, I'm a sucker for comments, especially doc comments. There's just something about well-documented code that I find super satisfying. And when those comments pop up as I hover over a method or function, it's even better. I can't help but explain how to use that code and throw in an example, even if it might be a tad overkill. Another one of my code-related guilty pleasures is crafting error messages. I've got a few front-end applications that can display an error message like, "This, this, and that failed. That makes no sense. Did you forget to start the server?" I can't resist adding a touch of humor or personality to them. [AM] In this world dominated by technology and computers, what's your nerdiest interest or hobby, tech or non tech related, that you think might surprise your colleagues? And how did you get to practice it? [HM] I don't believe my colleagues would find this surprising, but I have a genuine passion for delving into embedded programming every now and then. There's an inexplicable joy in using code to set mechanical devices in motion or make decisions based on real-world data. My most recent endeavor involved 'hot-rodding' my thermostat. Was it the most straightforward solution? Absolutely not :)) . It took me two weeks to get that project up and running. However, the journey was incredibly enlightening, and now I'm eager to automate even more things around the house [AM] If you were to equate your coding style to a dish or a type of food, what would it be, and why? [MH] I would liken my coding style to the process of making bread. It begins with simplicity but evolves to become effective over time. Continuous refactoring and improvements are essential along the way. When we embark on a project, we often lack a clear vision of the final product. Instead of attempting to predict the outcome, I focus on nurturing it throughout development, allowing it to take shape naturally, letting the dough grow, if you will.  

Through our “Colleague Spotlight” Series we’re curious to explore the different ways of thinking and working of our colleagues. In this month's edition we get to know Eliodor, known for his problem-solving skills and collaborative approach. Let’s dive in! Alexandra Mocan [AM] - Tell us a bit about yourself and your background so far. Who are you inside the role and outside of it? Eliodor Popov [EP] I am from Chisinau, and I currently live in Cluj. I’ve been with techquarter for 2 years now and currently I am a Senior Software Engineer on one of our biggest projects. Shortly after starting here, I’ve decided to move to Cluj (since back then we didn’t have an office in Chisinau) and I don’t regret it at all. I’ve got a warm welcome here and got to meet a lot of exceptional people in person. Inside the role, I see myself as a problem solver, collaborator and easy to work with. I like working with my teammates to investigate and solve difficult problems, and because I’m working with mostly more experienced people, I love learning new information and right practices for specific problems. [AM] Are there any team rituals or practices that you find particularly valuable in maintaining a productive and positive work environment? We don’t really have any team rituals, but we have Adrian who will always put a smile on our face and lighten the mood with one of his jokes. Besides that, we always try to have fun whenever we have an opportunity to do so. Not sure how productive it is, but at least we have some moments when work can be fun. [EP] As a senior software engineer, how do you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in .NET and fintech? I don’t have a way or a fixed source of getting all my news about the latest developments in IT technologies. I may sometimes read an article here and there but mostly, because in the university we were part of a new type of learning, PBL (problem based learning), and we would first be presented with a problem that needs solving, and then we would gather the information needed for that, I would say I’m the same with the latest developments in any technology. Once presented with a problem, I would search for solutions that would help me solve that specific case, and nothing else. I also try to attend conferences when I have the opportunity because they also provide access to the latest industry trends, technologies, and best practices. Latest one was DevTalks in Cluj where a lot of the talks were about cloud-native technologies and AI. [AM] Can you share an example of a particularly complex problem you've solved in your role, and the innovative solution you implemented? [EP] I can’t say I have encountered any complex problems because I think they may be complex in our eyes because we don’t have enough information about it, but once we gather it and break everything into smaller, more manageable pieces, we would get to something that it’s not as bad as we thought. To talk about a recent example, I have encountered something that I didn’t have to deal with before in my career, and that would be how do we measure a system’s current state, its performance, and its communication with any other systems. Before that all I knew on this subject was about logs, we add logging everywhere, try to make it as detailed as possible, and whenever some user encountered a problem, we would either go and read the logs, and try to find anything related there, or locally try to reproduce the error (for which we would need detailed information from the user that encountered the error, which usually is not there). So, while researching about this, I found out about telemetry, a standard for it (OpenTelemetry) and how this can help organizations gain insights into their systems' health and performance, allowing for proactive monitoring and troubleshooting. There’s nothing innovative about this from my side, but to continue on with the previous question, this is how I found out about the OpenTelemetry standard, a cloud native project currently in the incubating stage, which is heavily worked on and it will be the standard communication between the systems and the instrumentation vendors. [AM] Outside of work, do you have any hobbies or interests that you're passionate about? How do you balance your professional and personal life? [EP] To detach myself after a busy day at work, sometimes I like playing video games. I would like to share with you a quote from Ted Lasso that reflects really nicely my relationship with video games: “[they are] something in my life that I really enjoy, but then I pretend that preventing myself from having them is somehow making my life better but in reality, all what I am doing is depriving myself of something that makes me happy, instead of attempting to adjust my relationship to it”. Other than that, here at TQ we gather weekly and play a friendly game of football (sometimes it gets intense). To balance my personal and professional life I try to keep them as separated as possible. So I would be active and really focus on work from 9 to 6, but after that I would try to disconnect myself from it, go home to my wife and really hope there wouldn’t be any production incidents that evening. I also try to go to the office everyday to create a clear boundary between work and personal life and to enjoy the morning and the evening walk.

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