Meet Kristina

Meet one of our developers Kristina, a Software Engineer here at Expert360. She’s been with us for a little over a year and enjoys learning, is incredibly focused and loves solving puzzles. She’s originally from Bulgaria, so in her free time she enjoys being outdoors taking in the Australian scenery and beaches we are lucky to have here. Read on to find out more about Kristina.

What did you think you’d be when you grew up?

When I was in high school I really wanted to become an aircraft engineer or a pilot. At some point I found out I couldn’t meet the medical requirements because I have some sort of a vestibular disorder. Later I became interested in statistics and analysis. This is what I chose to study at uni and I started my career as a marketing analyst.

How did you get into Tech?

I started diving into programming when I was working as a data analyst. The company I worked for at that point decided they wanted to build a customisable reporting tool integrated with our automated reports and the DWH we’ve built. I got the chance to participate in building that product and that was how I started developing frontend skills. Now I have the opportunity to work as a full-stack engineer which is really exciting because it helps me up-skill in various areas and better see the whole picture. Of course it is also a bit challenging (in a positive way) to keep my skills sharp in a broad tech stack.

Is there someone in Tech who inspires you? Why do they inspire you?

There are some really smart developers and amazing personalities I met since I got into tech. I’ve learned a lot from them, not only from a technology perspective but also ways of working and collaboration.

One of the people that inspired me in my development journey is my father who is also a software engineer. He taught me an important lesson which is probably valid for all professional areas but essential for software development. It is that in order to be a good developer, one should never stop learning, or assuming they know enough. It’s crucial to challenge yourself and get outside your comfort zone.

Do you have a favourite programming book or resource?

I can’t say I have a favourite one. But there are some books that were helpful for me since I don’t have a background in computer science. Examples are “Learning Javascript Data Structures and Algorithms” by Loiane Groner and “Introduction to Algorithms” MIT. I also find online video courses at Coursera, Udemy, Pluralsight, etc. to be a good and quick way to get the basics of a specific technology.

What is something you’ve learnt recently which you really enjoyed?

I recently had a chance to play a bit with Phoenix LiveView. It is a new framework that enables server-rendered HTML and could potentially evolve to a decent alternative to frontend libraries such as React. That is exciting and I can’t wait to see future development of the project.

If there was any advice you could give others on being in technology what would it be?

Never stop learning and exploring.
Keeping up to date with the changes in technologies is probably one of the biggest challenges for software engineers.
I think it’s helpful if one could build some sort of learning routine, dedicating some (even small) amount of time to learning on a regular basis.