At FPT, instead of more bananas in the kitchen, they offered me space for self-realization.

TOMÁŠ FLORIANČIČ

Programmer Specialist

Have you ever been in process of writing a resume, when you have frustrated asked for an insignificant entry-level job, which will provide you with at least some income (preferably in a valid real currency but chocolate coins would be nice too) with the latter position: lightning rod to customer frustration? At FPT, instead of more bananas in the kitchen, they offered me space for self-realization.

First, I seized the opportunity and created, in addition to my projects, several separate functional prototypes, even such that were not related to the scope of my work, such as Kinect-based interactive board with centimeter calibration and accuracy.

After years spent in the test trenches shouting "it definitely doesn't work for me", based on previous experience, I wanted to rework myself into saying "it definitely works for me”. I noticed that if debugging and testing is a process of removing bugs, then programming must be a process of creating them! It is for me! I learned JavaScript, ES6, TypeScript, React and React Native in a short period of time and approached my superior with the courage of Explorer.

Thanks to the advanced new knowledge, I got a great opportunity: Frontend Developer. But inside, I felt that TypeScript wasn't exactly my type, even though we helped the customer create some great plugins for an existing complex system, I didn't feel the real – compiled - thing. I closed StackOverflow, my new favorite antisocial network, and asked myself: is the answer to the meaning of life really NaN or is it [object Object]. And since I like sharp things, I reached for C#.

"The project favours the prepared" and I was given a unique opportunity: to add an inanimate household as another family member. Using Google NLU, C# and crying, I created an integration for Google Home for the customer on the green field, which is on average eight times faster than their original competitive solution and allows smooth natural communication with their Smart Home solution. I even got the opportunity to talk about this integration at one of the largest regional conferences of VSE unIT.

Since multifunctionality is my third name (the second is convenience - editor's note), I thought about how to possibly combine what I have learned in the company over the years: administration, testing, automation, devops, deployment, architecting and development (C# and React Native). But I didn't have to think for a long time, because life at FPT came up with another opportunity for me and the team: to create a completely new Smart Home solution, completely from "Hello world".