Meet Goran - Q’s Software development engineer and an adrenaline junkie!

Goran is an adrenaline junkie who decided to become a Ruby on Rails developer. Keeping in mind that he cannot stand still in the same place for more than 10 minutes, it’s no surprise that he can deliver a bunch of code lines in such a short period.

He is a proud member of Qs biggest dedicated team, “Smart Pension,” a British fintech company that revolutionizes pensions in the UK.

Goran on the rails!

What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of Q?

Q gave me a fantastic opportunity to work in a dedicated team for a Smart Pension company. It’s a pension management and investment platform in one solution. I’m quite sure that it will become a unicorn, like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and similar huge businesses.

Working with such a large engineering team helped me improve my skills and become a better engineer. I worked in much smaller environments before, and I always felt like I was missing out on getting new knowledge and learning how to collaborate with a big team.

How has Q helped you in your career development?

Q helped me learn how to work in a large team and successfully collaborate with many engineers from various departments and countries. I genuinely believe that a collaborative approach helps people work smarter, more creatively, and more effectively.

For companies like Smart Pension or Q to be successful, everybody from developers, project managers, and software testers must work closely together. Teamwork and creativity can undoubtedly help development teams establish unique solutions to the common pain points.

When we mix and match our teams, we always end up with a new combination of points of view, expertise, history, and career paths. The middle ground always turns out to be the right balance between what would otherwise be biased personal idiosyncrasies.

What advice do you have for prospective Smart pension candidates?

Never be afraid to ask questions. Even people with the most knowledge and experience ask questions every day. When I was starting, I was always scared to ask questions because I thought it would make me look ignorant or not adequate.

But I learned along the way that there are no stupid questions. You're doing OK if you're learning from your mistakes (and not making the same ones over and over). That's how you progress in your career.

Chasing the speed up in the hills

Do you have any hobbies, go-to weekend activities, or long-term passion projects you’re working on?

My hobbies are playing football, working out, and anything adrenaline related. My newest hobby is snowboarding - I fell in love with it at first sight. It’s about the speed and mesmerizing sound of silence.

That crisp silence is only found when you are barreling down a mountain with the wind in your hair. That feeling of speed and isolation is accompanied only by the hiss of your board on snow. Ok, I’m going to stop now. You get the point. :D

How do you define success in life?

Defining success isn’t simple. At least not for me. It is years and years of work and dedication to one path. You don’t get to have the privilege of defining your sense of success and having fulfillment from it; you get to work your ass off to find it and make it happen.

But we all want it. We want to be successful and feel successful. We chase money, fame, power, education, relationships, and a thousand other things. I do feel successful just by having the right people beside me to count on, travel with, and experience life.

What’s your next step, or a few goals you’d like to accomplish in life?

My next goal is a huge deal, but I would like to climb to the top of the African continent and surmount Kilimanjaro. Hopefully, the pandemic eases down in 2021, and I can go forth with conquering it. Wish me luck!

Chasing adrenalin in Morocco

Top three life highlights?

1. Standing at the foot of Burj Khalifa and looking at the wonder that people built with their bare hands.
2. Escaping Barcelona in 2017 when protests started for their independence referendum.
3. Being in Hong Kong when the strongest Typhoon in the last 100 years struck Asia. (the Croatian earthquake was scary as well…but this was scarier because I was on another continent)

These events impacted me with such noteworthiness that they changed my outlook on the world and affected me forever.

If you could only drink one beer for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I am a beer lover, and I think it would be "Zunft", a German beer. This unique beer has a subtle fruity nose familiar with ales but then gives way to a sweet layered, complex finish that is clean and crisp like a lager. One of my favorites, it's like drinking water… But tastier!

If given the chance, who would you like to be for a day?

I would be one of the world’s busiest entrepreneurs - Elon Musk. To sneak a peek into Musk’s work ethic and the productivity secrets he uses to run multiple companies would be an awesome life hack to master.

Hop on the train with Goran!

If you come from another background, it can take years to understand the philosophy behind Ruby. The approach for writing Ruby code is totally different from other languages. If you want to find out some tips and tricks on how to write Ruby code like a pro, or would just like to say hi to Goran, let us know!