The unspoken life facts of a humble software engineer

At 7Code, we respect individual and group values ​​because a healthy work environment provides high-performance and successful end products. We focus on INNOVATION, RESPECT (both for customers and employees), we VALUE our resources, and also we FOCUS on projects. Our values ​​are the essence of our business philosophy and reflect the way we approach our customers and teammates.

Time to meet the Full-Stack Developer at 7code, Mihai!

Why did you join 7code, and what has kept you here?

I join 7code in order to become a better version of myself. The company culture is based on productivity, quality, and growth. I think its values are derived from a simple idea: "We have to deliver fast, good and maintainable products based on continuous learning and adaptation." The people who I spoke with when I decided to join 7code are the colleagues I hoped for and, luckily, the friends I was hoping to work with. The freedom of working on multiple products, speaking with multiple clients, and hearing their needs help me to become a better developer and a better person, which is why I enjoy working for 7code.

My humble self captured in a photo near Sagrada Família, Barcelona

How do you spend your time outside of the office?

I spend my free time doing something that I enjoy doing to relax my mind and heart after each day's roller coaster of emotions. Things like going out with my friends and crushing that nice red bottle of wine (or more), driving to new places with a lot of hope that I will find new people to interact with, playing football or videogames on the rainy days, reading books based on the subjects which I think help me to become a better person (not really personal development classic junky stuff) are mostly the best activities I can think of when I have free time. Also, I sometimes try to cook, but I mostly like to eat.

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

With utmost sincerity, I want to be in my mother's shoes. I would love to see how much I complain about the things happening in my life. I think it will be really funny to see how I handle the situations from my mother's point of view. She is the best friend who is always there for me, but am I always there for her as well? I think we should try to think about how our actions and words affect the other person. I think we can manage to leave out a lot of unimportant talks when we interact with each other and try to listen more to the meaningful things happening around us.

P.S. Mother, this is the best you can get. There can always be better persons than me, but neither can love you as I do.

How has 7code helped you in your career development?

7code helped me go out of my comfort zone by adding multiple new layers of know-how to my employment opportunity. As a developer, I always wanted to know how a company works, how the relationships with the clients develop over time, and how the projects are managed from the very beginning to the outgoing products on the market. I think every employee should have the opportunity to learn the methodologies the company is working with and try to develop and manage the work accordingly to the business logic. This is an important skill that 7code is helping me build along with my career.

A really nice description of the software development hierarchy in a company. (Thanks @thehumerusradiologist for the good humor)

How do you balance your career at 7code and friends & family?

From my point of view, this is one of the hardest things a person who likes his work has to overcome. A person who does not really like the type of work they're doing it's out of the scope of this question. In that case, the work is not really a part of that person's life; there is no pain or frustration based on unfinished or poorly executed work, no joy and happiness after an achievement.

For me, it was pretty hard to overcome this milestone. After doing Software Development for 5 years, I think I can manage myself better than at the beginning of my career. I often worked a lot of overtime without being asked to, but out of pleasure only. The people around me started to feel that I was not present enough in their lives, and my family missed me as we did not manage to meet as much as we were supposed to. There were a lot of arguments based on my approach to the career I wanted to have and the amount of work I was willing to put in to achieve my goals. But luckily, I had good friends in my life who helped me overcome my anxiety and frustration based on not doing enough to boost my career's success.

In conclusion, please try to spend meaningful time with other people as you may learn a lot of new things without being stressed out too (and it helps your mind and body to take a break and process all the new things you learned).

If you were an animal what would you be?

I really like the idea of being a lion as he is defined as "the king of the jungle." But please, hear me out. There is a lot of meaning behind this title which most people tend to fail to understand. The lion is not the king of the jungle because he is the strongest and most fearsome animal. An elephant can easily fight him and win. He is the king because the other animals respect him. The ruler is not really the most powerful and imposing individual a group has, but the individual who is the most respected by all the members of the group. If the group does not listen, the ruler is no ruler anymore; its title is just a bunch of words without meaning for the others.

From the very beginning of my career, I tried to make other people respect and trust me as I always respect and trust them back. I think the most beautiful friendships come from mutual respect and trust. This is the foundation of a good business, to have employees who understand each other and try to overcome the problems together as a whole, not as a bunch of competitive individuals. The great things in life were developed by the work of extraordinary minds, not from a single one.

Also, the lion is pretty cool. He roars, he attacks, but the most important, he leads by the power of example.

Get to know Mihai and the rest of the 7code team!

We’re delighted that Mihai decided to join 7code – it’s been great having them on board! If you have any questions or want to get to know Mihai or one of their colleagues from the 7code team, we can put you in touch. Don’t hesitate to reach out!