Android development and peace of mind

The soul of Pangea.ai’s brand is making human connections. Our tech partners continue to build and strengthen our community’s DNA. We are very proud to have Tapptitude as part of our circle, whose unique individuals now inspire and empower all of our team members.

Time to meet the Android Developer at Tapptitude, Darjan!

How did you first learn about Tapptitude?

Back in my first year of university, I participated with some friends in a hackathon/start-up incubator with a web & mobile health app. There, one of the mentors was a Project Manager from Tapptitude, who also had a health app launched and guided us a fair amount during those weeks.

I remember the interaction was quite lovely, and the overall vibe was very relaxed but professional at the same time. After a while, I decided that was the kind of personality and the general feeling I wanted around me at my day-to-day job.

Preparing workshops for the internship application.

What has been your favorite project at Tapptitude?

I enjoyed working on Slite. An app that communicates with LED panels and allows users to create beautiful photography scene setups. The application controls hue, saturation, color temperature, and animated effects.

It was my first "IoT" project, and it used Bluetooth to talk with the Slite panels. So far, I've only heard of very few IoT projects in the companies I've been at, and getting to work on one was refreshing and challenging uniquely.

Since these projects are so rare, I had to put some pieces together alone without a clear-cut way of doing things. I feel like it was a net win for me, especially since it turned out to work great.

As developers, we had a good amount of agency over how certain things should behave from a UX perspective. The clients always considered our feedback and arguments, and it made our collaboration and the end product all the better.

What are your primary responsibilities and what does your day-to-day look like?

I am primarily doing Android Development.

Between project tasks, I catch up with some of the latest additions to the development toolkit and every other day, I have my coffee with an article or quick tech talk.

Every so often, I do research for our bi-weekly internal Android tech discussions paired with the odd developer article on our company blog.

Also, I am a mentor for our Android Internship.

How do you spend your time outside of the office?

Ever since I was a lil' lad, I enjoyed video games, good stories, and the outdoors.

I spend a good chunk of my game time on souls-likes, immersive sims (think DeusEx), and co-op games with my close friends.

I love a good story, so I spend a lot of time with movies, series, and books. Whether it is a real story, sci-fi, or fantasy, as long as it is well written, has a good cast of characters, and the setting is intriguing, I'll likely pick it up.

Growing up, my family had yearly summer mountain trips. Over the years, we visited a great deal of the tourist objectives in our region. It grew on me, so every summer, I try to keep up the tradition myself.

Also, from time to time, I pick up my guitar or sketchbook to keep things fresh.

Code Reviews with the best code smell sniffer

Before working at Tapptitude, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

I was a bartender two years in a row, for a total of 5 nights, at an annual moto gathering. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either, there were a few clubs from our country and some from outside that joined the "festival" each year.

I remember needing money to fund my summer activities, and the owner of the venue, a close friend, suggested I should help him behind the bar for the weekend.

It was pretty excellent overall and earned me my first paycheck ever. Woke up early to clean up, help the staff with preparations, and by midday, we opened the bar for some hungover and ready-to-party patrons. The best part was that most of them would entertain us with some of their stories.. on the rare times when we had a shorter queue.

I came out of it with many memorable fun moments and great respect for people working in the hospitality industry.

Why did you join Tapptitude, and what has kept you here?

I joined because I met someone who worked here and was a good mentor. Also, Tapptiude had great reviews both from some of my peers working here at that time and on websites like LinkedIn.

As for why I'm still here:

- I like the "product studio" approach we've chosen. We get to help people build the best versions of their visions while having agency over important decisions.

- At this moment in my career, I like the fact that I can work on multiple projects in a relatively short period. I got to learn a lot of things and also improve on things I did only a few months ago.

- It is an excellent place to "fail fast and fail often," and might I add "fail safely". By this I mean that experimentation and learning new practices are encouraged (if/when the project allows, often). And that is paired with the "we're here for you" approach that management and all colleagues have. If you're stuck, there's always someone to help you with guidance from previous experiences or some good old-fashioned pair programming.

- The benefits and mentality of "tell us how we can help you do your best work" are fresh air in this industry. Admittedly our industry is fast-paced, with a lot of challenges and even risks. But, even so, people at Tapptitude do their best to help us with whatever we need to do great work, either with immediate changes or the promise of "we'll figure something out together."

Get to know Darjan and the rest of the Tapptitude team!

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