Time to meet Miralem! Miralem is a programming languages veteran, being in the IT industry for over 14 years, and getting his hands on almost every new field and technology that appeared. The interest in computers that started during his high school years grew into a passion that fuels his approach to work and life to this day. “When I started to dream about possible routes to solving a problem, I knew that was the path to go on.” - he shared at the beginning of our conversation.
As a Full Stack Engineer that has witnessed many changes in the industry, Miralem shared some great stories that shaped his long-standing professional and personal journey along with his Symphony experience and aspirations for the future.
The then and now in Symphony
“I am a strong believer in hands-on experience, so during my faculty years, I decided to start looking for a job.” - he began his story. In parallel with his studies, Miralem discovered HTML, CSS, and PHP, started exploring the programs and landed a job. After two years, Miralem came to Symphony and joined a much smaller community, working on projects in .NET, CSS, and PHP. It was the most significant learning curve for him, opening up the world of UI and PHP frameworks and giving him an opportunity to travel to the US, meet the client, and deepen the team dynamics and his professional experience.
It is interesting to mention Miralem’s career loop. After leaving Symphony a few years back and trying out several companies, roles, and many different projects, he decided to come back here and realized how this community felt like the real deal. “After experimenting with different roles, I simply came to a conclusion that Symphony truly was and is the place that gives me everything I need - an inspiring team that pushes me over my limits, challenging projects, and a motivating space that allows me to grow further.” - he added.
When asked about technologies and where he finds the biggest challenges and opportunities for learning, Miralem said - “When I started working on a large e-commerce project in the pharma industry, I encountered serverless applications for the first time and was intrigued. It made me want to go deeper into the subject matter. I also started working primarily in Node.js, which gives you a lot more agility and speed of coding and delivery, unlike PHP on previous projects.”
He is currently working on an enterprise project that differs in a lot of ways from smaller-scale projects. It was a challenge at first due to a lot of factors to think about. With more teams, there are more quality control checks on every layer, and it takes up more time, but it is precisely what gave Miralem a chance to fortify the team relationship. “I couldn’t be more pleased with my team and the strong bond we’ve created. Together with our Tech Lead Damir Dizdarevic, we do frequent pair coding sessions, which have been of huge help for me to understand the enterprise ecosystem and architecture better and work on my self-reliance. Due to our joint work and mutual knowledge sharing, the external teams trusted me with code ownership over a smaller sub-project. That is the push I need to move forward.” - Miralem added.
Versatility builds character
One trait that Miralem has nurtured over the years is versatility. He loves to go deeper into topics that spark his interest and allow him to learn something new. A few years back, Miralem built our Let’s Run Symphony public platform intended for our community to stay active during the COVID-19 pandemic. The application tracked the kilometers our community spent running, biking, or walking and the end goal was to reach 1220 kilometers in total. “Let’s Run Symphony was a great experience for me because it gave me a chance to build something on my own and work in a real-time database which was fun to work with.”
Besides being a dedicated Full-stack Engineer, Miralem has some really interesting hobbies, such as building RC airplanes, and he likes to explain this process as “build-fly-crash-repeat” which is precisely what makes it even more fun. “I love creating something from scratch and using the resources I have to make an optimal end product. This hobby gave me a chance to travel and build a network of amazing people and RC plane enthusiasts.” - he added.
What comes next
When asked what his plans would be on the professional and personal path, he said - “I don’t like to plan too much because it almost always turns out differently than you expected. I believe you should do your work diligently, learn and grow, and things will unfold as they come.”
He mentioned one constant that kept him going for so many years in this industry - the thirst for knowledge and the incredibly talented people around him. “I love coming to the office and spending time with the team. Symphony gives me a space where I feel most comfortable and productive while, at the same time, I feel included and taken care of. Whenever I come, everyone takes some time off of their busy schedules to talk, and share thoughts and ideas. That is what community is all about.” - he concluded.
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