Date with a Developer is a series of interviews with Filipino software developers who’ve been with Get Devs for a long time. It’s a closer look at what got them on the path, what motivates them, and how they work with teams halfway around the world.
Kim Bryan Barcelona is a Senior PHP Developer who’s been with Get Devs for two and a half years and counting.
He’s had considerable experience as a programmer and lead for software companies based in Australia and in the US.
Been having a good day so far, Kim?
Yes!
How long have you been a developer? What made you decide to pursue it as a career?
I’ve been a developer for 8 years now. When I was a student, I really liked programming subjects and joined in several programming competitions, and that made me decide to pursue it as a career.
What does a workday look like for you? Take us through your tasks from clocking in to logging out.
After clocking in, we do daily scrums to report what we did yesterday, what we’re doing today, and if there are impediments/blockers. Then, straight to work on the tasks for the project I’m currently working on. I also assist and collaborate with teammates. I work with testers and project managers too on a day-to-day basis to make sure that the project is running smoothly.
Is there a part of the work that gets you more excited than others?
New challenges or features that I’ve never worked on before make me excited, especially if I made it work.
It’s been a challenging two years for everyone. How did you adjust to the pandemic? What changed with the way you worked?
I think there are advantages and disadvantages to working from home. Of course, you can’t interact physically and hang out with colleagues, but it gave me more time with family. I only made sure that I work in a quiet part of the house to concentrate and there are different tools that now help us to interact — take Gather, for example, which is a virtual office space that puts us on video call all day.
Before your current team, you’ve had considerable experience in software development with companies situated in the Philippines. How did you prepare to move into an offshore role?
I made sure that I adjusted my time with the client’s local time. It’s also better to learn their culture and language which helped me communicate and connect with them well.
You’ve made it to a senior position not too long into your career. For the developers who may want to move up, which skills or qualities should they focus on honing?
As a full-stack developer, you need to dive deeper into every aspect of technology that you use. Never stop learning and always discover new things for your career growth. Collaborating with teammates and knowledge sharing is also beneficial.
What’s a misconception people and businesses have of software developers that you could set straight?
That software developers can debug/fix their software and hardware issues. That’s a job for technical support. A software developer’s expertise is developing apps. Businesses need to make sure that the skillset of the developer matches the apps to develop, as it will take time for developers to adjust and learn new technology otherwise.
They say curious people make for great developers. Do you agree? If any, what are you learning with passion at the moment?
Yes, curiosity for new things/technologies is a way to advance in one’s career as a developer. At the moment, I’m exploring more usage of some javascript frameworks which I think is a great tool for developing web apps nowadays.
Thanks for indulging us, Kim!
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