GREYP DIALOG BOX: IVAN ANTOLKOVI?

Welcome to "Greyp Dialog Box", a series of interviews with Greyp people that, in a way, make our wheels spin. Our second guest is Ivan Antolkovi?, Head of Software, with whom we sat down for a long chat with topics ranging from his hobbies to his current position, as well as what lies in the pipeline for the Software department.

?

Q: Tell me something about yourself, what are your hobbies, interests, your education.

??

A: I graduated from MIOC (Mathematical Informatical Educational Center) after which I applied to FER, which is short for Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. I actually never wanted to be a programmer, but I fell in love with programming at MIOC, so the logical direction was to go to FER. At first, I was unsure if I wanted to be a mobile developer, so I tried out various technologies, ranging from frontend, backend and mobile. I was an Android developer for a bit, followed by a full stack developer, and in the end, I decided that I enjoyed connecting frontend and backend. Why? Because you don’t have a physical product in backend, you can’t see the direct results of your work, and with frontend, well, there was always a bit too much UI. I wanted to use more logic in my work, so in the end, I opted for mobile. I was also an Android developer for a while, which was cool, and then I tried iOS. I liked it even more so I kind of stuck to it, which is what I have been doing for the past 6-7 years.?

?

I started working while I was at university, and in my third year I started working for Ericsson Nikola Tesla. At first, I participated in their summer camp and then stayed there full time. I was at ENT for 2 years and worked a lot on technology – Android, iOS, QA and full stack and in the end, decided to stick with iOS. After Ericsson, I went to another company, Inceptum where I worked for another 2 years as an iOS developer and then, I finally came to Greyp.

?

As for my private life, I do many different things, one of them being a hunter. I got my hunting license 2-3 years ago and started hunting. Many of my friends are hunters, and this allows me to spend more time with them. I like it, not just the actual hunt, but the whole ritual, friendship, and spending time in nature.?

?

Another hobby of mine is cooking – I love to cook, both sweet and savory foods, whenever I have the time. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of free time, but when I do, I love to try cooking new things.

?

Q: Do you cook for your colleagues from work?

?

A: Actually, yes! Which brings me to my third “hobby”. So, since I grew up in a more rural area, Zelina, which is located just outside of the eastern part of Zagreb, and my grandparents had a lot of vineyards, I decided to, together with my brother, to keep up the tradition, at least in some way. We cut down most of the vines, planted walnuts, chestnuts and hazelnuts, which we are currently cultivating for various purposes. We left around a thousand vines, so we also produce wine, just like our grandfather used to. I try and help my brother cultivate the soil, mow the grass, spray, and take care of all the plants. We also have a small house in the vineyard, we call it a “klijet”. We use it mostly for various gatherings, so we like to spruce it up a bit –currently working on the terrace, we are making various wood decorations, use a lot of old barrels, and that takes up some of my time. I like to use the “klijet” to organize hangouts with the rest of my team, where I also get to cook for them, which is awesome.

?

Q: Are you a biker? Can you do a bike trick?

?

A: Well, not really. I only ride our own (Greyp) bikes, and I tend to use the highest assistance level. What can I say, I`m not the sporty type ?? I mostly use the bike to commute to my parents' house, because they live 7-8km from my place and it’s just not worth taking the car. Besides, the ride is quite nice too.

?

Q: Have you ever tried taking a Greyp bike to work?

?

A: Not really, the road infrastructure is really bad and the easiest way to get to Sveta Nedelja from Zelina is by car. It would be great to have bike lanes, then I could at least try. Some guys from Rimac tried getting to Sveta Nedelja with a G12s, it’s doable but not too comfortable because of all the traffic.

?

Q: Are there any podcasts, books, or inspirations you swear by?

?

A: I mostly read professional literature, unfortunately I don’t have the time to read something normal. I have a couple of books in my backlog, so I will probably get to them in the winter months.

?

Q: What exactly do you do at Greyp? Why did you decide to become a backend/frontend/mobile developer??

?

A: Well, I can say that I do two jobs, it’s a mix of both. I came to Greyp as an iOS developer, and my job was to develop our iOS app. So, in the beginning, as an iOS developer, I received tasks and executed them, and that was that. As time went on, I became lead developer, where my workload expanded to both receiving tasks and writing them, writing implementation plans, planning app architecture, and everything moved into a more organizational direction. I guess I`m not just a developer anymore. Also, during the last three months that I have been Head of Software, my job has become more managerial, so I spend a lot of my time in meetings, writing emails, doing documentation, team leading etc.?????

?

Q: Which part of your workload do you prefer?

?

A: Before I took on the Head of Software position, I thought I would dislike it, because I really enjoy programming – it’s fun for me, I love doing something where I can see the fruits of my labor. My current position doesn’t have as many tangible results, but the results are there, in the sense of employee satisfaction, I guess. While I was a developer, I had that tangible result, and it always made me happy to see what I created, like “Cool I made this app!”, and it really makes me happy that I can see the results of my work on the Greyp app, like literally take my phone, connect it to my Greyp bike and ride around. I am currently trying to balance both jobs, I have about 20% to 30% of my time where I can devote myself to the app and help my guys and I think that’s great; at the moment it seems like a perfectly good balance.

?

Q: How are you currently involved in the tech community???

?

A: Not really, I am involved in certain aspects of the tech community by spending time with my team, and I also keep in touch with the people from FER, we try and meet up at least once a year, and I also keep in touch with my former colleagues, but that’s about it.

?

Q: Is there a skill that you’re working on mastering??

?

A: Absolutely, yes! My new position (Head of Software) is the start of something new for me, I have never been in a managerial role. I must have a completely new set of skills, and I do think I need to work on that and educate myself in that field, but it is exciting.

?

Q: Do you think managing a team is also related to psychology?

?

A: I agree, and I think I want to work on that and improve my skills even more.

?

Q: What’s your worst bug?

?

A: Oh, there’s a lot! My biggest bug is when I can’t find the source of the problem. For example, we work on many complex issues at Greyp, and quite often, when we encounter a problem, there isn’t a solution that you can find online. In most IT companies, especially in the mobile segment, developers work on classic apps and most of the issues are already known and there’s probably a million articles or solutions on Stack Overflow, while here at Greyp, there is none of that, and that can be frustrating. And while it is frustrating, it also poses a great challenge for me. Usually, when I encounter an issue, I just need more time to figure it out, and even though this bugs me, I am not a quitter, so sometimes I just decide to continue my work at home, and most of the time this works and that makes me happy.

?

Q: Do you think developers should have some sort of a connection or affection towards bikes?

?

A:I don’t think it’s necessary to be a hardcore rider because the job description itself is not related to the fact that someone is a bike rider, and it is really the Product department’s task to come up with new features, and we are here to implement that specific task. So, it’s not mandatory, but most guys in the company really are riders, and that’s a good thing, as it eases a lot of transition issues.

?

Q: How did you end up in Greyp??

?

A: Well, by accident. ??

I just finished a project in my previous company, and since there weren’t that many incoming projects, I decided to scout for new jobs. I checked my LinkedIn messages and saw a message from a recruiter and saw that Greyp was hiring. And even though Greyp was located far from where I live, I did my research, and a car ride to Sveta Nedelja was only 10 minutes longer, and hey, no traffic lights, so I decided to give it a go.?

?As far as work was concerned, this was different to the work I did before, and it all worked out perfectly in the end, I’m here talking to you as a Head of Software…?

?

Q: What are your teammates like? What is it like to work with them??

?

A: My team is great. When I first came to Greyp, I thought the atmosphere was strange in a sense that it was too laid back. The companies I worked at previously were mostly sterile – you could hear a fly on the wall, most people would just sit with their headphones and work and there was little socializing. And I guess I`m just not that type. I like communicating with my team, it makes the time fly by, and I also think people are more productive in a relaxed workspace. At first, I noticed the difference from my previous jobs, the guys seemed cooler, there was music in the office, and the atmosphere was perfect. In the past couple of months, the atmosphere in the company has been very dynamic, and we are still getting used to new arrivals, but I try to keep the team together even outside of work and I think it’s working out. We’ll see how it goes with the upcoming big news…

?

Q: Do you work with other teams/departments??

?

A: We mostly work with the Product and Embedded Software departments. The Product department comes up with requests of what features they would like to have in the app, and the Embedded software department is directly connected to our department. They do the software on the bike, and we connect to their software so that’s why communication between us is crucial.

?

Q: Does the Product department ever come to you with an unrealistic task?

?

A:Yes, I think this is the biggest problem in most companies, the relationship between product and development. In most cases, people who work on the product are specialized for that product, they have much more knowledge about the product itself, but they also have less technical knowledge, so we often have problems because they come to us with something that seems like a great idea, and to them it looks really simple, but in reality it would take us way too much time to finalize the development of it. But with experience, they do get a better sense for our time and needs, so things are now functioning much more smoothly.?

?

Q: What is a typical development process for a new feature? How long does it normally take?

?

A: It depends, usually it takes us about a month if we are talking about concrete features, for example the Retro video feature took us 2-3 months. Usually, the Product dept. writes down their requirements, and we make a review of them.?

We elaborate and describe the tasks in great detail, write implementation plans and then proceed to the development phase.?

?

The process itself is never one-sided in Greyp because it`s never only the Software department that’s involved in the development. Most of the time we also include the Embedded software department because we have a physical product, so the development process takes a bit more. We are not the only ones doing development, as there is always some integration and synchronization to be executed between departments which takes about a month or so. Then we move on to the QA phase, where we test out the feature, and their work takes additional time.

?

Q: What’s next in the pipeline for you if I may ask??

?

A: To put it briefly, we will be developing new software solutions as part of Porsche eBike Performance, where we plan on developing an app for our future drivetrains ??

?

Q: Besides working with everyone at Greyp, you will obviously be working more with our new colleagues in Germany. Have you already met them? How is the integration process coming along?

?

A: Yes, a bunch of team leads went to Germany a month ago, the actual teams have yet to meet each other, but that’s in the pipeline as well. The German colleagues seem nice, we are in a transitional period where we are trying to organize the workload, as well as the new teams. Basically, set up everything for future work on new systems and new program solutions. The new organizational structure will be out soon, and then we should really start working together properly.

?

Q: Which platforms do you use for work, and does Porsche eBike Performance use the same ones? Is it easy to coordinate?

?

A: We are currently coordinating, we use some of the same software, but there are some differences. We recently had a discussion on which technologies to use for the development of mobile apps – they use Flutter, which is a cross-platform technology, while we use Native, meaning we develop Android and iOS separately, so we’re currently trying to coordinate that, but I am confident we will make it work.

?

Q: Describe a typical day at work.?

?

A: I would call it a standard schedule, I prefer working early in the morning, so I come to work around 7:00 – 7:30, have breakfast and then get to work. My day is mostly filled with meetings, but I like to carve out time for team lunch. We usually have lunch very early, around 11:00, which is always the butt of our CEO's jokes. But lunch is an important part of the day, because we get to socialize more, so his jokes don’t hit a nerve with me. I usually work until 16:00 and like to take small breaks during the day to chat with my team, I think it helps with the atmosphere.

?

Q: Do you still work from home?

?

A: Yes, my department doesn’t have any limitations in the sense of how many days an employee can work from home.

??

Q: What is the best advice you would give someone trying to get a job in Greyp?

?

A: If you want to work on a cool product which is completely different than the majority of classic apps being developed in most IT companies in Zagreb and abroad (most IT companies are quite alike), I will say Greyp is the place for you. The final product (I mean, both bike and app) is what sets us apart from regular IT companies, and we always use the latest technology which is really interesting. Another bonus point, as I mentioned, is the hardware. There are many developers that have not had the opportunity to work with hardware, and I for one, love working with it, and it makes me happy to be able to connect to a device, so for me Greyp is a really great place to work.

?

Q: What are the perks of being a Greyper?

?

A: The products! Other companies don’t have products as cool as we have.

?

?Q: What is the biggest challenge you’ve had so far working at Greyp?

?

A: The connectivity! Even though connecting with a bike seems simple to some, it is not the case. Connectivity was our greatest challenge, and it was the precondition for us to be able to connect the bike during the ride and to be able to show data in real time. I have been in the company 3,5 years and I have to say I spent most of my time improving connectivity. There were many challenges during development, ranging from operating system limitations to limitations in our own electronics, but we finally made it work perfectly, and I am excited that we finally managed to find a solution that truly satisfies our customers.

?

Q: What are three things you can’t work without?

?

A: That’s easy: laptop, bike, earphones in no particular order.

?

Q: When coming over to Greyp for a job interview, what’s the appropriate dress code according to you?

?

A: Well, our CEO always looks like he’s about to set off on a picnic, so I guess there are no rules, except maybe, forget a suit, you really won’t ever need it. ??

?

Q: Are you looking forward to the new office space?

?

A: Yes! I think it will also improve the quality of work and the atmosphere, really looking forward to it.