From Accounting to Frontend Development - a Unique Journey

In every company, there are some people who are known by everyone - they are engaged in so many projects it’s almost impossible not to have crossed paths with them, and they form the glue that binds teams together. At 10Clouds, one of such people is Bartek, who joined as a Junior Frontend Developer over four years ago and has since become recognised not just within the company, but also in the wider IT community. Attending meetups, initiating social events with 10Clouders, creating Cloudopoly (the 10Clouds version of a popular board game), Bartek is always busy.

Starting out as a developer

But it seems a career in IT wasn’t always an obvious choice - at least not to those observing his educational path. Studying for a degree in Finance and Accounting, Bartek got an internship with one of the Big Four consultancy firms. A year later, he joined a software house as a researcher - that was his first experience in a tech company.

It wasn’t until later, when he began studying for his Masters degree, that he decided to get a job as a developer. “I’d been learning HTML and CSS in the past and at the time couldn't see myself working in Finance, so I made the decision to start coding by June. My dissertation would have been ready by then and I would have almost finished the degree” Bartek says.

He spent his time creating websites, learning JavaScript and building simple apps like a weather app or a calculator. Getting impatient, he checked out the job market and found an ad for a Junior Frontend Developer at 10Clouds and things progressed quite quickly from there.

First experience as a full time employee

“I was really stressed at the technical interview” Bartek says “I didn’t feel ready. I think I only got through because the technical recruiters believed in me”. With Vue being his first framework, Bartek was certainly an interesting candidate and made a good impression on his interviewers during their conversation.

When he joined, 10Clouds was still quite a small company. “It was everything I dreamed of at the time, a very laid back atmosphere that facilitated building relationships,”' he remembers. He would grab lunch with the other 10Clouders and spend time at events, quickly becoming a part of a tight-knit community.

At the same time, he was focused on his professional development. He had a mentor he could always go to, which was really important at such an early stage in his career. He spent 8 months working on the 10Clouds website with the Head of Marketing working with WordPress, CSS and JavaScript.

“I wanted to use Vue but we didn’t really get many projects which enabled this at the time. I found React really frustrating at times,” he admits. But things changed with time, giving Bartek a chance to work on multiple projects using Vue.

Becoming part of the coding community

WarsawJS is a local community of JavaScript developers run by Piotr Zientara. 10Clouds has been supporting their monthly meetups since the very first one back in 2014. So when Bartek joined the company, it was only natural he would attend the meetups regularly.

It was a great way to start building his brand in the wider community. Meeting other developers over beers and tech talks seemed natural and was a great opportunity to learn. No wonder he was recently invited as a speaker to talk about white-labeling products using SASS and JS.

Bartek has learned to enjoy the social aspect of his work and is often the one initiating and supporting community building initiatives at 10Clouds. This has obviously become quite challenging in 2020, when meeting people for a coffee or a drink was no longer an option. But that only served as an inspiration for Bartek’s after hours project: building Cloudopoly, a white-labelled version of the popular board game, which has recently been featured on Remote Fun, a website featuring team building games for employees.

Top tips for Junior Developers

Starting out as a junior developer can be daunting, so here are Bartek’s top tips:

• Embrace every opportunity for learning - In your first role, you’ll be lucky enough to be surrounded by people with years of experience. Ask whether you can shadow them and never be scared to ask questions. It’s the best way to learn.
  
• Take yourself out of your comfort zone - Take up any challenges that are thrown your way. Shortly after I started, I began to work using frameworks that were new to me. It wasn’t easy, but it definitely broadened my coding horizons.
  
• Network - Join meetups and be open to new relationships with other developers. The IT world is smaller than you think, and you will definitely profit from the connections you make.

Want to join as a JavaScript Developer?

Check out the roles we’re currently hiring for or send us your CV through the Careers Page.