Meet the team - Florin

Thanks for taking the time, Florin! What can you tell the readers about yourself?

My name is Vasile-Florin Vilsan but my friends call me Florin, and I am originally from Romania. I came over from Romania back in 2007 and became a British citizen a few years ago.

I am a Senior Full Stack Developer here at Venditan, where I primarily support the mobile and EPOS apps that our platform offers, as well as our back-end platform and our clients’ websites.

I have been working in the industry for around 11 years starting out as a PHP developer and acquired a lot of experience along the way using React, React Native and NodeJS.

Even though I did study web development at the Canterbury Christ Church University for a couple of years, I am a self-taught developer. Due to a mix of personal financial circumstances coupled with the death of my father, I failed most of my exams during my second year. Once things settled down, I started learning Java on my own, followed by PHP.

I have been working at Venditan for almost 5 years now, but I did feel at home right from the very beginning. I have friendly colleagues and managers, and the environment pushes me forward in my career.

I had one wish when I started, to learn and do more to grow horizontally from a career perspective, and I’ve got a lot of that.

Tell us something about yourself that people may not already know.

I learned Italian, German and Spanish from watching TV when I was really young.

Although I can’t speak or write in those languages, I do understand them pretty well, so be careful what you say around me!

I am also a fine ’Sandwich Artist’, having worked at Subway for around 8 years. I was the fastest in Kent, so much so that I was selected to participate in a national contest. It turns out that the UK is a big country, and as such, has produced even faster sandwich artists than me.

What does your average day at Venditan look like?

I first get my fuel (coffee) from the hob down in my mug and then check my emails, but not before I have dealt with any peer messages.

I then check my calendar for any meetings I have lined up and any tasks that I am supposed to deal with during the day, unless I am due to continue working on the same project I was working on the previous day.

Usually, bigger means better, but I still love the smaller support tickets, too. Especially if they have a fast reasonable resolution. Then again, my job is to resolve problems and I accept all the puzzles that I can get, as they all provide a certain level of satisfaction no matter how hard they are to solve.

What’s the best advice you could give to someone starting out in your line of work?

If you do not have discipline or do not like solving problems, don’t pursue this career. Stay where you are! This line of work requires a lot of discipline with a focus on problem-solving skills.

If the above does not apply to you, then start learning using a programming language that does not require a lot of setup. Most people get stuck at that stage.

So start with JavaScript, for example. Learn this language and then it is very easy to jump ship, as they all abide by almost the same principles with different syntax.

Are there any eCommerce or retail trends that you find particularly interesting in 2023?

Not strictly related to this year, but rather in relation to the pandemic. The effects of this are still unfolding as a lot of economic players have been forced to move into the eCommerce sector. At the same time, the ones that were well prepared for the online market have known mind-boggling success.

Either way, I do think that the pandemic was the turning point where the vast majority of the population that was not accustomed to online purchasing now are, and the eCommerce sector will continue to prosper at the detriment of the offline business.

Can you give us an example of something you have learned since joining the Venditan team?

I have learned a lot to do with Electron and React Native apps.

Aside from that, I have also learned that when you want to climb a mountain it’s always best to do so in small incremental steps.

Whoever tells you they got to the top differently - well, they are either lying or they got incredibly lucky.

What does a typical weekend look like in the life of Florin?

Fishing, mushroom foraging, gardening, and learning to play the piano and guitar.

I also like to keep up to date with all of the latest science-related news, particularly anything relating to physics, astrophysics and quantum physics.

If I’m not doing any of the above, I’m sure to be adding a new pass time to the list.