Meet the team - Karlo

Hi Karlo! As always, let’s start with a little bit about yourself!

I'm 47 and I come from Zadar, which is a beautiful coastal town in Croatia.

I came to London eight years ago with my girlfriend and her daughter to start a new chapter on neutral ground, she's from Italy.

This also enabled me to make a turn in my professional career and become a developer. It was a natural move for me since I'm a mathematician and I always had a knack for programming.

This late start in business makes me sort of senior in age, but junior in experience. It's a nice balance, you get to exploit both sides of it. It wasn't easy at the beginning, and a lack of formal experience made it hard to cross the first step, but after I got my foot in the door, it was smooth sailing.

After a couple of years with my first employer, I decided I needed something more challenging and I joined the Venditan team. I've been here for two and a half years now, I have learned a lot and more importantly, there's still a lot to learn.

Venditan is a very pleasant place to work, full of friendly and supportive coworkers. I have a disadvantage of working remotely from London so I don't get to hang out with my colleagues that much and that's something that's not ideal, but it is what it is.

Let's hope for a couple of more years like this, shall we?

What’s one thing that people may not know about you?

I'm not a man of mysteries or interesting unique hobbies and talents… I guess some people won’t know that I worked as a teacher for 10 years, we can say it's a bit out of character for me!

What does your average day at Venditan look like?

I start off by firing up my dev environment and then I’ll check internal and external communication for any outstanding messages while I’ve been away, as well as my calendar for any appointments, and my schedule of tasks - it doesn't tend to change that much during the week, but it’s always better to make sure!

Then I will get started on my work for the day. To begin with I’ll usually pick something simple, or anything that is unfinished from the day before. And that's it, until the end of the day, one ticket after the other and lot of communication in Slack in the meantime.

What’s the best piece of advice that you could give somebody who is just starting out in development?

I would say that it's never too late to pick up a new profession, but it's better to start on time.

Don't question your competence, just go for it. The field is full of people less competent than you are, and plenty that are more competent - you can learn a lot from both.

The golden one, try to draw a clear line between work and free time, even if your free time is mostly IT related!

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

I don't have any particular interest in commerce in the broadest possible sense of that word, but in technology, I am watching closely for the latest developments in AI and how that can be used alongside the human work we do.

Give us an example of something you have learned since joining the team here at Venditan.

I have learned so much in my line of work, too much to even try and list in an article like this! In general, all that comes from working in highly professional surroundings with talented and helpful people.

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

In London, it's chilling with a beer and music or cycling in nature and a late drink or two in the pubs.

In Croatia, I have more opportunities to go outdoors, so I try to use them, mountains, islands, wherever!