The cheerful Devops ambassador
Katarina’s official job description is Solution Engineer. But, as she puts it herself, she’s “All over the place”. Her colleagues view her as a real asset to her team. She is not limited to a single role but excels in multiple areas. She is a key member of a team of developers working on the backend part of an app that supports our delivery drivers.
Coach and cooperate
Katarina helps build software by writing code and working on the architecture. But in addition to that, she also loves to coach younger colleagues. She works closely with teammates that are responsible for the frontend, ensuring that the entire application runs smoothly. Katarina feels a strong responsibility to make and keep the backend as robust as possible. And to her, ‘robust’ means that it allows for efficient frontend operations. She also helps the team make informed decisions on implementing new features and changes.
Happy Potter and the Dutch Lunch
Her team is small, but incredibly diverse, according to Katarina: “There are people from all parts of the world, like Brazil, Mexico, India, Turkey, and The Netherlands and Serbia, where I’m from. We have people from all ages, men, and women. I think it’s a lovely mix that brings a lot of creativity and a real sense of being part of a community. We have a lot of fun and there’s a real feeling of camaraderie. The others made me watch all Harry Potter movies and after that we divided our team into two fractions: Griffindor and Ravenclaw.”
Katarina continues: “We often find common ground joking about the Dutch lunches. Most of us come from cultures where lunch is more elaborate and sometimes even more important than dinner or supper. So, we like to joke about the infamous “boterham met kaas’ when we can. It’s lighthearted fun like this that really enhances our team spirit.”
Freedom, responsibility and Kubernetes
As you might have read in a previous story, at Jumbo Tech Campus we actively encourage teams to adopt the DevOps way of working. Katarina and her team were amongst the first to do so. It was a choice supported by the whole team. Katarina: “We love the freedom that comes with it. You can set your own pace and move on, without having to rely on or wait for other teams. When things get busy here, some teams are in higher demand and that sometimes slowed down our progress. Now that we take on everything ourselves, we no longer need to wait for anyone.”.
“DevOps goes hand in hand with responsibility, she points out. “‘You build it, you own it’ as I like to put it. It helps you focus on making it better so it will keep working. And that also makes you feel so much more satisfied as a developer.”. The team also control their own infrastructure. “Not as super-admins, of course. We are still a part of Jumbo Tech Campus. But we’re admins over our own systems. We even run our own Kubernetes cluster. That’s not something you will find in every office here.
The Serbia – Netherlands – Serbia – Netherlands route
Katarina was born in Serbia, where she grew up and eventually started working in IT. Years later her husband already had a job in Eindhoven and Katarina found out it was very time consuming to find a job in that area. “One day I was browsing LinkedIn and came across an old colleague. I reached out to him, and as it turned out he was a Team Lead here at Jumbo Tech Campus. He invited me to come and talk with him and some other people. They liked me, and I got offered a job. That was 3 years ago and a lovely proof of the power of networking. I hadn’t talked to him in years, and he still helped me get on board here. I think that’s great.”
Bringing the energy
Katarina is a very cheerful person and it’s easy to see her as a strong motivational force for the team. She thinks it’s important to have and keep a positive attitude. And for her it seems to come naturally: “I smile every day and try to bring energy to the team. My colleagues tell anyone looking for me to just follow the sound of laughter.”
Katarina’s ambitions go beyond career goals; they’re rooted in a sense of community and team growth. “I want our current project to be a success and make it helpful for all users,” she shares. “After that, my goal is to join a team that helps other teams adopt DevOps.”
“For me, the advantages of working in DevOps are invaluable,” Katarina stresses. “I truly believe that if we all embrace DevOps, it will be a game-changer.”
Would you like to join Katarina at Jumbo? Check out our open positions