My greatest inspiration is to improve myself

Test Automation Specialist

Čorki, or Stano, joined our team more than a year ago and became part of the Test Specialists family. Like our other employees, Stano loved the world of IT in high school. After college, his IT journey continued, and he developed his career in various large companies. In the end, he ended up with us, doing what he enjoys the most. In addition, he enjoys playing PC games and riding an electric bicycle with his 2-year-old son.

What was your IT journey?

My journey towards IT started at secondary industrial school, where I studied the field of technology and IT services. There, I and my classmates first met in a classroom full of beautiful new PCs, where everyone had their own desk with a computer. I started to like this environment and I already knew that I wanted to work in such clean rooms, where it was warm even during harsh winters. I went on to study at Technical University in Košice, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, in the field of software engineering, and through NESS, IBM, Astound Commerce, I got to Unique People.

How was your trip to UP?

I started working at UP in March 2021. It has been more than a year. After the birth of my first son, I took a six-month break from IT and mentally turned off and clarified what I wanted to do, so that after more than 10 years of experience as a developer, I still enjoyed it. I decided that until the situation with growing frameworks stabilizes, I would focus on automated web testing and leave the development for the younger generation. If the situation calms down in the future and the times come when it will be possible to program in one language and syntax for most devices, websites, then I will be interested in returning to the world of developers, but in my lifetime it will probably not happen. I prefer the philosophy that, as we have one universal language in the world - English, it should be similar to the programming language. Otherwise, we will endlessly learn various foreign - programming languages, which one can no longer use when working with our neighbours. On the contrary, when testing websites, it doesn't matter what language the website is written in. I'm already working with a ready-made website that I can automatically test in any programming language and, at worst, always use common sense and two eyes.

How do you like working at UP? What do you like there most?

I liked it here from the beginning. I have the opportunity to use a programming language and tools that suit me and I like to work with colleagues from Slovakia. So far, I have worked mainly for foreign companies, where it was necessary to communicate exclusively in English, which does not bother me. There are great colleagues and also a great atmosphere. There are about 80 to 100 people here in UP and one knows and can get to know most people in the company. Trivia like attention to Mikuláš for children or summer teambuilding are unforgettable experiences. I can't help but highlight the fantastic communication of my colleagues. Thanks to them, there is never a dull moment at meetings, which I admire and I am happy about. I have heard a little Slovak at meetings in recent years and this is also a thing that makes me smile every day. Little things that you only realize after a few years at English meetings.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on a website of a health insurance company, where our team develops some parts and I check them at the end. I also continuously work on control of internal and customer small websites, which our company UP will receive for production. These include various smaller and larger websites of local companies, which I like since I deal with products in my home country.

What was the most interesting project you have worked on with UP?

The most interesting thing for me personally was the launch of my test system and integration with Gitlab, which UP uses. Since then, I have more or less used it in every other project.

Do you have an IT dream? The technology you would like to work with, or any special project you would like to participate in?

I don't know if it can be called an IT dream, but I'd like to develop hardware for cars that can display and illuminate animals and other thermally recognizable dangers directly on the car's glass at night using eye-tracking and transparent OLED film and thermal imaging.

What do you think IT's future will look like?

I see Terminators and Skynet in the future :)

What do you consider a highlight of your career?

Working for IBM. I would have never said that I would get into such a company, but in the end, it turned out that it was just the same company like any other, I realized that even smaller, more local companies can compete with such large companies and, in my case, a little more than that.

Who or what inspires you the most?

I myself :) but mainly new technological inventions and advances at the frontier of knowledge.

Tell us something interesting about yourself

I've accomplished everything I've ever wanted in my life, so now I'm just enjoying life with my 2-year-old son. When I was young, I played streetball and now I like to ride electric bikes and play PC games, especially World of Tanks :)