Meet Tim

Tim - 26 - Fullstack Developer - The Rocking Coder

Today we would like you to meet Tim Sawatzki! After being part of our edyoucated team for quite some time as a working student, he joined us as a full-time developer in February this year.

Your are curious how Tims typical workday looks like? Want to get some first hand information about life as a developer at edyoucated? Think about becoming one yourself and are looking for some valuable tips to get started?

We’d suggest you scroll down 😉

Hi Tim!

Thanks for taking the time :)

We would like people to get a better understanding about “life” at edyoucated and the faces behind the curtain. So - what should we know about you?

Hey everybody, thanks for this interview!

My name is Tim and I’m a Fullstack Developer at edyoucated since February 2020.

Before I started my developer job at edyoucated, I studied Information Systems at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster. During my last two semesters I already had the chance to join the team as a working student. This ultimately led to me not only being able to write my bachelor thesis but also do my practical project at edyoucated. After graduation I was offered a job as a full-time Fullstack Developer, which I was really happy about. So here I am. 😇

When I was 16, I got in contact with programming for the first time. I have always wondered how it is possible to teach a computer to do a certain task. A good friend of mine, who was already a software developer back then, showed me the first basics of object oriented programming using C#. Since then, my fascination for programming hasn’t ended but rather grown constantly. Until today I love to learn new programming languages, concepts and technologies to improve my knowledge.

In my free time I like to play the guitar. Currently I am the lead guitarist of the metal band Shapes in the Mirror. You can listen to us on Spotify in case you’re interested #ProductPlacement. Besides music I like to travel and take road trips through beautiful landscapes. When I’m not coding, I also like to cruise around with my longboard. So at least I get some exercise. 😉

You have been part of our team for quite some time now. What would you say is different @edyoucated than at companies you have worked at before?

There are two points that are very important for me.

1. First of all, I’d like to point out our uncomplicated team culture. We don’t have a hierarchical structure as you mights find it in other companies. Sure, there is a management, but if someone has a great idea to improve our platform, we do not hesitate - we just bring it in. edyoucated consists of a team that enjoys its job and believes in promoting personalized e-learning.
2. Secondly, as a developer, you work with a great modern tech stack and don’t have to deal with old legacy code. Since we are working on our own product, we are driven to keep our source code up-to-date. This includes trying out new technologies or concepts and I really appreciate that. Thus, we at edyoucated do not just talk about further education, we demand it for ourselves as well. I think this is especially important in the tech area, because new tools and technologies will constantly be released.

So how exactly does a workday of Tim Sawatzki look like?

First of all, my working day starts with a good cup of coffee or green tea. ☕️

Afterwards, I structure my day and I ask myself some questions: What do I have to do ? What do I want to accomplish today? Do I still have any questions?

As a Fullstack Developer at edyoucated it is part of my daily job to support our backend and frontend projects. Most of the time, I work feature based. This means that I am responsible for the entire technical implementation of a new feature. Some days I have to fix bugs, clean up code or I have to implement some smaller tasks. For complex and more extensive features, we also have plannings in our development team in order to get to a common level. In general, every workday is full of variety and that’s why I enjoy my work so much.

In case someone would ask you if he or she should pursue a developer career or get started with programming in the first place, would you advise him or her to do that? And if so, would you have any tips to get started?

Yes, for sure! It’s never too late to become a developer. 🤓

If you don’t have any experience in programming, learning with a basic object oriented programming language would be a good start. Java or C# are easy and popular choices. These will help you to get in contact with the concepts of object oriented programming. In my opinion it’s very important that you are familiar with these concepts, because they form the foundations. Programming languages mostly differ in syntax, whereas their concepts are the same. If you know the basics, you can go on with more specific topics. However, start with the basics first.

So, if you want to become a web developer, you should start with the basic technologies of HTML, CSS and Javascript. You will need these, if you want to build modern web applications with frameworks (React, Angular, Vue) afterwards.

Whatever you want to learn, keep going. Especially in the beginning not everything will work out as you imagined it. Solving problems is part of the learning process and it will improve your developer skills.

We always ask a question around the topic of learning. What is a skill that you are particularly proud of? And is there something you always wanted to learn but never really tried?

I’m definitely proud of my guitar skills. I have been playing the guitar for over 16 years now. That’s a long time in which I was able to gain a lot of experience. I even won a guitar competition In Münster at the Vainstream festival in 2012.

I have never tried snowboarding before. That would be something I could imagine trying out in the future. Maybe as a passionate longboarder you have certain advantages, but I guess I’d have to try and see for myself. 🏂

Thank you so much Tim!

You’re welcome!

You would like to become part of our team as well? Check out our open positions!

Cannot wait to get more details about our team? In case you haven’t checked them out already, we also talked to Marius, Nils, Marcus and Jan from our team!

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