A Day in the Life of... A Senior Mobile Developer

We’re kick-starting a brand new content series at 10Clouds in which we’ll be talking to a range of people across the business to find out what their job involves, what they love most about their workplace, and what challenges they face and overcome on a daily basis. We place a huge value on every member of the 10Clouds’ team as they are the lifeblood of our company!

Today we’ll be chatting with Kamil Powałowski about what being a senior mobile developer involves. Kamil has been with us for 5 years and has worked on around 10 mobile projects in his time here. Welcome Kamil.

Could you describe in a few sentences what the role of a senior mobile developer involves?

First and foremost it’s working on a given product or project. As a senior software developer, apart from programming, I make important decisions based on project architecture and the solutions used. I often participate in consultations with the client and designers to develop a solution that will balance the ratio of the work needed to the effect. But being a senior is not just a project. Each experienced developer in the mobile team has additional responsibilities. Some deal with recruitment, others with assignments or marketing, and I help with the work of the Presales department. My main job there is creating estimates based on data provided by potential clients, but I also often attend meetings to get additional information needed to make a reliable estimation.

Did you always know that you wanted to work in mobile development?

Not always, but I was already interested in mobile technologies when I was at uni. I took part in classes related to Android and Bada (Does anyone else remember that?) — but I only made the decision when I got to know the iOS SDK and creating applications for Apple systems after graduation.

What does a typical day look like for you?

When I finally manage to get out of bed (I'm a night owl) and reach the office, two short meetings await me. First, synchronization in the project - determining who is working on what today, how everything went the previous day and whether something is blocking us. Then I attend a similar meeting in the Presales department. Here, the meeting is less technical, but the assumptions are the same. We also try to synchronize our work with other members of the Presales team (the estimates we prepare are the result of the work of several people).

After these meetings, I have time for my favorite part, which is programming. At the end of the day, there are sometimes additional meetings — technical meetings with other programmers in the project, or those related to work and Agile, such as Retrospective and Refinement.

What do you love most about your role?

The fact that I have a real influence on the outcome of the project I am working on. My job is not only writing code — I often get to figure out real solutions to abstractly presented problems. I am most pleased when this solution is not based on creating new advanced technology, but on the use of elements that are already known to users.

Do you have a favourite product that you’ve worked on? Why was it your favourite?

The current one is usually the favourite, you know, but if I had to top one of all time, it would be Statera. It’s a project that we worked on for a Swedish client, T.E.A.S.R Holding AB. I really liked the approach of the Product Owner and the other stakeholders, where with a limited budget, a working application was created that gives real value. In addition, the atmosphere in the project was friendly and everyone felt that they were playing to the same goal (if I can use a football metaphor).

What do you find most challenging in your day-to-day work?

Assertiveness. I always have a problem with refusing and the amount of responsibility grows with the increase in seniority. Reconciling everything in time is sometimes impossible and you have to decide what is more important. You have to realise that you can’t always please everyone.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in their mobile development career?

Don’t limit yourself to one technology and try to broaden your horizons as much as possible. Your specialization will probably come naturally (because you can't be an expert in everything) but trying out different technologies is a great way to get to know a range of perspectives. I started my professional career as an iOS developer working in Objective-C, then switched to Swift and now use Flutter for most of my work.

You’ve been at 10Clouds for a number of years now. What keeps you here?

To paraphrase the scribe's monologue, if I were to say what I value the most, it is people. To me, they’re not just people who appear in projects, but also friends and acquaintances. I think it is especially visible in the mobile team, where we meet together every Friday, share knowledge but also discuss all sorts of things, not necessarily related to work. This is probably also the reason why my 5 years of working at 10Clouds isn’t necessarily that impressive, because we have people who have been in the mobile department for much longer. We’re a truly great team!

Does it sound like the perfect workplace for you?

Join our team by applying to one of our job ads or just send us your CV. Who knows, we might be looking for someone with your skillset right now?