#born_to_be_nerd – Meet Dmytro Ruban

#born_to_be_nerd is our series where we introduce you to the people who create the NERDZ LAB environment.

Today we will meet Dmytry, he is #born_to_be_nerd.

In the interview, Dmytro shares what excites him most about his work,  some tips and life hacks for beginners, and also talks about what he does in his spare time.

Article content:

• What are three words that you associate with NERDZ LAB?
• Dmytro, how did your NERDZ LAB story start?
• What encourages you in your job?
• What advice can you give to Android developers who are just starting their careers?
• Why did you choose a career as a software developer, and what’s your prediction on industry progress over the next decade?
• How did you get on to the Jura project? And what did you do there?
• What does the Jura project mean for you?
• What are your favorite movies, music, and books? 
• Where have you been that you would recommend visiting? 

What are three words that you associate with NERDZ LAB?

Friendship. Opportunities. Flexibility.

Dmytro, how did your NERDZ LAB story start?

At the time of receiving the job offer, my wife and I lived and worked in Kyiv, so the story began – remotely. This was during the times of quarantine and, closed public places and offices period. Working for NERDZ LAB remotely was a smooth experience, but my wife and I had been planning to move to Lviv for some time, so everything just came together perfectly. 

In 4-5 months, we had already moved to Lviv, and I got to know everyone in the office. The first thing that was pleasantly surprising was the number of animals and the opportunity to bring your pets to the office. Working at NERDZ LAB is my first experience with the Scandinavian model of management, which I have found really interesting. 

What encourages you in your job?

The challenges posed by this industry are, constantly evolving. So you have to constantly work on your professional development: read, study, learn new things, and make sure that you are consistently improving to stay at the top of the game.

What advice can you give to Android developers who are just starting their careers?

Keep going. At first, it seems as though you need to invest a lot of time for little return.  Don’t worry,  this is your baseline experience, which is irreplaceable. There are no shortcuts.

Why did you choose a career as a software developer, and what’s your prediction on industry progress over the next decade?

Once, as I was looking at my Android smartphone, a thought flashed through my head “I wonder how the software part of the system is done?” quickly followed by “Could I write such an app”. And that was when I decided on this career path.

As for progress over the next 10 years, it’s worth mentioning that Android was originally planned as an OS for digital cameras, and today most smartphones tablets, watches, TVs, smart home control systems, and car sub-systems run on Android, so we can expect even more devices to be running Android over the next decade.

You may be interested – How to build a Collapsing Toolbar with MotionLayout

How did you get on to the Jura project? And what did you do there?

I knew Volodymyr Pasika (one of the founders of Jura) long before I got into the project itself. He was my wife’s coworker. One day she mentioned that the guys were looking for a motivated Android developer to work on the Android part on a volunteer basis and asked if I was interested. I thought it was worth a try. I didn’t have much experience then, so I was worried that I might not fit in (spoiler: it’s good to worry, but don’t rush yourself). 

We had an interview, where everything went well, and I joined the project in August 2019. At the time no one else knew anything about the project in Ukraine. Imagine being right there at the start of such a project. At first, there were three of us on the Android team, and then eventually only I remained.

I’m responsible for the Android development. In January of this year, I proposed completely rewriting the application in Kotlin (before that it was written in Java), optimizing the code and the application as a whole, and updating the architecture. Volodymyr agreed. 

So, I calmly sat down to rewrite it (the military was still using the old version at that time), but after the full-scale invasion, it became my number one task, a kind of challenge: to do it as quickly as possible without losing quality or missing the primary goal. So, we managed to roll out the project in about 3 weeks. 

In the last week, I asked the guys from NERDZ LAB, — Roman Gumyn and Maksym Servatyak, — if they would like to join the project to speed up the rewriting of the application. They were willing, so two more nerds joined this good cause.

This article may also be of interest  — How IT specialists from Lviv created an application for the Jura army. 60,000 soldiers use it instead of the Russian programs that stole their data.

What does the Jura project mean for you?

Volunteering is an opportunity to help our soldiers. The realization that the use of this project can even save the life of a fighter since he will not use a racist application that collects data and transmits it to the headquarters of the occupiers (for example, the geolocation that can be used to calculate the location of the positions of our troops).

Do you have plenty of time off, enough to enjoy your hobbies?

My priority in my downtime is Jura. Although, of course, my work at NERDZ LAB is the main thing. When I got the job was open about my involvement in Jura, which I said would continue to work on in my spare time. NERDZ LAB supported this and I am grateful to them for that support. 

The second is cycling. What makes Lviv beautiful (unlike Kyiv) is that it has a very developed cycling infrastructure: you can easily get from one part of the city to another as the paths are level, clean and convenient. However, the bicycle path network is just the beginning. If you have a MTB mountain bike there are places where you can ride up steep slopes right through nature, getting to know your surroundings and giving you a mental break from day-to-day life.

I also occasionally, edit videos of vacations I’ve taken with friends or my wife, so we can have nice keepsakes.

Watch videos on YouTube

And, I also enjoy watching movies, TV series, and learning languages ​​(not only spoken but also programming languages) in my free time.

What are your favorite movies, music, and books? 

My taste in music is quite eclectic, but most often I listen to rock, metal, folk, and alternative.

Among my favorite books are: “Ready Player One”– by Ernest Cline, “Thank You for Smoking” by Christopher Buckley, “Dune” – by Frank Herbert, and “Chronicles of Predatory Cities” – series by Philip Reeve, and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

And as for movies, I love the works of Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Tyke Waititi, and Peter Jackson.

Where have you been that you would recommend visiting? 

Tenerife and the Canary Islands as a whole. These are islands of eternal spring, islands where there’s something for everyone in terms of activities, yet there’s an edge to them  (because they are active volcanoes that can wake up at any moment, for example, as happened last year). 

I also really liked Vienna — a city that has preserved its history, but at the same time is developing and changing, its urbanism is simply fantastic!