Hi folks
My name is Mateusz Sowiński. I work as fullstack developer for company S&P Global in Poland.
I'm just an ordinary guy who likes engeneering, football (especially FPL manager app), some gym, great coffee and few other things.
Legends sais that Marcus Aurelius hired a servant to follow him through empire streets. Every time citizen bowed or give word of praise to Marcus Aurelius, servant whisper to his master ear "You're just a man. You're just a man".
That statement help me percive my achievements and failures with grain of salt. Would other people in my place be able to accomplish the same thing? Would they struggle? In most cases there are men in both those groups. So I'm not that special.
I'm stubborn. I'm perfectionist. I do like to fix code until it is perfect. That can be dengerous if I forgot about what my goals are. So I'm trying to be better every day and learn on mistakes.
I thnink that enough as introduction. Words won't speak all truth. Check my expirience and my code to understand me better.
Notice: Those photos ain't mine. I just happen to find them on the internet. They are here just to make this page look more attractive. Sorry for deceiving you :)
2018 - 2023
The university I graduated from is Gdańsk University of Technology, where I studied computer science.
A friend of mine recently asked me to share my experience with her younger brother, who is considering this university. Without hesitation, I told her that my experience was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, I didn’t fully take advantage of everything the university had to offer (for instance, I didn’t go on an Erasmus exchange). However, there is one thing that I truly made the most of – the people. I have absolutely wonderful memories of the students from different years with whom I studied for exams, worked on projects and presentations, wrestled with algorithms, and sometimes just grabbed a beer together. Without them, my time at university would have been merely an intense academic period, but instead, it became an unforgettable experience.
When talking about my time at the university, I should also mention that it took me longer to complete my bachelor's degree in computer science than it does for the average student (shout-out to my favorite course, AKO ❤). However, this extra time brought some benefits – it gave me the opportunity to work. It’s true that the university helped me break into the IT market, but it was my job that really showed me what "software development" means. I'll write more about that in the next part 🙂
2019 - 2024
This is my first. I had been working at JMB for over 5 years. From what I know, that’s quite a long time by market standards. So why have I stayed in the same place for so long? Maybe it's just because it's comfortable... Partly, yes 😋. But the main reason lies in the opportunities for growth. JMB Lab is a small company that (especially when you have 5 years of experience) offers plenty of learning opportunities. Although I do miss having time for some tech hobbies that I'd love to explore further, there's simply no time because there's always something coming up in the next sprint.
I also miss having colleagues who share knowledge in areas that interest me (e.g., application architecture, enforcing design patterns, how to be a good mentor), as few people here have enough experience in those areas. However, there is one positive outcome from this – I’ve learned how to delegate tasks and prioritize them. In my opinion, these are extremely valuable skills. Below, I’ll go into more detail about the skills I’ve gained throughout my career as a software engineer.
I had been working in JMB Lab as fullstack developer.
2024 - Present
New job, new chapter in life 💪.
I'm working here as Software Engineer - coding with C# the backend, and for the frontend there is Angular + Typescript. Additionally I'm doing some DevOps staff like maintaining Azure Pipelienes and AWS EC2s. The first few months are a bit crazy: the pile of things I need to understand and learn is huge. That is quite exciting and difficult at the same time.
From time perspective there is such a big difference in scale of my current company compared to the previous one. Starting with simple one - almost all communication is in English (because it is international company). It is super rewarding to be able to speak that language better and better every day. I have high hopes that one day I'll have not Polish accent at all. That would mean that I really did great job learning useful skills here 😄. Other fearlly important feature is lack of rush in software development. In the past I was stressed out (I see that now) and sometimes very unsatisfied with my work when I couldn't finish something to full extent of my potential. Now is way better in that regard.
Up to that point I'm not working long enough to be a perfect fit for the team, but I'm learning as much as I can. My manager is a great help in that process. I'll share more about my expirience working there, as soon as I'll have more understanding what is going on around me 🙂