Vojkan Boshkovski, a Senior Software Developer, talks about his experience and role at Cosmic Development.
In our ongoing “Employee Spotlight” blog series, we shine a light on the talented individuals that comprise Cosmic Development’s team. We want to learn more about their roles, experience, background, and what it’s like working at Cosmic.
Today we introduce one of our senior software developers, Vojkan Boshkovski. Vojkan has over five years of experience in software development and is proficient in PHP, Laravel, and MySQL. He has been a crucial part of Cosmic Development for almost a year and brings knowledge and professionalism to the team. We value his hard work and are happy to have him on board.
As part of the dynamic team of Bookmark (from which we already had the chance to talk to Atanas, Petar, and Maja), his primary responsibilities include writing well-designed and efficient code and code reviews. He also participates in team brainstorming sessions to discuss developing, improving, or modifying the existing products.
In this interview, Vojkan talks about his beginning at Cosmic, his role and responsibilities, and what it’s like to be part of Bookmark.com, one of Cosmic Development’s most valuable and loyal clients. He also shares some advice on what it takes a software developer to stay ahead of the curve.
Here’s what he had to say:
Vojkan, you joined Cosmic Development a year ago. Can you tell us how your journey began?
I’ve been hearing great things about Cosmic Development throughout the years but never got the chance to apply for a job. Then, a colleague of mine that worked for Cosmic’s Bookmark team told me about a job opening, for which I immediately applied. The interview went smoothly, and the people were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable — a perfect fit for me.
You are part of one of the biggest teams at Cosmic Development, Bookmark. Can you tell us something about that experience?
Bookmark is a big and complex project built using modern technologies. It is a privilege to contribute, and there is much to learn from it. The application has a vast and active user base, which adds to every task’s complexity (and enjoyment). Working in a big team of all seniors is pretty great, especially when they are all nice and collaborative. It’s been great from day 1. We spend a lot of time brainstorming and pair programming that helps our bonds grow stronger. The upper management is very understanding and knowledgeable as well. I would say that anyone would be happy to work in this environment.
Any pivotal moments you have had on your career path? Do you have any advice to give to younger colleagues?
Choosing Laravel as the leading technology was a good decision for me. The framework is kept up to date and has a very active and big community. It can be used for projects of any size (small to enterprise) with a proper setup. I strongly recommend using Laravel (or Symfony) for people who choose PHP as their primary programming language. And, for those who chose a different language, I would recommend switching to PHP. 🙂 Also, educating yourself to the point of becoming language-agnostic would be my advice to any developer. It is one of the requirements to becoming a software architect for those who chose that carrier path, of course.
What are the crucial things a software developer shall do to stay ahead of their game?
As I previously mentioned, being as language-agnostic as you can is very important, in my opinion. That includes reading a lot of software development books and having a lot of working experience on real-life projects. Do not get stuck on a single project for too many years if you can. There are exceptions, but generally, I would try to work on as many different kinds of projects as possible. Be an active member and contributor for your chosen stack and follow discussions on upcoming changes. This will help you think and plan ahead, detect early deprecations and breaking changes, etc.
While we discuss staying ahead of your game, can you tell us what your favorite books or podcasts on software development are?
‘The pragmatic programmer’ is my all-time favorite. Of course, ‘Clean code’ is worth mentioning as a must-read. Other than those, I would say any book on OOP, design, and architectural patterns is worth reading.
According to you, what does it take to become a successful developer? How can one stay on top of the new technologies?
What I mentioned in my previous answers, and know your algorithms and data structures. Do not forget to work on your soft skills as well 🙂
We hope you enjoyed getting to know Vojkan. We’ll be back soon with more employee spotlights on our inspiring Cosmic Development team members. If you want to join Vojkan’s team Bookmark, we have an open position – Software Developer PHP. Or visit our careers page to check out all open positions. Stay tuned for more team stories and learn more about our incredible employees!