Meet Michael, our backend master.

Meet Michael - our Lead Backend Developer. He is responsible for the entire backend of the app, the server, and security structure. At noon, he invites you to accompany him on a walk with his dog, Jewa, through Bornheim and then to share a fun Crazy Gibbon sharpened lunch. Before working at savedroid, he spent a long time in the e-commerce environment.

Hi Michael!

• Please introduce yourself!
• Hi, I’m Michael. I’m the Backend Developer here at savedroid. Most of the backend is basically my fault *laughs*. I’ve joined savedroid since the first product (which we call the fiat app) was implemented and launched in the German market. I’ve seen the new product evolving as well as new people starting at savedroid. I also took part in the ICO, which was a very intense — but also interesting — time.

• What draws you into this industry and finally into savedroid?
• First of all, I’d worked for many years in different e-commerce agencies. It was the classical agency type of work where I didn’t have the influence on the decision-making. I didn’t have this feeling of ownership or being responsible for the product development. There, it was more important to finish the projects and to start a new one. I felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again.
• I wanted to check out some new industries and finally decided to go into fintech. These reasons drove me to join savedroid. Since then, I’m quite happy with my decision. The crypto product that we’re now developing actively is very interesting from the technical point of view because we want to develop many solutions to simplify our users’ lives. This, however, also means that there are more problems to solve on our side.
• What does your day at savedroid look like?
• As the team has been growing a lot, we‘ve introduced some frameworks together to stay as efficient as possible. We’re now working in a more or less traditional scrum process, where we have the daily huddle (in which we stand up and talk about the upcoming work) and the sprint planning to discuss things that will be implemented in the next week or two. We have more meetings, which ensure that we stay focused on our goals and properly get the necessary information across the team.
• What is the most challenging part of your work-life?
• To be honest, I don’t know which one to choose *laughs*. Working here at a start-up means that you’re constantly out of your comfort zone and it’s basically what makes things challenging. Even if we already have a plan for the product, based on the users’ experiences and feedback, there will be a lot of changes. If the users like one thing more than what we’ve assumed, of course, we will do what they like. This brings a certain level of uncertainty to the work that we do every day.
• How do you prioritize your work?
• The prioritization is not something that I do alone. We have a backlog grooming or the “business value poker”, which unfortunately is not a game, but a way to find out how the priorities should look like and how we synchronize as a team. It’s not a one-man show, where I can organize the priorities by myself, it’s the whole team effort.
• What’re the most difficult things that you’ve ever accomplished at savedroid?
• For me, it’s the time during the ICO. It was an extremely intense period. The workload was crazy! There were a lot of things to be implemented to ensure that the whole system, which we developed for the ICO, was stable and was able to handle the load that we had in the first days. Thousands of people were — at the same second — constantly reloading our website and waited for the ICO to go live. The same thing happened in the last days as well. Being in this condition, we had to ensure 100% up-time of all servers and it was everything else but trivial. It was extremely challenging but also very motivating to see how efficient a team can work, having one goal in mind and pushing from all positions.
• What are your hobbies?
• My hobbies have been drastically reduced in the last years because of my kids, my dog, and the workload here. Now, I still read a lot and even have other hobbies, which are more compatible with family life: mini vacations in different cities and walking in the parks with my dog, Jewa.
• If you were a superhero, what superpower would you like to have? Why?
• Do you consider Ironman’s superpower as being smart? I would also like to be extremely smart.
• So, Michael, the Brain Man?
• Yeah, kind of.
• Aren’t you already one?
• No, not yet. I still need my cape. *laughs*
• What is your current wish in our app?
• I’m using both of our apps, the fiat and the crypto, and I have one current wish, which is a Lambo. I still have some Euro to save until the wish is fulfilled.
• How much time did you set up for that wish?
• I don’t remember correctly but let’s say it’s 5 years.
• What’re your future goals? Can you share your short-term and long-term goals?
• My short-term goal is, as being part of the team, to fully match what the team decides. My long-term goal would be to become a proper team leader of the whole development team, having an overview of the technical decisions and ensuring that the team works together efficiently.
• If you could work remotely every day, where would your “office” be? And why?
• Honestly, I don’t like working remotely because I love being part of the team. I want short communication ways within the team and enjoy spending time in the office, working with all the people around me. I like the atmosphere in the libraries, so if I have to work from the home office, I’ll probably grab my laptop and go there. Still, if I don’t have a better reason to work remotely, like taking my car to a repair shop, then I’d always choose to work in the office.
• Thank you, Michael for the great talk!
• Thank you!

Your savedroid Team, cheers!