Embracing these mindsets will immediately improve your life: Advice from a Backend Engineer
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Meet Pierangelo, a backend engineer at VEON. We had an amazing talk with him and wanted to share insights he has into making great things happen.
When Pierangelo isn’t busy helping VEON accomplish amazing things, like facilitate payments in our marketplace, he’s playing the guitar or baking delicious treats (you can’t beat music and fresh bread from the oven!). What’s interesting is that Pierangelo sees a connection between these two activities and coding.
“All three things have a structured, even mathematical approach. Ultimately, you need creativity to achieve greatness,” notes Pierangelo. “You have to experiment and learn from failures.”
Now, that’s a great point. Thankfully, we have even more insights to share from our conversation with Pierangelo.
Think of it as a recipe for how to create something awesome.
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1. You don’t have to try rooftop parkour, but be daring
Have you even seen a video of someone doing rooftop parkour? Does it seem too daring? Well, today’s the day you start to dare. No, we’re not actually telling you to get into rooftop parkour (unless you want, then feel free).
We’re telling you to take chances.
When talking with Pierangelo about advice he would give his childhood self, he echoes a similar idea.
“I would tell myself to be more daring — and less afraid of failure,” says Pierangelo. “I didn’t go outside my comfort zone enough. Now, I do. And the experiences are amazing.”
Pierangelo brings this philosophy to the backend team at VEON. This means ensuring folks feel comfortable (or daring enough) to bring their own ideas into discussion, and then critically analyzing concepts and strategies together. This helps everybody have a shared understanding of the team’s plan and direction.
“When we interact, we really like to challenge each other,” describes Pierangelo. “It’s what helps us reach the best outcomes and push forward.”
That culture is precisely why Pierangelo believes a Scala engineer should work with the backend team at VEON (they do a lot of programming in Scala). As Pierangelo says:
“We have the challenge of scale, as we have over 235 million customers in 13 awesome operating countries. There are many different projects in those markets. We’re constantly creating new partnerships, which means dealing with different APIs. Our atmosphere is fun and free, which is important because we’re striving to help our customers live fun and free lives.”
2. Great artwork has structure and creativity
Think about four of the most important renaissance artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello. Yes, they’re also the Ninja Turtles! Anyway, their famous artwork blends creativity and structure perfectly.
This same idea applies to programming. It’s also why Pierangelo likes Scala so much, as he has a structured approach to reasoning with things but also relies on creativity for solutions.
“Functional Programming (in Scala) allows to reason more formally about the processing steps when you solve problems” says Pierangelo. “Being formal, one can also be creative — which we need to reach our goals.”
The big goal is ultimately unification of the approach for all VEON’s operating countries. As Pierangelo notes, we’re building a global digital platform, and it simply makes sense to have a unified structure to the app.
“We started building from scratch, which has required being creative yet focused on a generic structure,” describes Pierangelo. “We have a standard language, and we’re working with our teams in places like Georgia, Italy, and Ukraine to make it fit their market.”
To approach this challenge, Pierangelo has been sure to keep his team in a routine that encourages structure while keeping them agile and flexible. The process is like creating a great piece of art. Follow it — and a masterpiece will take shape.
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3. Don’t be a black box (know where the problems are)
When discussing the role of the backend team, Pierangelo stresses they must constantly improve their framework for monitoring the app. They can’t be a black box, where it’s not clear what’s happening.
“Our biggest challenge has been tackling asynchronous problems — things that will complete in the future with failure or success,” says Pierangelo. “We used some existing abstractions around this concept and built a common library so our applications can evolve following a common pattern.”
Pierangelo believes a monitoring system that has a standard for exposing problems is vital in helping VEON build a great ecosystem. That’s why his team has defined metrics and has set up automatic triggers. They must know immediately when there’s an issue.
So, to create something great, you have to identify problems. Never admire the product. You’ll miss a chance at making magic.
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4. Don’t seek solutions on your own island
Have you ever read the poem, “No Man Is an Island” by John Donne? It makes quite a statement. Pierangelo’s team makes a point to avoid islands.
“We’re like a green field — there’s a lot of room for introducing new ideas. But we don’t like you to sit in a room and code by yourself for three days. Solutions are best if built together,” Pierangelo emphasizes.
The culture of Pierangelo’s team is built on interaction. That’s why if you ask him what advice he would give VEON candidates, he focuses on the ability to communicate, find problems, and solve things with others.
For the hiring process, there’s first a general interview for mutual understanding. If that’s good, you’re given an assignment. If you do well, then you have a panel interview with team leads. All of this is to see how you code, handle feedback, and work with others.
“We also want to see a structured, reason-based approach to coding, meaning you understand the problem and model a solution first — and then test that solution intensely,” notes Pierangelo. “You should have no problem challenging your own answers.”
Pierangelo also says candidates should know the pace is fast at VEON. You can expect a lot of freedom to build your solutions to problems. But you must collaborate.
“Don’t expect to define the solution by yourself,” Pierangelo states. “We work together to improve ideas here.”
So, the best solutions don’t come from an island (or a closed office room). They come from teamwork sessions and working together.
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5. Learning is like stacking blocks that never fall
Picture learning as blocks that can be stacked without collapsing (not like playing Jenga!). The structure just becomes more incredible.
Pierangelo is a big believer in continual learning. That’s why he follows folks like Adrian Cockcroft, who helped Netflix scale so wonderfully, and on the Scala side, among others, John de Goes (@jdegoes), Typelevel (@typelevel), and the team of 47 Degrees (@47deg).”
“I also read books, like Functional Programming in Scala, which is theoretical, and Functional and Reactive Domain Modeling, which is more practical,” Pierangelo tells us. “Both books have taught me so much. Reading them is like a brain workout!”
Reading books has helped Pierangelo improve his own methods. For instance, reading Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship influenced him to change his philosophy about leaving comments while coding. Pierangelo realized that, if you structure the code to be self-expressive, you don’t need to write comments.
Even if you look at Pierangelo’s career, you see it’s been a path of continual improvement and learning. He’s performed analysis work for Accenture and built banking applications for tech companies. He’s also worked at places like G-Star RAW® (a clothing brand) and has done consultancy work with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. All that knowledge he’s acquired along the way has helped him to get to where is today.
So, learn this from Pierangelo: If you want to create something awesome, lifelong learning is imperative. It’s a good thing you’re reading this article (because a lot of knowledge is being bestowed).
6. Having emotional intelligence makes you a superhero
You’ve probably seen a feelings chart with all those faces. Which face are you today? Anyway, taking control of all those feelings you have requires having emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence is in demand because those that have it handle pressure with ease, collaborate effectively, and listen well. They’re also empathetic. If it sounds like having emotional intelligence would make you capable of great things, that’s because it does.
Pierangelo’s career path has been more than just learning coding skills. It’s also enabled him to boost emotional intelligence skills.
“My diverse experiences have taught me to manage expectations and interpret different situations,” says Pierangelo. “I also see the importance of instilling good team culture. Good talents jump ship if the environment doesn’t support growth.”
Working in different countries has also helped Pierangelo. He came to the Netherlands out of curiosity to experience life in another country. He believes the open and direct culture in Amsterdam has helped him grow.
“Living in the Netherlands has helped me be more productive,” says Pierangelo. “I’ve improved my collaboration skills, as I’m now more quick to state problems plainly and also get feedback.”
To Pierangelo, building something great requires you have both technical skills and emotional intelligence. It’s this mix you need in a world where artificial intelligence is forcing us to be more well-rounded.
Actually, if you’re worried about machines catching up to you, improve your emotional intelligence (they’re still far behind there). And, according to Pierangelo, AI is still a long way from fully doing backend engineering work.
“Right now, programmers and developers find the description of a problem and then translate it to a language the machine can understand to a higher level. But machines are still a long way from being able to first understand those problems,” Pierangelo posits.
So, you’ve got time to stay ahead of the machines and create something great. It’s all about learning continuously and having emotional intelligence.
7. The mountains are calling
You can’t be focused on work all the time. You’ll burn out — and then you’ll fall short of the finish line. You need time for yourself.
“I love Amsterdam because the people value a work-life balance,” jokes Pierangelo. “It’s helped motivate me to have one.”
When Pierangelo has time for vacation, he takes off to the mountains, specifically the Dolomites in northeastern Italy. He also likes Puglia Salento for the gorgeous landscapes and beaches, and the delicious food.
One look at either place, and you’ll be itching to go. So…go!
Go create something awesome
There you have it. Pierangelo’s given you the recipe to create something awesome. If you want a recipe for one of his baked goods, that may be harder to get (just joking). Anyway, take this advice and go climb mountains (literally and figuratively).
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