In this week’s Meet the Developer we are meeting with Daniel Habib Vieira Da Silva, a Clojure developer from Brazil.
Hi Daniel, please tell us about yourself
I’m a Brazilian who graduated in Control and Automation Engineering but during college, I realized I really enjoyed software development. With more than 10 years of experience, I’ve worked with domains from digital signals processing to enterprise systems. I’m a neovim user but I don’t use Arch, by the way. 😛 I like to have a simple life, travel and spend time with my family, and watch mind-blowing movies and series.
How long have you been working at Flexiana?
I’ve been working at Flexiana for about a year now. I started on December 2021 and since then it’s been a blast to work with so many nice people!
What do you like the most about your job?
I love to work with technology that provides almost instant feedback like Clojure(script) so I can focus on problem-solving. I’m living a dream since the beginning at Flexiana because I’m able to work with what I really like. It doesn’t actually seem like “work”. It’s a joy! Also, I really like working remotely. The flexibility that Flexiana provides to my schedule is awesome: I can manage my working hours to have more time with my family.
What does your day normally look like?
I’m currently working for a European company so it’s perfect because I start working at 5 AM when everyone is still sleeping at home. Then I take a break to have breakfast and help with my kids, drop my daughter at school, etc. After that, some more work, and then it’s lunch break! We have lunch together at home and then I walk my dog, do the dishes, and run other errands around the house. In the afternoon I work the remaining hours so I can spend the rest of the day with my family.
What was your thought the first time you heard about Flexiana?
When a Flexiana recruiter contacted me I started reading about the company and I really liked it. It was an instant match with my own ideas so I thought: looks good to me! Let’s check it out!
What have you learned from life that you apply to your job?
To be kind to people. Sometimes people may sound rude or something like that but you never know what’s really going on with them. So we could just be polite by default. This way we can avoid lots of conflicts and keep a good environment mood. Another really important thing to keep in mind is to be patient, especially in asynchronous work. Sometimes you depend upon other people’s tasks but you don’t know exactly when they will finish so you need to handle that without stress.
What current project are you involved in?
I’m currently working on a database migration project for a Norwegian company. They are migrating from MongoDB to the PostgreSQL database.
What are your learnings from the project?
I’m learning a lot about MongoDB and PostgreSQL databases. I found it very interesting the way they handle the database migration with risk mitigation: the application is written in both databases and then gets checked if the data matches. After some time, we can have the confidence to switch platforms. About code design, I’m learning how to code an application in a way that is composable for the database domain: it’s very interesting the way they built the querying functions in a flexible way. Besides that I’ve learned more about some libraries such as Liberator, HoneySQL, Monger, and Component, to name a few. About Clojure and tooling, I’ve also learned more about testing, specs, macros, and debugging with tools like flow-storm, and more.
What are your goals for the upcoming three months in the project?
In three months from now, I expect to have migrated all the entities to PostgreSQL. The simple ones were already migrated, but the ones we have left are kinda complicated. For example, some entities have a very complex relationship with each other and on top of that, the partner company has a git-like branching functionality for the data. This is at the same time challenging and fascinating.
What have you learned in Flexiana that you did not know before?
At Flexiana I’ve had the opportunity to work with ClojureScript in a more deep way, using reagent and re-frame libraries on top of Xiana’s framework. Working with colleagues who have experience on the front-end side was a very enriching experience for me. I’ve also learned it’s important to have a well-defined process to organize the work to be more productive and also the importance of clear communication. The internal organization guilds are an awesome place to learn such soft skills.
What excites you the most about working at Flexiana?
It’s really exciting to work in an environment where there are so many smart people. I feel really grateful to have this opportunity and I see everyone is important to the company: anyone can propose changes, make presentations, discuss ideas, or come up with any solutions. This openness is really rare to find in some places!
What are your favorite memories from Flexiana?
I remember the very first meeting with Mihai to discuss a task which looked like was duplicated for our team. It was my first meeting with someone from another country, speaking only in English so I was quite nervous but he was very kind. In the end, this task became an open-source project! Notion-to-md
A good one as well as the “good morning” stream we have at Zulip. Sometimes I make some jokes over there and once I put a gif of a “good night” at 2 AM, a guy jumping in the bed to sleep. Then Ion put the same gif but backward and Jiri also commented Flexiana is now officially global. I also remember having onboarding meetings with some colleagues, which I invited to show Frankie, shared some knowledge, and chat a little. Quite nice memories.
How would you describe working at Flexiana in a word?
Friendly!
Would you recommend people working at Flexiana?
Of course yes! It’s an awesome environment to work in! People are really friendly and welcoming. Also, it’s very nice to meet so many different people around the world. There is very much culture sharing which is quite nice.
Any last word?
Keep it simple and carpe diem.
