Read the transcript
Jeroen Leenarts: Hi, welcome to
another special edition with
Roxana Tula. She's lady who
lives in Dubai of all places.
And she works for a company that
situated in Denmark. So that's
already a number of countries
that are mentioned. She's active
on a community called Women in
Tech Dubai. And she has a lot of
interest in augmented reality
and public speaking. So we're
just going to dig into her
backstory. And I already know
that she got started with
software and tech, or the really
young age, if you hear some
background noise, apologies for
that they're still busy with my
roof remodeling, I'll try to
filter out as much as possible
in impulse production. So
Roxanna, Hi, how are you doing
today?
Roxana Jula: Hi, thanks for the
introduction. I'm very good.
Thank you.
Jeroen Leenarts: So just to
start with, with the biggest
topic that I have quite a
question about is how did you
end up in Dubai?
Roxana Jula: I am from
originally from Romania, and I
moved to Denmark, and I'm in
Dubai. I'm all over the places.
So a very international
background. I, I moved to
Denmark, initially, for my
studies, for bachelor degrees.
And after my studies, I started
working for a company in Denmark
called note. And about two years
ago, we had this opportunity to
move to relocate here to the new
office in Dubai. And at that
point, I was just like, why not?
Why not move to Dubai? So it was
very spontaneous decision. But
I'm happy. Very happy. I did.
Jeroen Leenarts: So and how long
have you been in Dubai now?
Roxana Jula: Almost two years?
Jeroen Leenarts: And how's the
weather there?
Roxana Jula: Oh, it's so good.
It's it's so nice. And I moved
from Denmark, which is the
complete opposite. So it was
very nice change from rain to
sun.
Jeroen Leenarts: It's really
nice. But it's always sunny in
Dubai. Right?
Roxana Jula: The last time I've
seen rain was more than a year
ago.
Jeroen Leenarts: Oh, wow. Yeah.
And if you look at like work
culture in Dubai is the big
difference compared to Denmark.
Roxana Jula: I think it's a
little bit hard for me to notice
that because I moved within the
same company. So we keep more or
less the same culture in all
offices in all of our locations.
So I think that was, for me, it
wasn't such a big cultural
impact to move. Because of this.
So I think I'm lucky in that
sense. But I think, you know,
Dubai is really good. In terms
of tech companies. I have lots
of friends working for other
companies. And it's, I think
it's very European style. Also,
when it comes to those fields,
yeah.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay, cool. And
the company that you work for,
what, what is your job there.
Roxana Jula: So I work for
Monster lab, we recently
rebranded from nodes, because we
extend it now. And it's like a
big family globally, we have
offices in like 25 cities. It's
really exciting to be part of
such a big, you know, group of
people. I am a senior iOS
developer. So that's what I do
nine hours a day at work. So
it's really exciting.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay, and just
to really go back to another
topic. You started with tech and
software at a very young age. I
think I've heard somewhere. So
can you tell us a little bit
when you got your hands on your
first computer?
Roxana Jula: I was actually my
parents were visiting here last
week. And I was talking with my
father. And I was asking, like,
what, what was exactly the first
model of computer we had,
because I couldn't remember it
was so long time ago. And we
said that it was a Pentium four.
It was so long ago. And it's
just crazy theory to try to
remember how how you were
interacting with computers at
that point. And then we switched
to having a laptop. I don't
remember the brand. It might
have been a Fujitsu Siemens,
perhaps. So this was more than
15 years ago, you couldn't do
that much with a with a
computer. But it was very
exciting at that point. And I
think that's how I kind of got
into it very early age, even
before I started coding. I was
super passionate about
computers, not the hardware part
of computers, which a lot of
kids I think, is how they get
into programming, perhaps. But I
really like the software like
what you were able to do on that
on this new technology. So
during our middle school, we had
those classes called something
like how to use a computer, and
we would just do stuff like
paint Word, Excel sheets, like
if you knew excel at that point,
you were super tech savvy, you
know, and doing Got those
classes, I used to help my
colleagues with different tasks.
And I think my teacher picked up
on this. And it's actually quite
interesting also that she was,
she was a woman. So now that I
look back at everything that
happened and how I build my
confidence in this field, I
think that I might have an
impact also, because I saw her
as a, you know, woman in tech,
so to speak. And one day, she
came to me and told me that,
hey, Eric said, I saw that you
like computers, I saw that
you're quite passionate about
it. There are some programming
classes at the local library
during weekend, I signed you up
for it, if you want to go up to
you just go and try it out. And
of course, I was, again, why not
just go and try it out. And
during middle school, I was also
kind of like, I really loved
learning, I was kind of a geek.
So to me going on a Saturday
morning at the local library to
do programming sounded so much
fun. And that's how it all
started. And it's also funny to
remember. And this one is when I
was about 13 years old. And it's
funny to remember that a lot of
the programming that we did, it
was on Ben and with Ben and
paper. So we would just write
algorithms down, you know, he
would forget colons, and all of
those kinds of things. But we
were going through the logic of
algorithms, that was pretty fun.
Jeroen Leenarts: So it's
actually quite interesting what
you mentioned there, that was
like a teacher that actually
picked up on your interests and
made sure that you could really
grow in that area. And would you
say that, at later stages during
your journey in software
development, were the other
people who filled similar roles?
Or?
Roxana Jula: Yeah, I would say
so. And it's, you don't notice
it at the moment, you just kind
of do things and you go with the
flow a lot of times, but then
you sit down the years later,
and you just remember all those
things in you, you figured out
that this very small
conversation ahead, or this, you
know, this teacher coming to me
to tell me about those computer
science program is just what
changed, right, the whole path
and how I ended up doing this.
So it's, it's very interesting.
And, of course, teachers plays
such an important part in our,
you know, in our future. So
that's, that was very
interesting to see. Yeah.
Jeroen Leenarts: And you're also
mentioned that the school
teacher that got you on this
track, she also was a woman, and
that she was like a role model
for you as being a woman in
tech, is that also the reason
that you got started with these
community groups for women.
Roxana Jula: So after I started,
so this was kind of seventh
grade, when I started going to
those programming classes, I
figured out I really liked it.
And because I was so young, I
really didn't, didn't really
feel like I don't belong to the
tech field. I think a lot of us
when we grow up, we just tend to
overthink everything. And maybe
that's also hard for women to
join the tech field, if they're
don't do it when they're very
young. Because it's harder to
have that to build that
confidence that you could build
up when you're a kid. And I
think, again, after I finished
my studies, and after I doing
sort of just talking about my
experience, I've seen such a
good feedback from from people.
And they sometimes you were
inspired by the stories and in
the journey. So that that is one
of the reasons why I did this
woman into community because it
helps so much.
Jeroen Leenarts: And what kinds
of things does women in tech
facilitate for fellow women in
tech.
Roxana Jula: So we do different
events. Now we have to do all of
them online because of the
pandemic. But before we used to
just get together and have
different events, workshops,
sometimes just for fun, and
sometimes they would get
technical. But it's I think it's
super important to have this, of
course, the tech part. And for
example, we have a React
workshop that is very useful.
But maybe what is even useful is
the fact that you get inspired,
because nowadays you can find
all the knowledge you want
online, you can find hundreds
and 1000s of courses in books,
but getting that inspiration,
right, just kind of have that
fire to do it is what is hard to
find. And when you join those
communities, and when you go and
you see others that are like
motivated to do it, you want to
do it also. So I think that's an
important part in joining
communities like this.
Jeroen Leenarts: And would you
say that that that women in tech
is like an important aspect of
your developer lifestyle? Or is
it something that you do on the
side because I run a meetup
organization as well, but that's
more generic focused on iOS
development and It seems that
women in tech is like, it sounds
like it's way broader in its
scope. But then, of course, with
a more specific demographic in
mind, being a women in tech. So
is it something that that
provides support or a safe
place, or I'm just like the
ultimate outsider, because I'm,
I'm a male, I don't know what
challenges women in tech have to
face. What does women in tech
bring to its participants.
Roxana Jula: And that's exactly
how he described it. It brings
support, that's so important.
It's it rings that kind of say,
space you go when you share your
experiences. And a lot of times,
when you're in tech, perhaps
you're a programmer or an
accompany not so many times you
will have other fellow woman
programmers. So it's just kind
of like a nice community that
brings that kind of, you can go
there, you can open up you can
you can share your struggle,
your challenges, you can get
advice. We also it within the
community, we always share job
positions, if we find out there
are some openings, which I think
also is extremely important when
you talk about diversity, to
make sure that the job openings
are shared within all the
communities and not just within
our closed the closed groups of
perhaps the job posters. It's
kind of like very broad, but I
think it plays such an important
part. And for example, we also
have boot camps, where every
Sunday, we have those coding
challenges that can help build
that skill you need for taking
tech interviews. So we're just
trying to figure out like a good
balance in in providing support
and technical expertise and also
fun activities. And something
that I noticed in Dubai is that
those communities could be even
more important than in other
locations, because Dubai is so
so many internationals are here.
And so many of us I think it's
over 80% of Dubai is
internationals. So that means
that a lot of us are here away
from our friends from our
families. And being able to to
have this community and connect
with others. I think it's it's
super important.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay, cool. We
went a bit of a tangent here. So
we basically we were at, I think
it was the seventh grade or
middle school. So you had the
programming classes offered by
your teacher. And then at some
point, you got your diploma, and
then you had to choose what path
you would want to take with your
education. Can you tell us a
little bit more about that?
Roxana Jula: Yes. And it was
also interesting to note that I
don't know if you have this in
your from Netherlands, correct?
Yeah, I don't know if you have
it from the Netherlands. I think
a lot of European countries have
those kind of Olympiads, you
would go to so you have math,
Olympiad, computer science,
Olympiad, and so on. And I
started participating in those,
it was quite interesting and
fun. And I sign up actually,
during my high school, I went
into a computer science
intensive program, where we
would do again, pseudocode, and
Pascal, which, again, is just so
so far back and nobody uses
anymore. I don't think so. And
actually remember at that point,
was just asking my teachers, why
are we doing Pascal is like not
even now. It's it's not used by
companies. It was so outdated at
that point. And they just say
like, it's still a good
programming language to learn
about data structures and
algorithms and how to think
algorithmically. And I think
they had, they had a good point
in that I think it was, it laid
a very good foundation for me
when it comes to programming.
And this is what I did during my
high school, I studied computer
science, I focused on it. And I
knew that I want to move out of
Romania to for my studies. First
off, I wanted to travel, I want
to try something new. But I also
wanted to go somewhere where I
can do a lot more practical
things during my studies,
because I knew in Romania, at
least at that point, it was a
lot of theory, it was just go
and listen to the teachers
explain to you what is
programming. And that's how I
found out about this kind of
Academy in Denmark, where you
could go about and get a better
but it was very practical
focused. It was always projects.
It was actually for each of the
programs you would have one
semester where you could just go
to a company and do an
internship that was your actual
semester in school, expanded out
a company and do a project and
presented to get a grade. So it
was I think it was a very good
decision to go to that kind of
education and and learn
programming in a more practical
way. And actually ended up doing
two bachelor degrees. Just
because I couldn't decide I was
doing my studies. I didn't know
do I want to do web development,
software development mobile, I
just I felt like I wanted to try
everything, and not miss out.
And I think a lot of people are
struggling with this when they
try to get into tech. And that's
why after I finished my first
bachelor of software
development, I continued with
kind of an extra specialization
in web development. And that
being a mobile developer, so
Jeroen Leenarts: yeah, I believe
it's a thing, the fear of
missing out in technology. And I
fell into the trap on a number
of occasions myself as well. So
yeah, you ended up in Denmark
for your education. And you
stuck around there after you
graduated? Is that still the
company that you work for
nowadays? Or?
Roxana Jula: Yeah, it is, it is
actually. And, you know, after I
finished my studies, I just
search on Google Translate, how
do you spell app development in
Danish? I copied that. And I put
it into Google, I put in the
city name. So that's how I made
a list of all the companies that
do app development in that city
enormous. And I just started
sending emails to everybody,
Hey, do you want to take me for
an internship. And I think
that's a good way to start to
just start with an internship.
Because what you learn in school
is great, but getting that
experience in a company is just
totally different experience,
right. And actually, the flat,
it's a funny story, because I
applied as an Android developer
for position as an Android
developer. That's what they had
open at that point. And during
my studies, I did iOS and
Android. And I just apply for an
Android position, because it was
the last that I tried and the
most recent one. But after I had
the interview with the company,
they actually said that they
really liked me, and they would
offer me a position but it would
be for iOS, if I'm interested.
And that's kind of again, one of
those situations where an
opportunity came and influenced
my whole career afterward.
Jeroen Leenarts: Yeah, so you
mentioned that you did iOS and
Android during your studies. So
were you working on on on Apple
hardware in during your studies?
Or was it facilitated by the by
the school?
Roxana Jula: There were, we had
the apple labs. So you would
have an Apple computer, but I
quite early days, in my studies,
I bought an MacBook Air, it was
so expensive. I remember I had
to do like, from all over the
places collect that kind of
money to get it. And it is, I
think it's a big issue, right?
And join being an iOS developer.
And I think a lot of developers
struggle with this actually
getting the hardware to be a
developer. Yeah,
Jeroen Leenarts: that's true.
Because the the there's a lot of
stuff that you need to buy
before you can actually open up
Xcode and run your first program
on iOS device. What year did you
graduate? Because we didn't
mention that.
Roxana Jula: So that was, oh,
it's hard to remember. So I high
school, I graduated in 2011. So
I graduated around four or five
years ago from from university.
Jeroen Leenarts: So and then you
you found your first job in the
city that you were living now
called Monster labs. What was it
like like, being Romanian,
National Living in Denmark,
starting your first job, not
knowing the language. So
perhaps,
Roxana Jula: that was very good,
because in Denmark, everybody
speaks English. And everybody's
extremely open to just talk with
you in English. That's actually
why I ended up not learning the
language because it was just, it
was so accessible just to speak
to in English, would everybody
people you would go to a shop
and just start speaking in
English, they will start
speaking right away back to you
in English. So it wasn't any
kind of, you know, traction in
there. So, and it was the same
in the company. And basically
what I said, I need to make sure
that I want to continue living
in Denmark before I commit to
learning the language because it
is quite complex. Especially for
me who like Romanian is a Latin
language, so it's quite
difficult to learn something
like Danish. So you in the end,
I didn't end up leaving the rest
of my life in Denmark, maybe one
day I'll go back, I don't know,
open to any opportunities, but
it was it was very nice. And I
think I'm very grateful for for
my internship there and the
support that I received and the
patients that I got during my
internship to learn because I
started again, I was development
and I was implemented before it
was actually what Objective C
and now I joined this internship
with Swift so I had to catch up
to everything that was new.
Jeroen Leenarts: So at Monster
labs, what kinds of projects do
you work on? Is it the single
product? Or is it stuff for
clients? Or is it in, in house
development?
Roxana Jula: It is an agency. So
we always have different
projects that we work on. Lots
of them, I think I cannot really
share. But they've done I've
worked on some really cool
projects. I don't even know the
number now. It must be over
1015 20, maybe apps that I
touched, I think one of the most
exciting one is like a
government app in Scandinavia.
So they have digital postal
service. So every important
piece of mail, you get it in a
digital form, not through your
mailbox, which I think was
really cool. I've done an app
for kind of finding your
sneakers, cool sneakers and
finding out the best prices for
them. I worked for a Taxi app in
Denmark. Many different
interesting projects, the most
recent one, I worked for an E
auction platform, which was
super challenging, but very nice
to work on. So with you a lot of
things. Yeah.
Jeroen Leenarts: So you
mentioned you've been working
for like four or five years with
this company. And he also
mentioned that you've worked on
like 10, or 15 different
projects. So what is the first
thing if you get your hands on a
new code base? How do you get
into things? How do you find
your way around in the new code
base for you.
Roxana Jula: So there are
different scenarios, when you
work for an agency, you either
start doing the project from the
ground up, so then you just
build it yourself. And you you
you know the code and uniform up
the latest kind of guidelines
you have we have within the
company. Otherwise, in sometimes
you are allocated to work on a
feature or some bug fixes, and
just have to open up the code
and running it and then just
start doing it and looking at
the code the advantages that
because we have those guidelines
in the same way, it was the same
architecture, it's quite easy to
follow along. And I think we're
pretty close in style all of the
developers. So I think it's easy
to it's much easier than maybe
looking at the code from a
different company, I would say.
But I think what I do is just
you know, say for example, you
have a bug to fix, you get that
and you start backtracking
perhaps you maybe you don't know
what's the class where you have
to do the changes. So then I'm
using the Visual Debugger. And I
just kind of pause the screen in
the simulator and try to inspect
it and see what's the class this
UI is coming from, and just
backtrack everything. And just
look through the code. I think
if the code is written well and
clean. With a bit of experience,
it should be easy to find your
way around.
Jeroen Leenarts: And do you
often work solo on projects or
with a number of peers or are in
sort of the lead role, or
Roxana Jula: it's a combination?
So the last big project I worked
on, I was the only iOS developer
and I was also leading the
mobile team. So I was making
sure the Android developer is
always in sync with me.
Sometimes, you get to work with
another iOS developer. So it's a
team of two. But I would say
that's the regular teams we have
right now. Maybe three, it's
something very big, but usually
it's one or two. Okay, I work in
the same time.
Jeroen Leenarts: And looking at
your working life right now,
what are the biggest challenges
that you that you run into, and
especially the ones that you
keep running into?
Roxana Jula: Actually, this the
beginning of this year, I was
promoted to senior position. And
I kind of feel like with the
senior position, you start to
get a bit of more
responsibility. And for me, it's
not just learning my way around.
And for example, estimations is
an important thing when you're a
senior, which is I think, for
all developers is one of the
hardest thing to do. So I've
said that that is sometimes a
challenge. Actually, you know, I
think lots of times when I get
to just do coding, that's the
easy part of the job when you
just can consider your code.
That's that's the easy part.
It's difficult when you have to
perhaps not necessarily
difficult but a bit more
challenging when you have to,
perhaps understand requirements
or talk with the clients or
maybe even do some testing or
reproduce some things, some bugs
that were written reported,
didn't just keeping track with
everything.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay, and then
to turn it around what are the
best parts of your current
working life?
Roxana Jula: What I like about
an agency is both like a
challenge. And then something
very rewarding is the fact that
I get to work with so many
projects. So it's never, it's
never boring, it's always go
time, it's always trying
something new learning new
products, learning new features.
Because when you work on a
single app, you might end up
working with the same kind of
programming features. But when
you get to touch so many apps,
it just gets such a broad
experience. And I think I think
that's very exciting for me.
Jeroen Leenarts: And is one of
the projects that you've worked
on. Also the source of your
interest for AR.
Roxana Jula: It is yes. And
actually the interest with AR
started, we had it was
announced. What was it four or
five years, four years ago? And
yeah, exactly. And we had a cold
night at a company just like
this, just try it out. Let's do
a cold night on AR. And we had
two teams. One did iOS AR, which
I was part of that team. And
there was another team who did
Android AR. So that's how I just
something clicked for me. I was
like, This is really fun. We did
like a tic toc game where you
would put in QR codes on the
table. And there will be like an
x and a zero on top of it and
some something like that. It was
very basic, but it just kind of
started an interest in me. And
then we actually had a client
who wanted to do something in
the space of AR and I ended up
working on that project. And it
just build up from there. I
don't do that much that many AR
apps yet because within my
current work, but we are I think
we're starting to see more and
more interest. Definitely last
year.
Jeroen Leenarts: And you also
mentioned something interesting,
because you work at an agency,
then you got some involvement
with AR, and then either by
chance, or I don't know what a
project came along that needed
AR related technologies. Is it
10 Something that you got that
project because you happen to be
out of a project at that point
in time? Or is it something that
you can indicate or opt into?
Roxana Jula: Actually, a lot of
times you don't get to pick the
projects you work on. So
actually, this project first
went to a different developer.
And I don't remember exactly how
it happened and how I ended up
taking it, I think I've shown
interest. And I said, I want to
try it out. And I believe the
other developer was asking for
some support. And I was just
really interested in it. So I
saw I saw it as a great
challenge. And it ended up being
a switch to me, and then I just
took it until the end. So that
was pretty cool.
Jeroen Leenarts: And was the AR
stuff, also the starting point
of you doing public engagement
so that you did public talks or
things like that.
Roxana Jula: It was in Italy. So
for me because I don't work that
much with AR in my current job,
I have to find ways to kind of
push myself to learn about it.
And I think writing articles and
speaking at events, that's
exactly a great way to do it.
Because let's say you write an
article on a topic, I just feel
like every time I have to dive
so deep into that topic, because
I don't want to embarrass
myself, I want to make sure that
everything I'm putting out there
is you know, it's correct
information and it's it's giving
a really good overview. So that
is is motivating me to to learn
about this and work more. So I
did a few talks. Very, very
exciting. On augmented reality I
was supposed to go to Tokyo last
year for the try swift in Tokyo
is like the my dream city. So it
was the perfect scenario. I'm
going to do a talk in Tokyo
about augmented reality like
this is the best life and then
the pandemic came along and we
ended up doing online which was
still of course grateful to have
that chance. But it is very
interesting and I start I don't
even know like how I started
with this interest in public
speaking but I'm so happy I did
it because there's so many
advantages you get for from from
doing this
Jeroen Leenarts: and getting
started with public speaking was
it just something you did? Well
on a whim really like hey, this
sounds like a fun idea. Let's
just try it or did you did a
more structured approach in
coming up with the idea and and
really preparing yourself for it
and then pitching talks here and
there?
Roxana Jula: Definitely in the
beginning, I was I said, I
didn't want to talk at global
events. So what I did was I'm
just going to start doing
smaller talks. So I did talks
for the local community here. I
did for the woman who code
community. So I just started
slow, you know, just kind of
have some experience with it,
because it takes a bit of
pressure off yourself. And you
get to you see the mistakes,
because you will do mistakes.
Every time. You you do a talk,
you find something new, and it's
like, Okay, I will know next
time not to do this anymore. And
I think that's a that's a great
for anybody who wants to join,
and do public speaking. Just
remember that it's
uncomfortable. For a lot of us.
I also say, like, feel so
uncomfortable a lot of times,
and I get nervous, it's getting
better every time I do it. So
that's it, just have to remember
that even if you see a lot of
speakers out there super
confident during the talks.
Behind the scenes is not always
like that. It's there's always a
Jeroen Leenarts: that's the
little secret with public
speaking, indeed. Because I also
have like the like the five
minutes right before I have to
like, go time, then I'm like,
like completely nervous. And if
I'm been interrupted in the
wrong way, by the by the wrong
person, then it really like it
can floored me. And then it's
really hard to like get started.
But once you get started, it's
it's often quite easy,
especially if you have done a
few talks. So but you mentioned
something interesting there. So
you started public speaking at
local events, local communities,
did they offer specific slots to
newcomers at public speaking? Or
how does that work? Because I
reckon every city has these
kinds of communities.
Roxana Jula: I was actually the
ones organizing it. So I had a
bit of an advantage there. But
it's, I think, if you want to do
public speaking, either organize
it yourself, there are so many
communities you can get involved
with. And I'm sure like for iOS
development, every city has some
sort of community. And actually
now with a pandemic, a lot of
communities do online meetings.
So if you want you to, it
doesn't even have to be for your
city, it could be for other city
as well. And if any of your from
your audience wants to test out
public speaking, I'm happy to
have them as a speaker, the
woman in tech, the BI community,
just kind of to build that
experience. That's a great way
to start. And it's First off,
it's takes the pressure off,
because it's a smaller audience.
And it takes the pressure off,
because it's not people are not
paying for it. I think that's
also something that when you
know that people are paying for
it, it's just the nervous levels
are up
Jeroen Leenarts: and adds an
extra level of tension indeed.
So how was the transition for
you from, like doing in person
in front of an audience
presentations to online
presentations, because I've
heard a lot of people are really
struggling with that transition
to really get used to doing an
online presentation.
Roxana Jula: I see it with
advantages and disadvantages.
It's more comfortable, of
course, you're just at your
home, you can do your proper
preparation before, if you want
to just jump around your house
before you can do that. It's
fine. And after you're done, you
can just go and take a nap. So
from that sense, it's easier.
But I think it's it's a bit more
difficult to connect with your
audience. And especially when
you do a zoom, call it just like
you're watching your screen,
maybe you don't even see the
other people. So sometimes it's
like you forget that you're
doing this talk for maybe 100
people, which is it's a very
weird feeling.
Jeroen Leenarts: Now you make me
very interested in what way did
you prepare yourself for talk
when it's online one because you
mentioned jumping around.
Roxana Jula: I actually read
about this tip I don't remember
where but I think it was
something like if you want to
get out of like your nerves out,
you could just jump around
because it will take your mind
off of it or something like
that. Yeah, I just like to
prepare my setup, just kind of
take take some time to be calm.
Don't do anything else. Pair
like the the water to be close
by and all those kinds of
things.
Jeroen Leenarts: So um, I'm
looking at my notes here. So
yeah, you did some androids in
your during your education's.
But then your first role was
immediately as an iOS developer
at what's now called Monster
labs, at some point, monster
left opportunity opportunity to
move from Denmark to Dubai. So
what was the process there? Is
it like that monster lab as
international offices all around
the world? And that's if you
indicate that you would like to
move around between these
offices that that's done just
possible or what's the process?
Roxana Jula: I've heard of other
stories as well where they will
switch between In offices, and I
think there's definitely a
possibility because they do like
this idea of you going somewhere
else, meeting your other
colleagues from a different
office, because so often we
collaborate. So you might have a
team with an iOS developer from
the buy an Android developer
from Prague, a project manager
from London. So it's always good
if you want to go in and
experience another office, I
think, and it's, I think it's a
it's a matter of going and just
maybe sharing this. If, like
wish, if you want to do it, and
perhaps there could be an
opportunity.
Jeroen Leenarts: That's often
the networking effect of talking
to the, to the right people,
which you don't know at the
moment that you're talking to
them. So yeah, I think we
covered most of the things. So
you're Roxanna, you're from
Romania, then you moved to
Denmark, and then to Dubai, all
the while doing something with
technology. As a woman in tech,
is there anything that you'd
like to share in a similar
position compared to you, What's
the best advice that you can
give to them?
Roxana Jula: I would say, to be
mindful of the the importance of
community whether that is you
joining the local community, as
you know, somebody who wants to
get knowledge or want to offer
their own knowledge and share it
with the community. writing
articles, again, is amazing.
speaking at events, like try to
do those things and being
involved be because I don't know
if this is still the perception,
but being a good developer is
not just about the technical
skills. So don't think that if
you just go and do a course,
like a boot camp course on how
to be a developer, and learn
Java or iOS, is going to make
you a good developer, just try
to, to think of the soft skills
also, because that's super
important. And being part of
those, being part of the
communities and doing all those
things can help you with that.
Of course, when you learn how to
write articles, you also learn
how to write documentation. When
you're doing public speaking,
you also know how to
communicate, you learn how to
communicate with your team,
it's, I think it's a great way
to kind of bump your skills into
being a really good developer.
Jeroen Leenarts: It's really
great the advice that you're
sharing there, because it's,
it's fairly generic, and it
applies to any developer out
there. So yeah, that's really
cool. Is there anything else
that we forgot or stuff that we
still need to mention, or that
you want to specifically mention
for yourself?
Roxana Jula: I'm working
actually, a very exciting
project is going to be a free
tech conference coming in May.
And if anybody wants to connect
with me on Twitter, they can
reach out, I'm always open for
AR conversations. Keep an eye
out there, because we will, I
will announce this conference
very soon. So it will be a great
source of information if you
want and a great place to maybe
learn something in network even.
And, yeah, I think I think
that's all
Jeroen Leenarts: okay, I will
make sure to add that link to
the show notes once it is
available. And if I forget,
please do remind me. So Roxanna,
thank you very much for your
time, I really enjoyed listening
to you, because you have an
interesting journey in that you
ended up in in Dubai, that's not
like the, the most obvious place
to end up as a developer, at
least in my knowledge. So and it
seems that you're really
enjoying yourself there, and
that you have a good life in
Dubai. And who knows, maybe
you'll move back to Europe or
some other place around the
world in the future. And I
really hope that the in person
conference presentation in Tokyo
will happen as soon as possible
for you. Because when you
mentioned that your your eyes
really lit up and it was it was
I was so sorry for you that
that's the one thing that really
the pandemic has, has messed up
for you personally. So here's to
the future, and I hope to see a
lot more of you online and maybe
in person as soon as possible.
Roxana Jula: Thank you very much
for the invitation. It was a
very nice conversation.