People of AILend is our newest rubric to get to know our team members better.
For the first interview, we chose Nensi, one of our Full-Stack developers, in charge of platform design, development, and maintenance. Beyond that, she is the “conscience” of the company (she always has something to say for each of us) since January 2021 when she joined us and has the “task” of preparing group games whenever we get together.
From the questions below we will try to get a clearer idea of Nensi.
How do you prefer to start the day?
My day starts around 7:30. I get ready, eat breakfast, put on my headphones, and press play on Spotify. My favorite part is when I pick up the bike and cross the road from home to the office. As I pass along the cars and people who also have just started the day, possibly with Marshall Hain's “Dancing in the city” song in the background, when I arrive I feel filled with positive energy. I greet the group, have a coffee on the office balcony, and then we all get together at 9 am for the next daily meeting.
What motivates you at work?
I never thought of work as something I had to find the specific motivation to get it done. I call it part of my lifestyle and everything comes naturally. I think the environment created in the office certainly influences me to see it that way. Of course, the responsibility and deadline that comes with every job I take on often also stimulate the productivity of the day. There are definitely days when the only thing I can do is listen to music or read the New Yorker. However, what fulfills me the most is when we stop from time to time, appreciate what we have all achieved as a group, how much each of us has grown both technically and personally, and how much there is still work to be done.
What was one thing you wanted to know when you started working at AILend and what advice would you give to a beginner?
“It's okay to think I do not know enough for how long you will learn.” At least in the world of programming and technology, I think there is a bombardment of successful models, especially at a very young age. As motivating as it is, it can also be intimidating. Luckily, my first job in this profession was at AILend and I felt welcome to perform as far as I know, without the pressure to catapult myself into a “senior” overnight. I remember the first interview with Arsidi, in which I said “Look, I have no previous experience, but I think I can learn”, something I understand that I still did not believe myself. Even though I successfully completed the interview task and got the job, I still had some way to convince myself that I could do it in this world. How did I do it? With a lot of support from the whole group, asking as many questions and above all realizing that things are simpler than they seem, enough to get them started.
There will always be unexpected changes that need to happen in a project. How do you cope with these surprises?
I will call this one of those types of skills that will always be “work-in-progress”. With each new challenge that comes up in different projects, I learn something and realize that the effectiveness of submitting a job always has room for improvement. Of course, there are certainly two paths when it comes to surprises that may arise along the way. First I will try to solve it myself. If it's something completely new, I'll do my research. If there is no time for this, then I will turn to the team, with the possibility that someone has encountered something similar. It is important to measure yourself in each project, to master what I did not know, and in the meantime not to lose the way to achieve the main goal.
How do you like to spend time outside of work?
I am a social person and I enjoy time in the presence of my closest people. I try to go out of Tirana when I can and do something different on the weekends. Other times I prefer to spend it alone, by bike, listening to audiobooks, or outdoors without any interference from the outside world.