On May 19th, we held the first edition of our online meetup for programmers who are looking to extend their knowledge of the IT industry. Four speakers from Divante shared their expertise on topics related to front-end technology.
We asked them about their thoughts about the event, what was stressful, and why they give presentations in the first place.
Ania Musiał, our Vue Developer, gave a speech about accessibility and why it’s so important. Her talk was the first on the agenda, which must have been stressful because she admits she hates public speaking. Although it always stresses her out, she perceived it as an opportunity to get out of her comfort zone and to push herself. There are also many other benefits that come from participating in an event as a speaker:
“I like to share my knowledge in, for example, a blog. You can put that in your CV. It is something that distinguishes you from others. I have the impression that now it’s not enough to be a developer. You need to have added value, soft skills, presentation skills. You need to know how to transfer knowledge. This is, in my opinion, greatly appreciated by employers.”
Anna Musiał, Vue Developer
Public speaking is something that you need to learn yourself. They don’t teach how to do it in coding schools. That’s why presentations often come with stress.
“I am always stressed by the things that can happen that are outside of my control. Also, questions from the audience because there is a lot of pressure that you have to know the answer right away. It's a big responsibility. But, in general, once you start talking, it gets easier.”
Anna Musiał
So it was for Konrad Pawlikowski, who talked about the tough love between developers and DevOps.
“It was my first presentation after a long break. I had a nine-month vacation. Before that, I gave lightning talks at local meetings, but this was the first time I performed in front of a wider audience in long time. The stress was enormous. I had to remember to take deeper breaths, but over time, it got better.”
Konrad Pawlikowski, DevOps Engineer
Both Ania and Konrad gave great speeches despite the stress and their different opinions about online events. While Ania prefers them, Konrad is an advocate of live meetings and going back to the office after the pandemic. He also prefers live events.
“For me, remote work is a social decline. I really appreciate the possibility of contacting people, talking to them, going out for lunch during work. I believe it opens my head to new ideas, helps build relationships in teams. Of course, remote work has a lot of advantages, but it is still a compromise. Working from an office full of people builds such a creative atmosphere that everyone should be able to experience and benefit from it.”
Konrad Pawlikowski
Even though our event took place in the virtual world, it was a good opportunity to feel like a part of the community again. And the IT community is the best! Marcin Lasak, our Senior Front-end Developer, who had an interesting talk on performance as a feature, said that it was less stressful knowing that you’re in a group of four speakers because you can support each other. He believes that sharing knowledge is a great way to optimize one’s work.
“Everyone likes to give their opinions from time to time, to share it with more people than just close friends. Certainly, it helps you to improve public skills and gather your knowledge in a nice, structured way. Teaching others is rewarding. Moreover, if I wanted to explain a similar topic to someone, a client or a co-worker, I can use the recording of the presentation, which will save me some time.”
Marcin Lasak, Senior Front-end Developer
Łukasz Romanowicz agrees with that statement:
“I’ve planned this particular presentation, apart from sharing the knowledge, to send the recording to my clients and co-workers because this topic comes back to me like a boomerang, and I often do training on it. Programmers are lazy, and we optimize as much as we can.”
Łukasz Romanowicz, Software Architect
Łukasz gave an interesting speech on Memory leaks using the example of Vue.js apps. When you rewatch the talk, you wouldn’t guess that he was stressed as well.
“I am an introvert, and such presentations are a way for me to expand my soft skills and leave my comfort zone.”
Łukasz Romanowicz
After the talks, we had a Q&A discussion followed by some time for networking. It was really fun to get together, even if only in the virtual world.
With this event, we’ve started a series of remote lighting-talk events. Our goal is to promote knowledge sharing as well as show off our experts. Based on their opinions, it’s safe to say that it was a great opportunity for them to grow as speakers.
The next editions are being prepared, and we simply can’t wait! If you feel the same, follow us on Facebook to stay tuned!
Published June 17, 2021
