Marko Mušica: How I got full support for my career choice

Like many kids, Marko Mušica loved video games. One day he realized that games are not just played. They are also programmed, and he could be the one to do it. His uncle, a tech enthusiast, introduced him to the world of computers. By the age of ten, he understood hardware components. His uncle taught him how to put video games on CDs and fix basic issues. Today, his uncle is learning from him.

Still a student at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) in Varaždin, he is about to finish his MA in Information and Software Engineering.

Repairing hardware components at a hospital in Zagreb was one of his first jobs. Later he took on backend development at a financial agency. Eventually he applied for a position at Emil Frey Digital.

Hand of destiny

How did Emil Frey Digital come about? Marko says it could easily have been the hand of destiny.

- My university hosted a lecture by Emil Frey Digital, which I attended. There I heard the basics and got a sense of the culture. Soon after that I ran into a childhood friend in town. I haven’t seen her in years. She told me she worked at EFD and what it was like. Then I saw the job ad: EFD was looking for student backend developers. I simply had to apply. I got an assignment, went for the interview, and got in.

At the job interview, Marko met his future mentor Andreas Grđan and Marina Biro of HR. Andreas gave him feedback on the assignment; what he did well and what he didn’t. Marko says it was an enlightening conversation.

- It was interesting to discuss code with him, and spot mistakes I made without being aware of them. Marina told me about the company and the Group’s hundred-year long history, which got me even more interested, he said.

Shaping my career development

Marko started as a QA tester. - My role was testing. I didn’t get specific stories or functionalities to develop; instead, when I discovered a problem in the existing code or documentation, I would try to fix it.

Shortly after he joined the company, the QA position was replaced by a new AE (automation engineer) role. - The difference is that QA were testers, while AE focuses on developing automated tests, takes care of the deployment environment (test, live), configurations, properties and the like, he explained.

- Over time, I noticed that I do more quality assurance than dev work. I was more interested in development, so I spoke with my mentor and team lead. They gave me more backend responsibilities the very same day. I still had a dual role, but it was more like 50:50. By today, my role has transformed completely, and it is all about backend development.

Learning tons from conversations with mentors

Although he was mentored at his previous job, he says the process was not at the same level or as detailed.

- At EFD, we were in every meeting from day one. Because of my dual role, I had two mentors. Andreas was my official mentor, teaching me backend development, holding multiple meetings on databases, backend systems, and other things. Dominik Posavec was my unofficial mentor for AE. Both of them had a lot of their own work, but still they spent a few hours a week teaching me the product and technologies. I learned tons from every conversation and working with them was a joy.

Mentors are not strict figures

- I came here thinking that a mentor only helps you when you get stuck. I didn’t expect them to check in on how I was doing and whether I needed help. I imagined mentors as strict figures, but they turned out to be more like friends, Marko noted.

He says this approach motivated him to become more proactive.

- We were involved in everything so quickly, and we got so much information right from the start, that it felt natural to ask questions and participate in scrum ceremonies. Andreas shared things about backend development which I would go and research on my own, because they were interesting.

Aiming to become more independent

Although he doesn’t feel completely independent at work yet, his progress is evident.

- After two or three months, I realized I was becoming more independent. I didn’t need to rely on others so much. Before, I needed a starting point for every task. Over time, it was easier to handle some things on my own. However, there are always new challenges that onboarding and mentoring can’t prepare you for, so you need to keep learning.

Performance check: Am I on the right track?

After three months, when the formal mentoring program ends, mentees get a performance assessment. It is clear and specific feedback on what they are doing well and where they need to improve.

- Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t doing well in a particular area, so I was surprised when they praised me for that very thing. They also pointed out areas I needed to improve, and gave me guidelines on how to do it. However, your mentor doesn’t wait for three months to give you a first round of feedback; it is done all the time in ten-minute check-ins.

My progress: Then vs. now

- I’ve grown in every way. At first, I didn’t fully understand how environments worked, how to deploy an application, how a large-scale application functions when it’s rolled out across multiple countries, or how everything works behind the scenes. Now, the whole business side of things is much clearer to me. In programming, I’ve learned so many new technologies in these five months that it almost feels unreal. When I started, I didn’t know half of what I do now. For that I thank my mentor and the people I work with.

Touching on his current career stage and future plans, he said he was happy to be working in backend development. It was what he wanted, and he expects to expand his skills in the future.

- It is great to see the company moving towards full-stack development. From my perspective, it would be great to learn frontend one day. I can say I am satisfied with the direction in which my career is headed.

Knowing how the company operates

- Now that I’ve been here for five months, I realize how starting in QA helped me understand our application better. Our product is huge and complex; while you can start with backend development right off, it can be much more challenging. I appreciate how, from day one, I was treated as a full member of the team. It helps you get up to speed on how the company operates, he concluded.