We are gradually adding new faces to our team of developers. One of them is Dominik Trojčák, who joined us about a year and a half ago. In order for you to get to know all the ‘Bartans’ better, we’ll introduce a colleague from the ranks of bart.sk every month.
For starters, try to introduce yourself to us.
My name is Dominik Trojčák, I’m 25 years old and I consider myself a Košice citizen, even though I’ve lived in a small village near Košice, in Kostoľany nad Hornádom, since birth. I’ve been in a happy relationship with my girlfriend Katka for 5 years.
When and how did you start working for bart.sk
I’ve been working at bart.sk since February 2018. I consider the fact that I got here to be a mix of several coincidences, and fate probably somehow arranged that I am currently working here. It all started during my studies, where we had a subject called “Live IT projects”, the purpose of which was to integrate students into the work environment. Even though I already had a job at the time, I took it as an opportunity to try something new.
Me and my classmates, we put together a 5-member team and I was tasked with choosing the project we would be working on. The clients of these projects were IT companies operating in Košice, including bart.sk, which came up with the topic of creating a mobile application for the Slovak Football Association (SFZ). Although I was interested in this topic, I put it in second place out of three in the selection process. Fortunately, someone chose my first option before I could, so we were automatically assigned the topic number 2. So we started working on the application, and using the react-native technology we created a mobile application for SFZ, where the entire results service of Slovak football was included, together with an overview of individual matches. During the development, we also visited the premises of bart.sk several times. With the resulting work, we achieved 3rd place out of all the projects within the aforementioned subject.
But what’s more important for me, I found a job that I like to do and I do it in a pleasant working environment and a great team.
You mentioned that before bart.sk you already had some work experience.
I tried to be active while studying, I completed several workshops and courses and thanks to that I had the opportunity to work in an unnamed IT company in Košice. Here I worked as an Oracle Siebel Developer, where I was part of the team creating a CRM system for one of the biggest banks in Slovakia. The work was great, and I think I was quite successful. But I knew it wasn’t quite for me. I wasn’t too drawn to corporate life and I didn’t want to be tied to one particular technology. When the offer from bart.sk came after completing the aforementioned project, I didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second. Nevertheless, I consider the previous job very beneficial and the experience I gained there moved me forward.
You successfully graduated from a university this year. What do you think is the main advantage of studying at a university?
Yes, this year I successfully completed my 5-year university course. Somehow I haven’t even realized it yet, I won’t realize it until about September when I won’t go to enroll ? . If I were to evaluate it as a whole, the university was a significant guideline in my professional life. Even though I already kind of knew what I wanted to do, school gave it a more realistic look and brought me into the IT world. Of course, it also took a lot of determination and work outside of school, but I can get passionate easily and then everything goes a little bit by itself. If I have to compare college to something, it’s like a hiking trail with signs that will help you get to your destination. It would have been possible without them, but you would have to either be lucky or have a road paved for you already. I consider this to be the biggest advantage of university.
You like sports in your free time. What sports do you like best?
I’ve been involved in sports since I was a child and I consider it an important part of my life. I have been playing football for many years, then I tried it from the position of a referee and at the moment I prefer individual sports such as running and cycling. I’m quite active in cycling and I’m currently finishing my preparation for one of the most difficult cycling races in Slovakia. I like to push my own limits and I believe that I will be able to achieve some nice results in this sport. I take cycling as relaxation and sometimes as a second office, where I often find solutions to current problems and then I just rewrite them into code.
What project are you currently working on at bart.sk?
I have tried several projects and technologies at work. I am currently working on a CRM application, where we are creating a more comprehensive solution for the customer. CRM is probably my destiny now. This application provides extensive functionality for customer management and administration of a larger company. It also includes a B2B portal – an e-shop that is directly connected to CRM. We create this system for the company called Dejmark, which is one of the largest distributors of decorative and industrial paints in Slovakia and also operates abroad. This project is slowly growing and more applications are being added. We’re currently starting work on an android application that will expand the B2B portal with features such as a barcode scanner. We’re working on this project together with my colleague Vlado Darák. From the beginning, I only worked on frontend, which is closer to my heart, but at the moment I’m doing everything, from analysis through design to overall implementation.
You recently returned from vacation. Tell us where you were, how was it and what caught your attention the most ?
Yes, this year we traditionally spent holidays with my girlfriend Katka on a Greek island, specifically the island of Zakynthos. It was our fifth island and we still have quite a few left. Greek islands have somehow grown close to our hearts. Zakynthos is a very nice island with many amazing places and beaches. We have explored almost the whole island and we would definitely like to return there. Overall, we were most impressed by the uniqueness of each Greek island. Each one, or at least each group of islands has its own culture and places that are in the world’s top rankings. In addition, it’s nice to take a little bit of that Greek lifestyle with you and slow down once in a while.
Top 3 apps you use on your smartphone?
At the moment, I use the Strava application on my mobile to track my trips, because if I don’t have a training record, it’s like I didn’t work out at all. I also often use the Tatra Bank application and consider it to be one of the top banking applications. And I would put the whole package of Google applications in the third place, without them I would hardly be able to function.
