TechLead-Story: Alexander Urbanec, CTO at SobIT

Alexander Urbanec

2 min read

Team

Size and Roles:

Vienna team: 10 members, focusing on WPF Desktop applications, Windows Services, REST interfaces.
Klagenfurt team: 6 members, specializing in web and mobile frontends, responsive web design, and offline capability.
Almost all developers are functionally full-stack.
Supported by an requirements manager and a tester.
Technical leads (Product Owners) and a manager responsible for resources and priorities.

Organizational Structure:

Agile work methodology, a blend of Scrum and Kanban.
Flexibility and adaptability within the process, allowing for minimal bureaucratic overhead.

Distinctive Aspects:

High individual responsibility, teamwork, and a focus on the big picture.
Culture of self-directed learning, technical and domain specialization, and collaborative problem-solving.
SobIT operates as a nonprofit, emphasizing cost-effectiveness and high value for customers through collaboration and user partnerships.

Integration in Recruiting Process:

Dev team members actively participate in the recruitment process.
External recruiters assist in the search, while internal HR supports the initial interview.
Evaluation is not only based on technical skills but also on team and process fit.

Onboarding Procedure:

Guided self-learning with mentor support.
Tasks are chosen to facilitate gradual familiarization with the solution and specific areas.
Open communication culture for addressing questions or problems without formal meetings.

Qualities Beyond Technical Skills:

Emphasis on independence, result orientation, and fitting into the team culture.
Soft skills, organizational, and communication abilities are valued.
Human compatibility, a positive work attitude, and alignment with the team's collaborative approach.

Technical Challenges:

Balancing utilization of new technologies with the need for stable and viable solutions.
Transitioning a stand-alone WPF, C#, Entity Framework application to a modern, service-oriented client-server solution with multiple UIs or service consumers.

Technologies in Use:

Vienna: C#, WPF (.NET Framework 4.8, .NET Core 3.0), ASP.NET Core, gRPC, Entity Framework 5, EF Core, Visual Studio 2019.
Klagenfurt: C#, ASP.NET, Angular, Android Studio, Git Extensions, Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio Code.
External Frameworks: Telerik, Stimulsoft, Autofac, NLog, PostSharp, FluentValidation, Stateless, NewtonSoft MEF.
Toolings: ReSharper.
Environment: Azure DevOps with Git, MS SQL-Server.

Evolution of Technology:

Founded as an internal development department in 2009, transformed into SobIT in 2012.
Started with .NET, WPF, and Entity Framework in 2009.
Evolved architecture more than specific technologies.
Introduced Clean Code practices, code reviews, and ReSharper for formatting.
Shifted development processes to Azure DevOps for work package management, build, and release management.