Mihnea Simian
Walk us through your career path in ING
My experience in ING Bank Romania is split in two parts. First time I joined ING in September 2015. After 5 years as Python / full-stack programmer, I changed my career path to FrontEnd. At the time, there were not so many opportunities in this area and I`m happy that I had my chance at ING. In 2017 I left ING for an international opportunity with the promise that I will be back. And in 2018 I did so.
Now I work as Chapter Lead for a part of Home`Bank teams (Digital and Customer Engagement tribes). In this role I`m still connected with the software development area, but I also support the developers in their career path, I`m in charge with the design of the project and team management. This role suits me best and I learn new things constantly.
How`s Life@ING? (Especially from a learning experience point of view)
If I would recommend a course to be included in school that would be “Software Migration 101”. Or “System Migrations 101”. We are taught to develop software from scratch that addresses or solves issues, but not so much to adapt systems already in production, when this had to be rebuilt without affecting client`s experience and without delivering a new solution already available with a better technology, faster and cheaper.
I don`t get it why some developers avoid migrations. This is the most challenging part. The migration is really valuable in a competitive and dynamic environment. I have a lot of migration stories regarding Home`Bank, each one with its teachings and I know there are many more to come.
How would you explain your role as a Chapter Lead to a 7-year-old?
Working with a mobile app, I don`t think it`s hard to explain what I do. I would probably receive unexpected new ideas. We play by drawing buttons, screens and levers that do something when you push them thanks to other play partners from ING.
If you were to recommend ING to a friend, what would you say about the organisation?
ING redefined my work-life balance. Not work–personal life balance. Work-life balance. I would say that in ING we have in our DNA the ”life-first development” (just made up this expression). There is no place where I found a more valuable merge between my personality and the organisation. I`m often thinking how lucky I am to share this experience with my colleagues.
If you were to save the world with an app...
I would like to save the world with an app that prevents technology addiction and over-robotization. Let`s remember to be human. I`ve been terrified by the scenario in the book ”Naked Sun” by Asimov where people are distant and communicate through holograms. I`m a big fan of the app Screen Time in my phone. It`s an option that limits the level of usage for apps or category of apps.
Let`s say you wrote your first SF book. What would you call it?
similar with the action from the “Rick & Morty” series but customized to our culture. I think this would be funny!