Inside Remote Software Engineering jobs: Senior Frontend Engineer Almina Haskic

Welcome to our series Inside Remote Software Engineering jobs! This series includes a collection of interviews with members of our engineering team, who will each share their background, professional journey, and story of what it’s like to work as an engineer at Remote. The interviews showcase the diversity and expertise of our engineering team members and explore how Remote engineers shape the future of work at our company.

About me 

My name is Almina, and I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I believe that if you take a look at this video, you too will be amazed by the beauty of my country. Here's a fun fact: I reside in Sarajevo, which is not only the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina but also an Olympic city. The Olympic Mountains are just a 15-minute drive away from the city center.

At Remote, I work as a Senior Frontend Developer and have been part of the Contractor Management team for a year now. Our mission is clear: to enable anyone to be hired from anywhere.

How did you end up working at Remote?

Upon completing my studies at the Faculty of Information Technology, I landed my first job with an IT company in my home country, where I started as an Android developer with no prior experience.

Over the years, my passion for programming led me to switch technologies every two to three years, without realizing that I had spent eight years in the same company. Despite working on exciting projects and traveling extensively, I knew I needed a change of pace — a more freeing work environment. That's when a friend, who had already joined Remote, reached out to me about an open position.

Initially, I had numerous questions about the Remote, how they operate, and what makes the company stand out. I went through the Remote handbook and was thrilled with the positive feedback from my friend. Remote's values of ownership, care, and transparency were so important to me that I didn't hesitate to go through the interview process. These were the qualities I had been searching for.

The interview process at Remote was unexpectedly smooth. Instead of being bombarded with the usual generic questions, I was provided the opportunity to ask the questions I had. I completed a coding challenge and was later asked to explain my approach and address any issues with my code.

Please share something that you have learned recently.

At Remote, there isn't a specific definition for the term “full-stack”. Therefore, your job title can be either a frontend or backend engineer. Despite this classification, I have received numerous opportunities to expand my knowledge of backend development, in this case with Elixir.

Although job titles don't hold much significance to me, I value the chance to enhance my skills in my preferred areas. Thus, I'm pleased to share that I'm currently extending backend skills and expertise.

To be honest, the primary reason why I started to learn Elixir at Remote was due to having low frontend tasks at one point. After reading about Elixir's exceptional performance and straightforward syntax, I decided to slowly delve into it. I'm happy to say that I can manage small to mid-sized Elixir tasks now.

What do you like about working at Remote?

I recently marked my one-year anniversary at Remote, and during this time, I have felt consistently supported and comfortable with my team. Even when I lacked domain knowledge, I never hesitated to seek help and always felt that my contributions were valued. Collaborating with such a capable team has been an incredible experience, and for the first time, I am more interested in learning from my colleagues than advancing my own career.

Building a healthy work environment with carefully selected team members is crucial to achieving this, and Remote deserves credit for its exceptional hiring process. I am delighted to be working on an in-house project that is already in production and being used by thousands of people, which makes me proud and happy. It's not surprising that things are going well at Remote, considering the agility, flexibility, and excellence demonstrated by each team. I plan to learn as much from all of them.

What has async work done for your life?

In the first month after joining Remote, I had the feeling that I needed to be available at certain hours, respond to Slack messages immediately, and not miss any meetings. I continued to work in sync mode for some time before feeling relieved that I could organize my life as I wanted.

Typically, I start my day early at 7 AM, and since I don't have to commute, I can get right to work and use my most productive time effectively. It's normal to have fluctuations in mood, and health, or be disrupted in some other way. The asynchronous work culture at Remote is great because you can always take a break and do things when you feel ready and in a good mood. When working in an office or returning from vacation, there are typically many synchronous meetings to catch up on all the missed things.

However, Remote's asynchronous culture has a process for leaving notes for someone not present for an extended period. After returning from vacation, I usually check my catch-up document, where I have notes on everything I need to follow up on. This reduces the stress of returning from a lovely vacation. In Europe, some countries have legislation for digital nomads, allowing them to obtain temporary residency in a preferred country. I am planning to use this benefit soon!

What is the best advice someone has given you in your career?

My career has been influenced by various bits of advice and lessons, for which I am thankful. The following three, in particular, have had a significant impact: Learning to communicate with respect has been crucial. Secondly, prioritizing my health above all else has been emphasized. And thirdly, I have learned that with the right approach and persistence, anything is possible.

What brings you joy?

• Waking up early to enjoy some peace and quiet before the day gets busy.

• Discussing technology and other topics with my siblings, who are also in the IT field.

• Running, even though I haven't been able to do it as much in the past year. The thought of running always makes me feel great.

• Spending time with my family, partner, and friends.

• Traveling, whether it's just exploring another city in my country or taking a long trip

• Spending time with my cat.

Learn more about how our global engineering team works. Or head to Remote’s Openings page to browse engineering jobs and apply today!