Filip Kudla: Worked on the development of the Sloneek app from Bali and Vietnam

Since day one at Sloneek, Filip has been involved in building innovative HR functionalities and leading a development team with an emphasis on creativity and collaboration. He has tried working remotely from Bali or Vietnam as a digital nomad, enjoys skateboarding, running, and story-driven games on PlayStation.

You have been with Sloneek since its inception, in 2019. Can you tell us how you got involved with the company?

Basically, thanks to the fact that Filip Lukač and I are classmates. After school, we worked together on some projects, and when Filip subsequently founded his own company, we continued our cooperation and it continues to this day. 😊

You work for Sloneek as a Tech Lead. What does your workday look like?

Every morning we have a stand-up where everyone tells the team what they are working on and if anything is blocking them. We decide who will solve what, and we assign tasks that result from that. Then I usually solve my daily agenda like emails, messages and so on. Then I start working on some functionality that I am programming, or I participate in thinking up and fine-tuning functionalities that are going into development.

So in addition to development, you also lead a team…

Yes. But we have a flat structure, so we don’t really care who leads whom, but we try to help each other. I’m in charge of dividing up tasks so that everyone has enough work and it’s clear who will be working on what.

And can you tell us what new project you are working on?  

I don’t know if I can. 😊

We are currently working on a new document module. It is a major update based on client feedback, reflects what they were missing, and in general everything should be more refined.

A completely new feature is 360 feedback, which is very popular in modern companies. Thanks to it, people can easily give each other feedback and develop their skills based on it.

Will AI be involved?

Yes. We are trying to incorporate it into basically every functionality. As part of feedback, AI will help evaluate and make further decisions on how to improve the progress of given people based on feedback.

What do you enjoy most about working for Sloneek, what would you encourage other developers to do?

I think it’s mainly a great team of people. We all get along here, we can chat, both inside and outside of work.

And then there’s the work style. It’s not strict in the sense that you get a task to work on and it has to be exactly as designed. We have room to develop individual solutions and come up with our own ideas. It’s not a production line.

The developer also has room to realize himself, whether by helping the designers or suggesting some ideas related to the product. This approach works from the beginning across the company and I really like it.

I know you love to travel. Are you interested in digital nomadism? As a developer, you can easily work remotely.

Just six months ago, I was with other colleagues in Bali, Malaysia, Vietnam and Dubai, where we worked and traveled at the same time. In total, we had about two weeks of vacation during those six months. Sometimes we extended the weekend. And it was quite nice.

I am definitely tempted by it and I believe I will be able to do it again someday. We didn’t go through all of Vietnam, so we could continue there. 😊

So you would go back to the same places…

Yes, yes. I would definitely like to go to Bali again. We started our last trip there and I was most enchanted by it out of all the countries, maybe because it was the first country we visited that time. I would also like to visit Thailand. I hope I can do it.

And didn’t you have a problem with work ethic when you saw the sea and the beach?

I thought it would be a problem for me. But we agreed in the company that we would work for 5-6 hours at the same time so that we wouldn’t block each other and delay each other, and it was fine. I kept trying to prepare a setup so that I could work comfortably. I also had an external monitor, which helped me a lot.

The advantage was that they took care of me everywhere – I could order food, coffee, someone cleaned. So I had service and I could focus on my work.

Was the Wi-Fi strong in Bali? 😊 

Yes, that was the main criterion by which we chose accommodation. 😊We also worked in a coworking space, that was great. So for me it was definitely a great experience.

Speaking of free time, what do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

I try to exercise a little. I ride my bike, run, and I enjoy skateboarding. Even though it’s a little more complicated, you’re more afraid of it at this age. But at least I do it recreationally.

And I definitely like to play games on the Playstation. Especially story-based games. You have to spend a lot of time playing multiplayer games to be good, and I’m missing that a bit now.

And the last question about work. Even if you’re not in Bali or Thailand, you still don’t go to the office and work from home. Do you have any life hacks for working from home effectively?

I used to go to the office regularly, but then covid came. And then I set up an office at home. My girlfriend also works from home, so we share the office. We got used to the fact that when we come to our office, we put on headphones and work.

Before that, I lived in another apartment and worked in the same room where I slept, and back then it was a problem for me. So from experience, I can say that my own office helped me a lot to work effectively.