In this month’s employee spotlight we are excited to present to you Dmitry Nikitin, our Technical Architect who has been a part of Aquiva Labs since the beginning. In the article you will learn about his career challenges, achievements, and his experience working at Aquiva Labs for the past seven years.
An exciting career path
Dmitry, or Dima, as he is called within the team, has always been passionate about technology. His exciting career had a head start when he became a Junior Software Developer more than 11 years ago. Throughout this time, he has taken on various roles such as Backend and Frontend Developer, Dev Lead, Scrum Master, Technical and Solution Architect, and Product Owner. This has helped him gain vast experience while working on more than 30 different projects during his career so far. Now he plays an important role as a Technical Architect at Aquiva Labs and always aims to deliver high-quality solutions to our clients.
A day in the life of a Technical Architect
Being a Technical Architect, Dima has a busy work schedule. He likes to stay on top of his to-dos, so he starts his day by checking and answering all his emails, Slack messages, and his calendar for upcoming meetings.
Part of his routine is to attend his team’s daily stand-ups where he shares updates with his colleagues on his work and sets his goals for the day. Later on, Dima is usually busy reviewing new and updated Pull Requests from his team that require his validation.
On days when he participates in a project, he focuses on his software development work or creates design solutions and technical documents for other exciting projects. Throughout his day, Dima also offers help to his teammates when they get stuck on a technical or organizational question, or when they need advice and guidance.
After a busy workday, Dima enjoys watching movies, reading books, and spending time with his friends. He is a proud owner of three cats, so he makes sure to find time to play with them.
Customer satisfaction is a top priority
As a Technical Architect, Dima actively participates in the solution design phase of the projects where he and his team provide the technical approach to make the customer’s vision a reality. Next on, is the development phase, during which Dima is responsible for the quality control of the product and keeping track of the team’s performance to meet the strict deadlines.
Customer satisfaction is a top priority for Dima and his team. He believes that excellent execution can open the door to many more opportunities, and this has been the outcome with many clients of Aquiva Labs.
When asked about the most challenging, but also rewarding part of his role, Dima shared: “Customers always want the best solution with all possible features included in the minimum timeframe. Finding the balance between the customer’s needs and the desired timeline without compromising on the quality is quite challenging, but it is also very rewarding once it is achieved.”
Working at Aquiva Labs
Dima has been part of the company since the start and has seen the team growing from just a few people to more than 200 employees around the globe. Although Aquiva Labs has developed significantly throughout the years, Dima shared that despite the growth, the authentic company culture and friendly atmosphere have stayed the same.
When asked what his favorite thing about working at Aquiva Labs is, Dima said that he is constantly gaining new skills and expanding his professional knowledge.
“I love that I have the ability to work on different projects and in different areas. This allows me to face new challenges, which is the best way to get new experience and develop myself further,” said Dima.
He also shared that he enjoys working and collaborating with his colleagues. Dima appreciates that the team is very supportive, encouraging, and always ready to help. “If you have any obstacles in your work, you can always find a person at Aquiva Labs who can help you solve them,” he added.
How to become a good Technical Architect
A Technical Architect is a person who is responsible for the technical aspects of the Salesforce applications, their proper work, the technical issues that could be faced, and the solutions required to solve them. Therefore, to become a good Technical Architect, it is important to invest a good amount of time in researching and finding the best approaches and patterns in software development and on the Salesforce platform.
Dima’s advice is to always ask the more experienced colleagues to give you feedback and learn best practices from them when facing any challenges. “Hard work is always noticed. Mistakes are the source of the improvement,” stated Dima.
Additionally, he strongly recommends taking Salesforce certifications and Trailhead training to build a good foundation and expand your knowledge from there.
“I would suggest starting your career as a Software Developer for everyone who wants to become a good Technical Architect as nothing can replace hands-on experience”
Being a Technical Architect might sound challenging but it is also fun and rewarding. Now that you have learned more about Dima’s role and his life at Aquiva Labs, you might be wondering if you can become part of our growing team.
Aquiva Labs is always looking for new people to join the team and bring value to the company. If you’re interested in taking on a new career challenge with us, check out our open positions and apply today!