Yay or Nay: Should You Get Involved with Crypto?
YAY OR NAY?
Should You Get Involved with Crypto?
Marko Tagliavia
Back-end Engineer at IT Labs
Crypto, crypto, crypto – if you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve heard this at least a few times a day – either someone’s trading in it, or analyzing it, some people say it’s the next best things since sliced bread, while others say it’s all just a sham.
But which one is it? We had Marko Tagliavia, Backend Engineer at IT Labs and crypto enthusiast, guide us through the basics of crypto and give us the explanation on it, as well as help get us closer to answering that one question we’ve all thought of since the crypto craze began a few years ago – should you get involved with it?
On December 13th 2022, he held this Yay or Nay Session, which was structured in the following manner:
- Basics about crypto
- BTC and ETH as most popular coins
- Price history
- Why invest now?
- Trading platforms
- Live demo of trade on platform
- Advice for newbie folks how to start
IT Labs introduces unified desk-booking software at no cost for Businesses
IT Labs introduces unified desk-booking software at no cost for Businesses
USA, January 20, 2023– IT Labs, an organization of purpose-driven development teams for high-performance, innovation & productivity, has taken a step towards facilitating the process of going back to the office with the development of a new desk-booking solution My Desk available on GitHub.
MyDesk is a flexible office desk-booking solution for a collaborative, agile workplace. It was born as an idea for a COVID-safe desk booking solution, with fast and easy workplace management, fully developed from idea to product within IT Labs’ Internship program.
“We have made significant progress in our goal – to enable interns to work on a real product that came to life, and to deliver a solution for a newly created need in the business world. MyDesk is a perfect solution for companies looking to manage their offices and desk effectively using a digital system” – Sanja Gjorgjiev, MyDesk’s Project Manager at IT Labs.
“The development of the solution was an exciting and challenging process for our interns, carefully overseen and mentored by IT Labs senior engineers; and we are excited that now a large community of potential users will now be able to access it for free,” says Kostadin Kadiev, Head of Technology at IT Labs.” Hence, we are making our solution for hassle-free desk booking available on GitHub in the first phase. At this stage, the feedback and input received from potential users and contributors will help improve the platform during the remaining project lifespan.”
“As we have grown a lot in the past year, and people working mostly in a hybrid form, we realized that going back to the offices would be better served if people were given the opportunity to group up with colleagues at their preference, or to simply know where they’ll be seated for the day, so we implemented the MyDesk solution across IT Labs’ offices around the world. We have received tremendously positive feedback from the employees as they have been enjoying the benefit of booking their desks in advance and ensuring their fav spot for the day, month or week. I’m sure many businesses in the industry are facing a similar challenge, so this solution would be a perfect fix.” – Kostandina Zafirovska, General Manager at IT Labs.
IT Labs developed this open-source desk-booking software to facilitate the post-covid process of going back-to-office, while also giving back to the IT community. By making the code available on GitHub, the largest and most advanced code hosting platform for version control and collaboration, we aim to provide freedom to the users of MyDesk to access the software and use it at their convenience, under the GNU license.
The My Desk codes are available at:
Backend –> https://github.com/IT-Labs/MyDesk-.Net
Front-end –> https://github.com/IT-Labs/MyDesk-UI
Anyone is invited to contribute to the Open Source My Desk App and give back to the community!
About IT Labs
IT Labs was founded the year 2005 in Los Angeles, CA. It was created with the sole purpose of producing the most high-performing, purpose and process-driven software development teams. Since day one, we have enabled our clients to compete with innovation and efficient development by providing them with turn-key teams, taking on the responsibility to hire, fire, and nurture talent for them. Today we count about 700 team members across multiple continents, supporting clients in most time zones.
A Story of Decade-long Growing and Doing What He Loves: A Sit-down with IT Labs’ Zlatko Atanasovski for his 10 Year Anniversary!
A Story of Decade-long Growing and Doing What He Loves: A Sit-down with IT Labs’ Zlatko Atanasovski for his 10 Year Anniversary!
Some people have difficulty grasping the reality of the job market today – it’s much more dynamic, and nowadays people are not just “settling” into jobs. They’re not just satisfied with just getting a paycheck and slowly growing into a place – they now look for places where they can hone their skills, grow as professionals, but grow as people as well. In the tech industry, this is even more accentuated, as tech pros tend to switch companies and positions in search of the one that will recognize their talents and provide them with a place to grow.
IT Labs’ Zlatko Atanasovski (DevOps Engineer) has made it a decade with IT Labs – a feat that is just as admirable and exciting as you’d expect. Zlatko decided to share his story with us, and while 10 years are a lot to cover as there’s so many things to talk about, Zlatko being Zlatko, as always, he focused on the things that matter most.
Read on to get the full scoop of his journey.
A decade as part of IT Labs! You probably got loads of stories to tell, but let’s start the proper way – at the beginning – how did you end up at IT Labs?
I started out as an Intern – fresh out of college, I was looking for a place where I could learn and get to work and was really excited to start somewhere, and I saw the call online and applied here right away. I got in as a Backend engineer, finished the internship, and while I liked the backend stuff, I realized that I have a knack for being a good support engineer as well – I was interested in the processes, the infrastructure of the projects, the pipelines, and all the elements that ensured that the whole project can flow seamlessly.
At the time, DevOps was still not a regular mainstay in the world of tech, but I did it anyways and learned loads, and became a full-time DevOps engineer about 5 years ago.
In the ten years you’ve been here so far, what is the one thing you’d say you’re most proud of?
That’s a hard one – I’ve accomplished so much here so far, and all of the things I’m proud of are the things that have helped me grow and have guided me. If I had one thing to pick, it’s how easy it has become for me to develop relationships with our clients.
As I was learning more and growing as a tech professional, I also developed my soft skills, which allowed me to strike an understanding with clients almost immediately. This in turn allowed me to become more efficient and tackle issues right away and deliver results earlier than expected. My efforts have been noticed and acknowledged and have pushed me to become better at what I do!
You’ve come a long way since your first day – a word or two on your development as a tech pro in this past decade?
From the day I entered as a full-time employee until now I’ve learned so many things that I think I can’t even number them as they’ve become something natural – learning is a natural thing and it happens all the time, but it’s especially important when you do it on the things you want, right?
As I mentioned, with DevOps, I nurtured my interest in infrastructure, pipelines, delivery, deployment – basically the whole process, and I knew that this particular area interests me very much as I can see the whole project flowing in a direction, which in turn allows me to anticipate better and be better prepared for future stages. Now, I feel that I can understand what needs to be done as soon as I lay my eyes on technical documentation or a brief – something I thought wasn’t possible when I first started out.
Tech talent is in demand, and the job market in the tech industry is dynamic – it’s only normal for techies to switch companies and move on. What made you stick with IT Labs all this time?
When I started out my journey, I never thought about limitations or an end date. From day one, when the company was smaller and there were fewer people working, the mood and the atmosphere among the teams while working and also outside of work has been the same – everyone helps one another, they’re positive, very easy going. This has been crucial in allowing me to express myself and grow in skills and in confidence.
As time went by, I realized that learning new things has more to do with being in the right environment, surrounded by the right people, and having the leaders to go to and ask them for guidance, rather than just looking for the right project that would challenge me.
With all your experience, what advice would you give to young techies just entering the tech world?
Adaptation is crucial to learning and success. Knowledge and skills change as time goes by, as some technologies, processes, and methods become outdated, but the ability to adapt is something that will help you navigate through and learn about the new things that are coming out every day!
The other thing is people – focus on people and in developing connections with them, as they will help you be more flexible, adapt, and drive you forward. A good environment with good people is all you need in order to succeed.
So keep an open mind, learn how to adapt to circumstances, bond with people, and everything else will be much easier to take care of!
You want a story like this one all for yourself?
We got open positions
Coding Escape Competition at IT Labs!
Coding Escape Competition at IT Labs!
Doing all the tech things we enjoy and love and putting them to use by developing software that helps our clients grow is one thing – but all the know-how we have is not just for work – we’re also using it to have fun!
On November 15th, 2022, we held a competition – 18 of our team members, coming from various teams and backgrounds – QAs, Devs, Project Managers, and Marketing Pros – all came together, mixed up into five teams, and set about trying to be the best team by beating the Sant’Angelo stage on Coding Escape!
The rules were very simple – all teams must have at least one dev, to lay the code – all the rest just need the enthusiasm and willingness to compete!
This is not the first Coding Escape competition we had, but to make things more interesting, this time around, the first three teams that would get the best time in solving the challenge, would win not just the bragging rights, but also a prize – in money!
The results? Three teams had scored amazing times on the coding escape, winning the competition:
1st place – FSociety
The winning team of the competition, finishing the challenge in 46 minutes and 25 seconds, was made of the following IT Labbers:
- Mario Liptov
- Petar Partaloski
- Vedran Krstevski
- Petra Jovic
2nd place – Tehnokratija
The second-best team at the competition, finishing the challenge in 58 minutes and 38 seconds, was made of the following IT Labbers:
- Kiril Todorovski
- Nikola Angelkovski
- Vladimir Glisic
- Marko Hristov
3rd place – Bugs Funny
The third place winners of the competition, finishing the challenge in 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 6 seconds, were Bugs Funny made of the following IT Labbers:
- Aleksandar Gjoreski
- Martin Trajkov
- Aleksandra Angelovska
- Kostadin Kadiev
Big kudos to the other two teams that participated:
Classical Moccasin Raccoon
- Damjan Minovski
- Angel Kuzmanov
- Tome Arizanov
Popular Jade Barracuda
- Dimitar Anakiev
- Teodor Mladenovski
- Vlatko Zmejkovski
All in all? It was a great competition and we’re looking at making it a mainstay at IT Labs, as it’s great for hanging out and it’s not a game that’s exclusive for developers!
We’re committed to providing an environment where team members can express, test their skills, and also have fun!
Call for Winter Internship at IT Labs!
Call for Winter Internship at IT Labs!
It’s time – a call for all interested to apply to our winter internship program!
As we’re dedicated to help grow and develop the next generation of tech professionals, we’ll be looking for bright heads who’ll look to cut their teeth in the following tech stacks, for which we’ll have separate streams:
- Full Stack (.NET+React)
- Quality Assurance
As usual, the internship program will last three months, and there will be the opportunity for the interns to become full-time IT Labbers once the internship comes to a successful end!
The call for interns starts as of 21.11.2022, and will be open for application until 16.12.2022, and all interested can apply on the following links:
Full Stack (.NET+React) Engineer Internship
Quality Assurance Engineer Internship
For all the aspiring techies, here is what to expect in the process:
The process involves technical test, an HR interview, a technical interview, and the process will be wrapped up by someone from the People & Talent Department contacting you to let you know if you’re in, and what the next steps are!
The internship program starts the second half of January 2023, so all successful applicants will be informed of the start date after they finish the application process.
Looking to learn more about IT Labs and to see why this is the place where you can make your first steps in the world of tech? We’ll have an Open Day event at which you can learn what Life at IT Labs is like – from how we work, what benefits our team members enjoy, how you can grow and develop, all the way to the wide variety of educational and entertainment activities we offer!
So, if you’re all about growth, are ready to learn from experienced tech pros, work on exciting projects, and join in on the many activities we have, we’re waiting for you application!
Cooking: Is it a Talent or Something You Learn?
YAY OR NAY?
Cooking: Is it a Talent or Something You Learn?
Take-out is good, it’ll keep your belly full – but getting it prepped all by yourself? That feeds the soul.
Beatriz Castillo
Talent Acquisition Specialist at IT Labs
Cooking is so much more than satisfying our need for food. It’s tradition, it’s bonding, it’s spending quality time with loved ones, connecting on a different level.
The question as old as time is: Does everyone have the neck for it? Is it something you are just naturally born to do, or is it a skill anyone can learn?
In a ‘Yay or Nay’ session, IT Labs’ Beatriz Castillo – a Talent Acquisition Specialist but also an amazing chef who enjoys cooking and baking tasty goods for her family and friends – answered all of these questions and much more. Starting from the origin of her love for cooking, how she nurtured it, as well as some of her favorite meals to prepare, all the way to how you can do it!
Agenda:
- Cooking – why do it?
- Where does the desire for cooking come from?
- What’s needed for cooking?
IT Labs at the Heapcon 2022!
IT Labs at the Heapcon 2022!
As far as events go, there are few on the Balkans that provide great value and insight on how certain problems are solved, all coming from great speakers working in some of the largest tech companies in the world.
Heapcon 2022 is one these, and we felt that this is a great opportunity for some of IT Labs’ finest!
We had Kostadin Kadiev, Blagoja Panovski, Aleksandra Gjinovska, Miki Jovanovski, Anastasija Jovanoska, Bojan Stojkov, Kiril Todorovski, Hristijan Tasevski, Martin Trajkov, and Vladimir Glisic all attend it in person, treating it not just as an opportunity to learn, but also bond!
Heapcon is made by a group of professionals from multidisciplinary fields, including: software engineering, project management, marketing, communications and publishing – with one purpose: to host some of the biggest names in industries, and letting them share their innovative ideas and experience!
You want a story like this one all for yourself?
We got open positions
Macedonia2025’s Advanced Training for Cohorts 2022 at IT Labs
Macedonia2025’s Advanced Training for Cohorts 2022 at IT Labs
IT Labs was part of this year’s Ohrid Hi-Tech Excellence Camp that took place in Ohrid during the summer of 2022, and once again, on 29.10.2022 we hosted the Advanced Training for Cohorts.
The event was organized by Macedonia 2025, at which teams consisting of 2, 3, or 4 participants worked on different building challenges with special instructions, which included 6 Lego sets of the Robotics & Innovation Academy, 6 LEGO® Education SPIKE™ sets, and 6 computers with which the programming process was carried out.
The challenges that were laid out before the participants are in correlation to, and help in solving issues relate to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal no. 7 – access to clean and affordable energy. The training session was carried out by LEGO® Education trained-and-certified educators.
The President of the Republic of North Macedonia visited the training session, and the participants presented the models they developed, explaining their applicability and effects.
Macedonia2025 is a non-profit, non-political organization with a primary focus on economic, and leadership development, working in partnership with business, government, and academia, to generate opportunities and build capacities for economic growth, therefore helping build a stronger nation. They provide a variety of educational programs for different target groups.
There and Back Again: An IT Labs Journey
There and Back Again: An IT Labs Journey
Here at IT Labs, we love journeys. Whether it’s the journey of an individual team member – professional or personal, or the ones we go on as a team, we always have fun.
As a company, we’re flexible on how our employees work, in fact, we let them decide for themselves – you want to go to the office? Of course! You want to stay remote? That works just as fine. But in the end, that amazing together time we have when we’re all in one place is not something that can be easily recreated online, so we decided to bring the fun to them!
How did we do that? With our ITL Caravan! An initiative through which team members from different cities gathered and went on trips around Macedonia and Serbia, going to cities where we have team members that work remotely, and spending the day together – working together, having lunch, hanging out!
Our ITL Caravan went to Ohrid, Bitola, Kumanovo, Radovish, Kochani, Skopje, Belgrade, and Nish, all over the course of a few months, and the results? Well, we recorded the amazing time we had, and it’s all laid out for you to see.
Scroll through the pics and enjoy!
IT Labs’ Martin Trajkov to Take Part in the IT Konekt’s DevDays
IT Labs’ Martin Trajkov to Take Part in the IT Konekt’s DevDays
We’re proud to announce that IT Labs’ Martin Trajkov, Senior Back-End Engineer, will be part of this year’s DevDays, organized by IT Konekt.
On November 24th, Martin will hold a workshop titled “Write, build, and deploy supersonic/subatomic java applications with Quarkus” at which he’ll dive deep into the subject of how to write supersonic/subatomic java applications, look at what a cloud-native image is, how to build Quarkus application into one, and why this can be a better framework for developers to work in.
Martin’s workshop will have the following agenda:
- What is Quarkus;
- What is GraalVM;
- JVM vs. GraalVM;
- Quarkus vs. Spring boot;
- Pros / Cons of Quarkus;
- Initialize Quarkus application;
- Write a working API;
- Build the API;
- Deploy the API;
This is a free online event, and if you’d like to attend it, you can do so by signing up HERE.
The IT Konekt workshops are organized as a type of interactive, hands-on workshops with less presentations and lectures, and more practical examples in coding and exercises, at which participants can engage in the work and the discussion.
The first online IT Konekt workshops were held in November 2020, while the first IT Konekt DevDays were held in the course of a few months in 2021. These sessions were dedicated to technologies such as Java, .NET, Angular, React, and the concepts of “clean code”, architecture, and unit testing. The events were organized in collaboration with lecturers such as: Victor Rentea, Vlad Mihalcea, Kevlin Henney, Manfred Steyer, Nir Kaufman, Dylan Beattie, and Mark Rendle.
We would like to thank IT Konekt for the opportunity to have one of our own as part of the DevDays!