How IT professionals work. Vladimir Protasov, Parallels

We continue to ask specialists about the mode of work and rest, professional habits, the tools they use, and much more.



It will be interesting to find out what unites them, in what they contradict each other. Perhaps their answers will help to identify some general patterns, useful tips that will help many of us.



Today our guest is Vladimir Protasov. He works in the Parallels Cloud Team. He has a peculiar attitude to work, which is also a professional life hack.

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What do you do in the company?



I'm doing backend. Our products periodically interact with the server, in the case of a license check for example. There are more interesting things - Parallels Access, which allows you to remotely connect to a computer. Our server part coordinates the interaction with the client. I am one of those who provide it all.



One word (phrase) best describes how you work:



Literate procrastination.



How many hours a day do you spend on work?



Variable ... Sometimes it is even 16-18 hours.



How many hours do you sleep?



Again, variable. When I work a lot, then for 2-3 hours.



Do you have breakfast



If we get lucky. Sometimes I eat breakfast in the morning, sometimes for lunch.



What are you doing on the way to / from work? A lot of time goes on the road?



An average of 20 minutes. I usually read something, or walk, breathe fresh air.



What kind of todo-manager do you use personally?



Notepad and standard calendar.



3 company related questions:



What kind of task manager do you use / issue tracker / repository?



Our guys are Atlassian fans, so we have JIRA, Stash, Confluence - a complete set.



What is your working environment? Framework, other third-party products?



In our department, this is PyCharm, and that's all. I'm sitting on emacs. And when I make a crutch that allows us to solve our tasks comfortably, I suffer from the fact that I can not share with colleagues. I don’t master PyCharm, because brains are already used to Emacs: when you open PyCharm and see that everything is wrong there, it causes suffering.



Do you have any internal projects in your department and why were they created?



We have a large internal project - the Python library, there is a bunch of crutches written for the base, for Django - for all that. She solves some of our problems. For example, since we need to work uniformly with models in the database, the library implements a general model, in which the basic methods, fields, and so on are spelled out. Therefore, we do not write all this functionality anew each time, but simply inherit from it.



What annoys you most when you work?



I find it hard to remember any negative points. In the work itself, nothing, but in the work process there is such. Sometimes people in the office like to talk loudly, make some noise - this is periodically annoying. For the rest, everything is insanely cool.



What professional literature would you recommend?



I have quite specific things ... Tannenbaum, because you need to know the basic principles of operating systems. I highly recommend people to assembler literature to understand how everything works at a low level. It sets brains very well: in particular, you stop making a cycle in a cycle, in a cycle, in a cycle that works incomprehensibly. When you look at the assembler a bit, you immediately begin to understand how everything should work. And of course, the three-and-a-half-whiz of Knut: everyone knows about him, but few have read.



What do you prefer: electronic reading rooms or paper books?



Both. But electronic reading rooms in modern life are more convenient.



What technology (computers, tablets, smartphones) and operating systems do you prefer at work and at home?



At work we all have Macs. Periodically, it makes me happy, periodically annoying. I have Linux at home. I do not know whether to replace it with a Mac, but for now. I have phones on Android.



Do you listen to music when you work?



Pretty rare. Sometimes I turn on some classics to concentrate. When I need to quickly write and a lot of code, I include electronic music - something close to Glitch Mob in style.



Which life hack allows you to be more efficient?



As I already mentioned, competent procrastination. When I shirk from something else, I work well. When I grow, I work. Procrastination is, after all, essentially a reluctance to do something. That is, you are not motivated to do something. And then you think: "Here I will do anything but this." And this "anything" - usually becomes work.



What applications and services can you do without in your work or in your personal life?



Telegram, mobile bank. I did not use it before, but when I put it, I quickly got used to it. I can not imagine how to live without an application for cost accounting (I use ZenMoney).



Remember how you were 10 years ago. What professional advice could this person from the past give you now?



To think more often with your head and work less.



What would you recommend to a person trying to go the same way?



Need a lot to read. At a minimum, you need to have a general idea of ​​everything that is in your professional field and nearby. With this, it is extremely important to deeply understand what you are working with directly.



It takes a lot of practice. It is necessary not only to practice yourself, but also to learn how other people work. You need to communicate with colleagues as much as possible, for example, at events such as HighLoad ++. I miss many of the reports and instead just talk to people. This is very useful: in the process you will learn such things that none of the speakers from the stage will ever tell.