How IT professionals work. Alexey Akulovich, senior developer of the VKontakte project

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 Alexey Akulovich from VKontakte. By generally accepted estimates, we spend a third of life on work. Judging by Alexey’s answers, he has a special case.

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What do you do in the company?



I do multimedia backend - photo, audio, video, upload and similar related areas.



One word (phrase) that best describes how you work:



Much and often.



How many hours a day do you spend on work?



On average, 12 hours.



How many hours do you sleep?



6-8 hours



How do you have breakfast?



I have breakfast already at work. In the morning I get up, wash my face, I go. When I arrive, I feel that I have more or less woken up and can eat.



A lot of time goes on the road?



Less than an hour.



What do you do at this time?



I usually read Slack, “Habr” ... posts that I did not have time to read from the previous day.



What kind of todo-manager do you use personally?



There are notes in the phone.



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



There used to be a Redmine, now we are migrating to YouTrac. Repositories - Git, GitLab.



What tools, frameworks do you use for development?



There are definitely no other frameworks in the backend. Maybe something is on the front end ... In terms of writing code, we have a division: people who want to be old school developers use vim, emacs; and the majority of developers who have come recently, use the products of JetBrains.



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



We sometimes have functionality on the site, which developers write in their spare time and watch, enter / not enter. If it does not, this functionality is marked as bad, and the time is not spent on it anymore.



In the summer we had a 2-day hackathon. Much of what has been developed there, is now being introduced into production.



What annoys you most when you work?



Musicians on the street. We have an office in Singer’s house (the same as the House of Books) on the Griboedov Canal, and they play right in front of our windows.



What professional literature would you recommend?



I can not select. I read everything that I recommend.



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



There used to be an electronic reader, but then I realized that this was inconvenient for me. Better to read from the phone.



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



At work and at home I have desktop computers with Linux. There is a laptop - also with Linux. The phone is from Android.



Do you listen to music when you work?



Yes, especially when the musicians play on the street (laughs). Of course, it is more convenient when nothing distracts. Sometimes I go to another floor. When this fails and there is no opportunity to work in silence, I put on headphones and turn on my music.



Which life hack allows you to be more efficient?



Just the opportunity to enter the stream, sitting in the headphones, and nothing to be distracted.



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



Slack, Telegram, and “VKontakte”, of course (smiles).



What would Alexey Akulovich write 10 years ago in a letter to the future to himself?



I would advise myself not to dissipate and develop in one direction. I used to try to study both front and mobile development, but there was no benefit from it.



You have come a long way. And someone is now at the beginning of this path. What would you recommend to a person trying to go the same way?



All the time to study. I have been programming for almost 15 years, and every year I find something new, I try to learn new things, listen to speakers at conferences, be in trend.