Welcome back to our first coffee break in 2024! Today we talk with Maksym Chernychka, our formerly remote Sr. Back-end Developer who recently went through the immigration process to settle in the Netherlands together with his wife, dog and cat. In this interview, he will tell us how he started at TimeChimp as part of our remote Development team and how his work and personal life has changed now that he is living in the Netherlands.

Maksym Chernychka – Sr. Back-end Developer

• 31 years old
• I am from Ukraine, Kyiv. For the last 2 years I have lived in Gdańsk, Poland. Now we settled in Badhoevedorp.
• I’m in love with filter coffee. I love to brew it by myself with various tools, but for the last few years I’ve been using V60 because it’s the easiest way to brew the coffee for my wife and me simultaneously. 😁

When did you start at TimeChimp?

My journey with TimeChimp started in October 2021. I remember my interview call went lovely and fun – I’ve already felt the friendly environment that you have in the company. So, I did my best to get through the technical interview successfully – and it looks like I did! 😁

When and why did you decide to move to the Netherlands?

To be honest, my wife and I have been dreaming about moving to the Netherlands since the first time we visited it in spring of 2019. I think, the initial idea to move was planted during one of the first calls that I had with Stephanus when he joined TimeChimp and asked about it. Those “seeds” started to sprout a few months ago, when we finally dared to take the necessary steps.

What were the steps for the immigration process you had to go through?

The official process started when Stephanus and Fabienne accepted my agreement for the proposed employment contract by TimeChimp (representative for Fred and Wouter). Before that, there were multiple rounds of discussions with my previous employer, masterly handled by several people from TimeChimp that were involved. But I wasn’t part of those discussions.

After signing the contract Stephanus and Fabienne handled all important parts of this twisted immigration process; like applying to the IND, filling in all complex forms, making appointments at the Dutch embassy, requesting all additional information from various government representatives, and probably most importantly — answering all my questions, that were popping up. 😅

So, from my side, the whole process looked like running a well-maintained script written by Fabienne and Stephanus, with small stops on the “if statements” to check if I’ve prepared all the necessary documents. And I really appreciate all the effort that was made to pull this off.

What did you do before you came to TimeChimp?

Before coming to TimeChimp, I had been working as a back-end developer for more than 7 years. You could say that I was gaining all the experience and expertise I needed to bring with me to TimeChimp. 😅

What are your responsibilities at TimeChimp?

I would describe my main responsibility as making our application run smoothly and without any possible bugs that could be faced by our users. To achieve that, I do a variety of tasks; like making decisions about the best way to implement new features, implementing those changes, and investigating and providing a solution, if some bug appears. And that unfortunately can sometimes happen despite all efforts of the team.

How does a typical day at the office look like for you?

It all starts with a cup of coffee, and after that, I dive into our kanban board with tasks that need to be done. During the day, I often have multiple discussions with colleagues to finalise implementation details or discuss general architecture ideas. Depending on the day, I also handle requests from the tech support team - but in the end, I would say it's coding all day long. 😄

What is the biggest difference in your work day now that you are not working exclusively remote any more?

I’d say the possibility of meeting all TimeChimpers in person and the commute from home to the office and back, obviously. 😄 But all jokes aside, it gives me a better feeling of being a part of something cool that you’re all working on together.

What do you like most about your job?

For me, software development feels like solving a hard puzzle. You’re twisting it, examining it - and in the end you find the best possible solution until all parts fit together perfectly.

What are the biggest challenges for you and your team at the moment?

For the closest future, I’d say it’s migration to .Net Core. It’s the newest version of the framework we use in development. This allows us to use available resources more efficiently and to implement changes quicker.

Is there something you (and your team) have achieved recently, that you are proud of? Tell us about it!

For me, it’s the start of beta testing the public API V2.0. We have worked for quite a while on this and a lot of sweat, time, and tears went into the project. It’s nice to see it coming together now. 😊

What do you do in your spare time?

Usually, I go for a walk with my dog to the nearest park, but I also often watch good movies with my wife, enjoy “snuggling time” with my cat or have a little gaming session. 😄 But since we were able to move to the Netherlands, we are now planning to buy a Museumkaart to check out some museums and connect with the Dutch culture even better.

Do you have recommendations for books, music, games, movies, or TV shows?

The last TV show that I liked was “The Fall of the House of Usher”, but I would always recommend watching great movies like “Inception”, “Interstellar” or “Memento”. If you have a bit more spare time and are into gaming, you should definitely play “Alan Wake 2” and “Baldur’s Gate 3”.

Is there something you would like to share that we didn't ask yet?

Just wanted to give huge thanks and appreciation to all the TimeChimpers who were involved in my quick immigration journey! 😊

Are you interested in joining Maksym and the rest of the TimeChimp team? Have a look at our vacancies and apply today!