DevExperience: What did you want to become when you were a child?

I actually wanted to be an explorer! But I quickly learnt that this isn't done in ships or rockets any more - so I'm trying my best to explore new technology instead.

DevExperience: What is the story of your begining in this field? How did you start working in this industry?

I put together my first computer from scrap parts and found it absolutely fascinating. I then spent a while being a physicist, but in the end realised I could have much more impact on the world through software.

DevExperience: How do you see the IT industry 10 years from now?

Ooh! Tough question! I hope that it will have developed better tools to make every day IT chores a memory and let the smart kids focus on hard but important problems instead.

DevExperience: What are the main mistakes that you noticed that people in this field are making a lot?

Often people worry about which language or framework to learn - but I feel it's better to just solve real problems and figure out the right tools along the way.

DevExperience: What do you know about Iași and Romania? Dont Google it! :)

I actually have never been to Romania so I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about it! I remember the Danube trundles through the country and some famous scientists like Emil Palade came from Romania.

DevExperience: What is your advice for a junior who wants to develop a career in IT?

Open source is a great way to get noticed and cut your teeth. If your town has events and hackathons, those are good too. Learning to work within teams and learning how best to learn are key to long term success.

DevExperience: What do you do for your both personal and professional development? How does a normal day looks like for you? What about a not so normal day?

I tend to set myself very ambitious goals and see how far I can get, both personally and professionally. I don't always succeed but I learn a lot along the way.
At the moment I'm building a company, and doing contract work as well as a bit of pro-bono software here or there so my day is mostly trying to prioritise a list of things to do.

DevExperience: What is the greatest part of your job? What is the not so great part of it?

The greatest part of software engineering for me is that one person, alone, can make something that has a positive impact on a huge number of people's lives. That can't be said of many other professions!
Not so great is probably the stress and the unpredictability of tech, You always have to be on your feet if you want to be the best.

DevExperience: How would you explain to an old lady who knows nothing about technology what is it exactly that you do? :)

I try to find ways that computers can make people's lives better.

DevExperience: Tell us more about the main ideas of your talk at DevExperience! Why should people register and attend the event?

For a long time we've been trying to make code that runs on lots of things at once. Normally you have separate code for your computer, for your iOS phone, for your android phone, for your browser, and so on. New technologies are helping with this a little bit - like React Native - but that comes with a lot of trade-offs. I'll be showing how using an updated well-worn language called ReasonML along with Reprocessing can let you write code once and run it everywhere without penalties or headaches. This will let us focus more time on solving the hard problems instead!

Want to discuss more with Marcel? Well, you know what to do! Register and join the ride with us, at DevExperience!