BY: Lynda Haig Thoresen | Marketing, Communication & Sustainability Manager

Meet developer Filip Mladjov

Meet developer Filip Mladjov, one of our more experienced Development Engineers. Filip works at Data Respons Solutions office in Erlangen, Germany, and has worked with us for more than 20 years.

Filip’s strongest skills are:

✔️ Communication
✔️ Software development
✔️ Hardware / embedded development
✔️ Micro-controllers
✔️ Multi-threading
✔️ Real-time development

Filip, how did you get into engineering?

I had a few major interests in high school, namely physics, astronomy, electronics, and art. I can’t pinpoint exactly when the electronics path prevailed in me, but after high school I decided to apply to the National Technical University – KPI in Kiev, Ukraine, majoring in Automatics and Telemechanics and became an Engineer.

In my first job I realised that I had a very good theoretical background, but my practical knowledge was not that great, and so, I set myself a goal to increase my practical skills. This is how I got started.

When did you know that this was what you wanted to do?

Growing up, our next-door neighbour was an engineer. He regularly gave me scientific magazines to read. I wanted to become an engineer like him and strangely enough, I did.

What motivates you?

What motivates me goes back to my beginnings. I was a final semester student and all the students in the stream had a meeting/farewell lecture with a computer technology professor.

One of the students asked him what he would do if he could live his life again. He said, that if possible, he would go back and make some adjustments as he had wasted a lot of time and now didn’t have enough time. He also said to us. “You are going to be engineers in a few days and if you think that you won’t need to read technical books anymore, you are sorely mistaken. From this moment on your existential reading begins”.

And he was right! From then to now, I have been striving to learn everything new in my field and have always been highly motivated doing so.

I have been striving to learn everything new in my field and have always been highly motivated doing so.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on a next generation positioning and navigation system for a maritime customer. The work involves driver development, validation testing and automatic production testing on Linux and Windows.

Why would you recommend someone to work at Data Respons Solutions?

For me the most important thing is the work climate in the team, that the themes and tasks are interesting in terms of present and future, and a strong company management. It is the ideal working environment for both beginners and experienced professionals to develop and contribute to the success of the company. I certainly found all of this to be true for me. A person chooses his future workplace by analysing many criteria. Sometimes chance plays a role, sometimes the workplace chooses us.

I got the opportunity to work in Norway for a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. It was a great experience being at the company’s head office and getting to know some of my Nordic colleagues. I was even invited for early morning runs along the waterside with some of the other keen runners.

On the weekends I walked around in the local area of the office (Høvik) and in Oslo. Very often I just sat at sidewalk cafés looking at life. I visited the Holmenkollen ski complex and museum and the Vigeland sculpture park. All these experiences are unforgettable moments to me, and looking back, it was an important professional period for me just being part of the head office atmosphere.

What do you enjoy in your spare time?

I love any opportunity to spend time with my family. I also like to read books that relate to my professional field and write programs in different programming languages. I am still interested in physics, astronomy, and mathematics. I sometimes draw or paint. I also like to play tennis and run in the parks.

The work I do as an engineer is rigid and structured. Art and creativity provide me with a counterbalance, another world I can just dive into.