intive is us. We come from different backgrounds, specialize in multiple fields and use various tools and languages. In this series of short interviews we introduce intive’s professionals by revealing how they work, what they do in their free time, and what drives them in life.
Name: Vlad Yantsov
Location: Wrocław
Role: Principal Software Engineer
Expert at: React/JavaScript/TypeScript
Favorite app: Netflix
Currently watching: The Wire
Currently reading: Articulating Design Decisions by Tom Greever
What’s your ultimate argument for React in the ‘React vs Angular’ battle? Freedom. Flexibility. Developer experience. Community. These are the main characteristics I would take into account when making a technology decision in favour of React. Let's have a brief look at each advantage in some more detail.
Freedom. React has a component-based architecture, an easier learning curve compared to others, it does not have a well-defined set of rules on how the code base should be defined. So we have the freedom to choose the design pattern we intend to use, and at the end of the day it's still a library. Angular, on the other hand, follows the MVC architecture, has a well-defined set of rules regarding the code base, many out-of-the-box features such as two-way data binding, services, directives, dependency injection, and more.
Flexibility. React has great support for mobile devices, with React Native we can easily share the same code between the Web and Mobile platforms, which speeds up project time and saves money when we have to deal with different platforms. Recently, React has introduced React Hooks, which is a game-changer: We can create a better composition and way better declarativity.
Community. Developer Experience. The community is huge and growing fast, as of today React is one of the highest-rated projects on GitHub, with rich documentation to show for it. There are many open-source projects built on top of React, such as Gatsby.js or Next.js., which greatly improve developer experience.
To sum up, these are my ultimate arguments for React, but it does not mean that React is better than Angular, or vice versa. When making a technology decision, we must always consider business factors and, ultimately, trade-offs, architectural drivers, team expertise.
As a software developer, which tech trend are you most excited about?
Artificial intelligence in software engineering.
There is much talk and concern these days that AI will replace humans in the near future. In my opinion, AI will turn software engineers into much more robust engineers rather than replace them completely. Creativity, domain knowledge, better soft skills, emotional intelligence will be the key strengths in the game.
Let's take a closer look at how AI could streamline certain processes in each phase of a project and how every step in the project phase can be aided by AI. In the planning phase, the project will experience better analysis, estimation, user experience, technology decisions and the ability to reuse code from other projects. Software engineers will be able to work faster as AI generates large chunks of code. Testing will be much more comprehensive and rigorous as AI assists QA engineers. Deployment automation will also be less error-prone and faster with the help of AI.
If you were to get unlimited funding for a mobile app, what would you build?
It would certainly be an application dedicated to streamlining certain processes in the medical industry with the addition of AI. This is an area that definitely needs a lot of automation in its day-to-day operations. Automation of daily processes is key in any industry, through automation companies are able to speed up business processes, save thousands of working hours and avoid costs related to these issues; and, last but not least, working with medical industry would mean saving actual lives.
What was your favourite childhood game and why?
I've been an athlete since I was a kid, and I continue this tradition to this day. My favourite game has always been soccer. I can still remember those times when after school every kid in the neighbourhood simply couldn’t wait to just jump into his sports shoes, and feel the power. I also had a period in my life when I played professionally and tied my professional future to this sport. You know, it's just this feeling of freedom… on the field I also learned leadership, motivation, communication and how to never give up. Everything I learned on the football pitch, I use in my daily work as a software engineer.
What's the most interesting thing you can see out of your home office windows?
It just so happens that from my window I can observe the amazing football stadium, one of the biggest in Poland. This is exactly the same pitch where EURO 2012 matches were played when Poland was co-hosting the games along with Ukraine. In the evening or when a match is played, you can observe the floodlights shining down on the stadium, the wonderful illumination spreading several dozen kilometers out.