Job title: Software Engineer
Employer: audEERING GmbH
Year of graduation: 2017
Supervisor: Professor Jadranko Matuško, Ph.D.
Study profile: Control Systems
Hello! My name is Milenko Šaponja and I graduated from FER five years ago. I work as a software engineer at a German spin-off of a technical university in Munich. Although my current job has little to do with my degree programme, I’d always choose to study the Control Systems profile at FER.
I spend my free time with my children, and I also like hiking, running, cycling, and playing football in Martinovka.
What’s your current job?
In our company, we deal with intelligent audio solutions, such as recognising emotions based on the voice, where we’re one of the pioneers. Our technology can be found, for example, in Jabra’s latest headphones. If you call a call centre, it’s possible that our algorithms will analyse your conversation, and in the next few years, they’ll also be found in cars.
I’ve been through different positions in R&D, from data engineer to machine learning engineer, and now I’m focused on turning these solutions into the final product.
What do you like most about your current job?
When I joined the company, less than ten people were working there, but now there are about seventy of us. Being part of that process and seeing first-hand how we grow and achieve success, but also make mistakes, is an experience you can’t read about anywhere. We’ve really seen it all and there’s nothing I haven’t done over the years, but now I really enjoy what I do and how I do it. What I like most at the moment is the flexibility of the work. I work remotely, which has the advantage, for example, of being able to spend all summer by the sea.
What was the selection process like for this position?
Before I finished my studies, I still wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do in life. That’s why I applied for an internship programme through the Zoran Đinđić Foundation for the Western Balkans. If you pass their internal selection, they recommend you to the German companies they work with, and in fact, it’s these companies that select you based on your CV, not the other way around. At first, I was disappointed that I didn’t get an invitation from a renowned company, but since I didn’t have better plans at the time, after the first interview I said to myself, “Let’s go and see what Germany is all about, I’ve nothing to lose”. And so it was. After only one month I got an offer for a permanent job and I’m still working in that company.
Did previous work experience play a role in your decision to do the job you’re doing now? If so, which ones?
I’ve always been interested in many things, but even during my final year of study, I still wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do after graduation. That’s why in the last few years before I graduated, I did a lot more research about the possibilities. I visited the Job Fair, talked to company employees, participated in Career Speed Dating, and attended lectures and workshops organised by the Career Centre. I also tried out different competitions offered by the Faculty, such as LUMEN Engineering. Basically, I did everything I could to find the answer to this question. I think this helped me a lot to get a better perspective and I think these are great opportunities for students. I also think that internships are the best opportunity to get to know companies and answer the question if you want to work for them.
What was it like working on your own product at the start-up Guitar Friend? Did you gain knowledge and skills that you still use today?
Priceless! I remember very well that I mainly talked about GuitarFriend in the interview for my current job. I really learned a lot in SPOCK, especially in the area of non-technical disciplines, which you don’t learn at the Faculty. No one can take away the experience of pitching at the Idea Knockout or talking to mentors and people who’ve started their own companies. Although my work has always been related to R&D, I’ve regularly participated in meetings with potential partners, clients and investors, and attended various presentations and other not-so-technical events. Every knowledge and skill you acquire can be useful for you and set you apart from others.
What’s the most useful thing you’ve learned during your career that you’d like to share with students who’re at the beginning of their careers?
Grades aren’t the most important thing, what you learn is much more important. Even if it doesn’t seem like that at the moment, it really is the truth. If I’m honest, no one has ever asked me about my diploma.
No! That’s the answer to your question about whether you’ll ever have to calculate double integrals or the nth root on paper in your life. You won’t need that or most of the things you’re learning now. But by solving all these “nebulous” problems, you learn the most important thing, which is an engineering way of thinking and approach to problems, regardless of the problem.
It doesn’t matter what programming languages you know. If you know programming logic, you’ll also learn a new language or framework that you need at any given time.
Don’t be afraid of “losing” a year at university. I extended the last year of my graduate study and it was my most productive year. Of course, I didn’t hang around the Faculty, but worked on various projects and took courses that interested me, which I couldn’t do in the regular programme.
Finally, don’t worry if you aren’t sure what you really want to do. The only way to find out is to try it out.
