Agata Mazur

Who is Agata Mazur?

Professionally:
I am a young entrepreneur (and since I was 21!), manager and a senior Ruby on Rails developer from Kraków, Poland. I started my journey through the IT world four years ago. The very first company I helped to found at the age of 20 is Applicake, a Ruby on Rails development house which I am currently also involved with. More recently, I am the founder of Railsberry.com, a testing company, and one of the early founders of FutureSimple Inc.

Personally:
I am 24 year-old girl, who loves her job, skiing, Kraków and her friends.

Where and when did you start programming?

I started really basic programming back in the high school, then carried on throughout my studies (I chose Electronic Data Processing for my master degree – which I am really willing to finalize this year…) The real breakthrough happened in 2006, when I first disovered Ruby. A friend asked me and two other friends to help him with an outsourced project for a Swedish company.. So that’s why we were learning Rails on the fly, from scratch. It was real hardcore and extremely challenging. I remember long hours, hardly any sleep and constant stress that we won’t meet the deadline. But it was well-worth it and that’s actually how Applicake came to life.

Why Rails?

Well, I guess I won’t be very original saying that Ruby is clean and pleasant to use. It links beauty and fun with our work, something that women appreciate ;) Above that, there is something special about Ruby Community around the world. I think we just enjoy what we do! It was perfectly tangible during Euruko, (which happened to be in Kraków this year), everybody being friendly and open, not only for geek discussions, but also partying and sightseeing! For me personally the conference initiated a lot of new friendships with Rubyists from many places in Europe, States, and even Uruguay! I can say it with full confidence – “We are blave” as a community ;) (that’s the quotation from Matz’s Euruko keynote – http://vimeo.com/12674501)

What does your typical day look like?

Breakfast at home.
Bike ride to work.
A cup of tea at work.
Emails segregation + twitter + facebook + planning the day out.
2-3 hours for emails / estimations / company issues.
Finally, I can focus on coding for the rest of the working day!
Oh, and there’s lunch somewhere in the meantime.
I try to leave work before 6pm, in order to spare some time for working out (ski club trainings, volleyball, squash or gym).
If i still have time and energy, I meet with my friends in the evening, we cook together, watch movies – you know – regular young people’s stuff ;-)
Additionally, I spend one or two evenings during the week coding for myself or solving Applicake Ruby Challenge which I consider “fun” not “work” obviously!

What do you do in your free time?

As mentioned before, I love sports, most of all – skiing (I am also a ski instructor). During winter time – which has already started! (I’m going skiing tomorrow!) – I try to flee to the mountains as much as I can.

Apart from staying active I am pretty regular 20-something year old. Meeting friends, watching movies, travelling, partying – everything what makes your life enjoyable.

I really wish I had more time to read…

Current favorite apps?

Web apps:
A nifty little application for collaborating on quotes and estimates online – GetQuoteBase.com :)

Deck apps:
Photoshop, Tweetie, Skitch.

iPhone apps:
Twitter, RunKeeper.

What OS do you prefer?

Mac OS – one and for ever.

Small picture for your Workplace?

More pictures from @flickr.

Favorite: Color, Font, Language, JS Framework?

Color: I think I believe in color *sets* rather than colors on their own. Do you know http://kuler.adobe.com/?
Font: Writing: Arial. Console/Text Mate: Monaco 12pt.
Language: Ruby
JS Framework: JQuery

Name something that has inspired you recently?

Just watch these videos:
http://blog.ted.com/2010/10/19/announcing-the-20 11-ted-prize-winner-jr/
http://www.thefuntheory.co m/piano-staircase

What do you prefer (and why)? Freelance work or full time e mployment?

I am not sure if this question is well suited to me.. Running a company is a bit of both. I’ve never really been employed (other than in a restaurant on Long Island, NY before jumping into the tech world!). I have never worked as a freelancer either. I know I love working in great teams. Coming to an office filled with young girls and guys, good energy, enthusiasm and urge for excellence is addictive. It makes you wanna do more, get better. And keeps me smiling at work!
Just watch this video to understand what I am talking about:

http://applicake.com/blog/index.php/2010/06/30/worlds-tech-scene-growing-stars-or-the-ruby-lipdub/