We have to build up Nav N Go's momentum!

Mick has been working as a software developer for Nav N Go since 2006. In January 2007 he became the Leader of the Project Team, with responsibility for ensuring that the company's device-manufacturing partners receive individually tailored versions of the software. He has more than 50 employees under his management, while he still takes part in software development.


How did you become interested in IT and in programming?

I went to a technical secondary school, but I didn't really want to become a computer engineer or a programmer. I was more interested in music and sound, and it was my plan to become a sound engineer. Then I took part in a technical studies competition, and I was one of the best, which meant that I could go to any technical higher education institute I wanted to, without having to take an entrance exam. At that time, the IT faculty needed the highest number of points for admission, and so that's why I chose that! :) This is how I got in to the Technical University of Veszprém.

I guess you soon grew to like your new subject...

Yes, from then on my professional interest moved in two directions: One of them was systems engineering, that is, IT, and the other was development. For a long time I wavered between the two. I finally graduated at DGAU (Dennis Gabor Applied University) but the years I spent in Veszprém were a very important part of my life, because I made a lot of friends and professional contacts there.

It was there that you met, for example, several of the founders of Nav N Go...

Yes, I lived in the same student accommodation as Petya and Goro, who went on to start development, and who are still the main developers of Nav N Go navigation software. Then I started out working with systems engineering, and while I was at university I worked as a systems administrator for (Hungarian phone company) Matáv. I didn't neglect the development side, however, and I worked part-time as a programmer for a French-Hungarian company, which was part of my life for a long time. Later I became more and more involved with Windows, and I worked as a Microsoft trainer at the Netacademia, finally getting a place at Microsoft Hungary as a systems engineer.

For a systems engineer that must be the top spot in the profession, but you still switched to a much less certain career in navigation software development.

There were several reasons for this. For one thing, at Microsoft I was starting to feel that there was something missing from my life, and at the same time it was impossible to get home from work at a reasonable time. For another, I couldn't give up programming, so after a day's work I was doing some development just for fun. I managed to overexert myself and I didn't sleep too much during that time. Then the moment came in 2006 when I decided I had to change.

How did you come to Nav N Go?

At that time there was a lot of talk in development circles about this Hungarian company, it was a really interesting direction they were going in, and on top of that I knew that the company had been started by my old friends from university, so I started to get really interested in the whole thing. One day in spring I met Petya, who told me about the iGO My way software, and then he invited me in to Nav N Go so that I could find out more about it. It didn't cross my mind that I was at a "job interview", I just talked for a good hour and a half with one of the development guys, Fable, and at the end of it he offered me a job. I didn't need even a minute to think about it.

Did the work you were given meet your expectations?

Yes, I had to learn about a whole new area, and these are generally the kind of new challenges that drive a programmer forward. At that time the Project Team was just being formed at Nav N Go, whose task was, and still is, to adapt iGO My way software to meet the needs of the company's device-manufacturing customers. I first participated in the development of the software for MyGuide, and since then we have done loads of different projects...

And now you are the Leader of the whole Project Team...

In January 2007 development at Nav N Go was separated into two divisions, the Core and the Project divisions, and I've been the Leader of the Project Team since then. We are constantly being joined by new colleagues, and now there more than 50 of us in this division.

What is your main task at the company?

It is a general custom at Nav N Go that the Team Leaders are not just "managers" but also take part in the projects, so to this day I try to do my bit in software development. Of course my job comes with more responsibilities; I need to know the strengths of the people working in my team, what they are like and what they are capable of. Fortunately we've managed to build the kind of team where everyone works well together, and that is something we couldn't do without.

What else do you need to be a good developer?

Apart from professional knowledge, you also need to have creativity and independence. If you are part of a team, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to solve problems on your own sometimes. It also helps is you can put up with a lot of pressure, although we try to keep the strain off the developers. Of course everybody still understands that there are times when you need to get together, and take the project forward on an all-for-one-and-one-for-all basis. You have to realise that this very young company is at the stage where you have to build up momentum so that it can carry on moving forward in the future. A really good colleague is one who understands why this is so important.

How does Nav N Go try to help your work?

I think we can easily say that the working conditions are above average, we get all the tools we need for development, and we can work really comfortably. For programmers it is often important that they have flexible working hours to do their tasks in, because it's common knowledge that programmers are not early-risers, but prefer working in the evening or at night. The most important thing is to get the work done, and it isn't a problem if somebody doesn't turn up for work until midday. We do insist, however, that there is a time during the day when everybody is present, so that we can complete our common tasks. In addition, online communication between us is very important, which means that most of us can be reached even if we are not at our desks.

What do you like doing when you are not at your desk?

In my free time I like to be with my family and my children, sometimes just resting at home, sometimes doing something more active. We love skiing, for example, and one of our new favourites is geocaching - just so that we can't get away from navigation completely... :)