Arvin Gerald, or "Max" as he is more known among his workmates, is a .NET developer with close to a decade of work experience. He joined Cloud Employee in March of 2017. He had recently worked for a Sweden-based client that specialises in the development and integration of e-commerce systems where he was responsible for creating and maintaining API implementations for ERP and ISP invoice applications. We interviewed him for this month's feature developer.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Arvin Gerald Macaso but everyone except my family calls me Max, Macs, or Mocs. I’m from Zamboanga City, that’s in Mindanao, south of the Philippines, and our dialect is Chavacano which is mostly Spanish-based creole language. I’m into music and video games.

Just this October my wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy so I would say that he and my wife motivate me mostly to work hard.

When and how did you get started programming?

I started programming professionally as soon as I graduated from college and that was in April of 2006.

What is the programming language and/or framework of your choice? And why?

 I’m more comfortable with C# and .NET, though I do sometimes study and work with other languages like Java and PHP. I also do Android and iOS apps when I have the time. But I prefer C# as I have the longest experience working in it.

Can you share some of the projects you’ve done? Which of them are you most proud of and why?

I’m proud of every project that I’ve ever worked on because I try to give my very best when I work on them. For each project, I try to research and implement new technologies so that I could at least grow technically and wouldn’t get stuck on what I already know.

But to name some projects I would say that these ones are memorable to me: OMED HR System, eMergence Accounting System, AXA Life Insurance System, Huggies, and Kotex FB apps for Kimberly Clark, uMedicard insurance system, and my latest one, API implementations of Fortnox, Billogram, Inkassogram, Visma, Fortagsplatsen, etc. for Syncify Sweden.

In your work experience as a developer, what’s a frequently overlooked skill that proved surprisingly useful?

The ability to search for solutions online and to test your work.

What projects/technologies do you enjoy working on in your spare time?

Mobile apps and an isometric game that I’m developing on HTML5 canvas.

Walk us through your day. What’s a typical day like for you as a developer?

• Wake up at 9 AM, eat breakfast, and have some coffee.
• Open my laptop and, whichever I’m in the mood for, I would: browse forums or watch YouTube videos, play video games, or work on personal projects.
• At 12-noon cook lunch for my wife.
• At 1 PM I start getting ready for work.
• 3 PM work starts.
• Go home at 12 AM and it’s my turn to watch the baby. I’ll sleep but if the baby wakes up I will be the one to feed him until 6 AM, wherein its already my wife’s turn and I will have an uninterrupted sleep up until 9 AM.

What’s your favorite part of being a developer?

It feels good when you see the project that you developed is finally done and published.

Tech is an industry where the trends and requirements change quickly. How do you keep your skills up to date?

In my spare time, I read about new tech and try to implement them in my projects, if not in work projects, at least in my personal ones.

What made you decide to work in Cloud Employee?

A friend of mine referred me. The offer and the environment are good so I joined.

What’s it like working at Cloud Employee so far?

Currently, it’s not so stressful.

What do you like to do in your spare time, outside of programming?

I like to play games like Dota 2, World of Warcraft, CS:GO, DayZ, Rust, etc. I also like to learn new songs on guitar and violin. I also have a few bonsai that I take care of.

Any tv shows you’d like to recommend?

The Office (US), Parks and Recreation, Grey’s Anatomy, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory, Silicon Valley, Breaking Bad, South Park, Rick and Morty.

What would be your dream dev setup, in terms of hardware and software? / What do you use to get the job done? 

I’m not really picky about my set up so I’ll take anything that can run Visual Studio and other tools smoothly. But I prefer Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. At least 16GB RAM and 4GB video card. Two of at least 1920X1080 resolution monitors, 3.8 GHz 4th gen CPU. I’ll add a 512GB SSD, a good keyboard, and mouse, and then life will be better.

Need a quality .NET developer for your development team? Arvin is available for hire. Talk to us, learn more how Cloud Employee works, or see our Developer Pricing Guide. You can hire dedicated offshore developers with us across many technologies.