Labin, March 21st, 2022

Based in Croatia, Lloyds Digital is an award-winning agency crafting a digital experience to handle all the needs of companies– from web and mobile apps to software, eCommerce, and brand identity. They have a purpose-built and passion-driven team ready to cope with every project they work on, no matter the size, scope or complexity.

Valentina Stokić is a backend developer/ QA team lead at Lloyds Digital. In an interview with TIA, Stokić explained how her fascination for computers drove her to a career in the digital world. She described her responsibilities at the agency as part of her double role and gave her impressions on the effects of the pandemic in marketing product launches

To kick things off please can you describe to us a little bit about your city and why it is a great place to work? What’s one must-do experience in your opinion?

Labin is a quiet and friendly town situated on a 320 meters high hill and only three kilometers from the seaside. The most famous fact about Labin is that it was the center of a coal-mining industry, and the whole culture of the city and its habitants is influenced by it. The town is a fascinating locale to explore, displaying a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture. If you ever visit Labin, you must try the best pizza in Croatia, in Rumore, with the best view at the seaside, on the famous San Marco square.

How did you first become interested in digital experiences?

I’ve always been fascinated by computers and what makes them carry out their activities. Guided by that fascination, I slowly entered that world. And also, elders said “Study Computers, you’ll have a bright future”. I did as they said, and they were right.

Working with the right agency can be a valuable partnership. What attributes do you want people to associate your Lloyds digital with?

Passion, honesty, reliability, professionalism and smartness, creativity, open mindedness.

Could you explain to us briefly what’s your role as a Backend developer and Quality assurance specialist? And why is it important?

These are two completely different roles and responsibilities. Both are important. As a Backend developer I’m responsible for developing and evolving the software using the latest software development infrastructure and methods. Also my responsibility is to develop and maintain the central database, ensuring high responsiveness and performance for requests from the frontend.

As a QA specialist I’m responsible for catching, documenting, describing, and reporting bugs and errors to the development team. This role is important because we maintain a high standard of product quality that we develop at Lloyds digital.

Tell us about a recent project you’ve worked on that you’re proud of. What particularly brought out the best in you?

It’s hard to answer a question like this. I’m proud of every project, and I’ve learned something useful and improved my skills on every one of them. I will single out the last project I worked on. I developed a CMS that serves four high-traffic websites simultaneously, which have a lot of data. Also, it was necessary to do a lot of synchronization with external services.

How do you organise and prioritise your workload?

I write a prioritized list of tasks. I try to follow that list, of course sometimes it is not possible to follow the whole list because an urgent task happens. I usually do my important things and meetings in the first part of the work day, when my brain is fresh, when I can make better decisions and have better ideas.

The perfect client brief: Does it exist?

I heard from colleagues that it exists.

We are living through the most important pandemic in recent world history. How digital has changed marketing product launches?

Surviving the pandemic for many companies meant holding existing customers. The pandemic required a digital transformation in many companies. Following the requirements, the companies had the opportunity to make changes in two directions: building better digital interfaces, and transforming to webshop models. Many companies and their products have gained new customers after the transformation into a webshop. The pandemic has brought a new (better) direction and way of working for product companies.

With shopper behaviour changing, what impact do you believe machine learning and big data will have on the world of creative production?

ML can change the way products are presented to the end user and the way they see it by showing them information that we know is interesting to the user. It is also easier to analyze the performance of some content.

What are the qualities any good backend developer must possess?

Problem-solving, good communication and interpersonal skills, Research Skills, to be detailed oriented.

Three top tools you can’t live without?

VS code, Productive, GitLab.

Do you have a message for young women considering a career in digital?

Although the digital world is dominated by men, and it may be challenging to join such an organization, the last few years have seen increasing progress in gender equality. I think the digital industry is one of the best, perhaps even the best, industries that provides gender equality. I think it is a great industry for the growth and professional development of a woman.

From your personal standpoint, what global issues are you most passionate about and why?

Corruption. Corruption is a global and present problem, it enters all segments of society, directly endangers human rights, has a devastating effect on the morals and values of a society, the development of entrepreneurship and prosperity in general.

What’s a fun-fact that not many people know about you?

While most people hate cleaning, I clean my apartment everyday and I love it.

Thanks Valentina!

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