1. Who are you?
I’m Jaroslav Brož and I've worked for Dlubal for one year and one month now.
2. What studies did you do, and how did you come to Dlubal?
I studied structural engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. After graduation, I continued as a Ph.D. student at the Department of Mechanics. I did research related to computing large-scale engineering problems on parallel computers. During my studies, I learned programming and software development. After defending my thesis, I decided to pursue a career as a software developer. I joined a company that develops applications for structural engineers. There, I learned about real software development and product management. Then I got the opportunity to join the Dlubal team.
3. What are your tasks?
I’m the leader of one of the development teams. We, as a team, work on the development of our Webservice, API, and scripting, as well as the import / export modules and links to third-party applications. As I’m the team leader, my tasks vary depending on the situation. I run the scrum meetings and take care of the team and its members. I handle demands and requests from various colleagues and transform them into development tasks. Furthermore, I also write code in various programming languages to demonstrate the use of our Webservice / scripting capabilities. I’m also an evangelist of our products and I do presentations and partial product marketing of our applications and tools to our clients and prospects. I’m also involved in discussions about mutual collaboration with third parties. As you can see, a lot of tasks.
4. What is important in your job?
That's a good and tricky question. I feel that the most important thing is to be a good leader and support your teammates. I see myself as a servant leader who helps them to do their daily work as well as motivating and coaching them. That’s important. Without a good team, you aren't able to deliver any meaningful value.
5. What do you look forward to when you come to work in the morning?
I think it's the opportunity to work with the smart, open-minded, and enthusiastic people in my team. I also look forward to learning new technologies and concepts as well as releasing and presenting our work to various stakeholders.
6. What do you like about construction/BIM/statics in general?
I like the creativity of structural engineering work. Each project is unique and brings new challenges. I also see an opportunity for our industry to be fully digital. The first steps are being taken with the help of BIM. Nowadays, we can see the rise of innovative technologies like virtual & augmented reality, used by architects to present their concept of a building to the client, as well as the use of artificial intelligence to create better designs, resulting in less waste of materials and space. I’m a big fan of digital technologies, and I’m glad that we as engineers use them to produce better life and a sustainable environment.
7. What has been your best experience so far?
I can't say that there is only one. There are several experiences I want to mention. The first is with my team. I was very excited to go from establishing a new team to heading a fully productive team. That journey was one of the best experiences I want to mention. I learned a lot. The second one relates to the promotion of our product. I got the opportunity to attend events for our clients, where I presented our WebService as well as making a webinar. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of our clients are active in automation or the use of APIs to make their lives easier. It was a nice "aha" moment to realize that people are forming groups to support digitization and automation. The last experience is ongoing; it is business development, where we meet possible collaboration partners and discuss how we can put our solutions together and bring value to our mutual clients.
8. What is your hobby? How do you combine it with your job?
I’m an avid runner and swimmer. I do these activities to free up my mind as a kind of meditation. I don't need to race with others. I set my own limits or challenges, and then I try to break them / complete them. I also enjoy spare time with my family. All of this is possible thanks to the flexible working time policy and home office.
9. What advice would you give to young civil engineers and graduates for the future?
My advice is rather simple. Never stop learning and improving your skills. You never know, some skill or piece of knowledge could bring you a big advantage soon. At least, this is my experience. I learned programming while studying structural engineering. I used this skill to get the job of developer. While I was a developer, I improved my soft skills and got the job of product manager. Let me use a quote from "Forrest Gump": “My mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”
10. What is your favorite building?
Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. I first saw this building when I was a young boy. I was fascinated with the complex shapes. It was one of the things that brought me to structural engineering.