From a passion for sounds. Let’s discover the story of Łukasz Nowak
Łukasz Nowak has dedicated the last four years of his career to the consistent development of professional competences in the position of Senior Frontend Developer in our company. And although he started working in a modern technology centre on April Fool’s Day, he takes employment in the IT industry seriously. As a specialist, he is responsible for the functioning of cutting edge applications supporting the implementation of financial processes.
How does Łukasz combine work with his undisguised passion for sounds? How long has he been pursuing his interests? And what musical challenges does he still want to take up?
A large dose of dynamic development
Our colleague remembers his first day of work at HL Tech very well. An experienced Senior Frontend Developer was then commissioned to create a trial application. Thanks to the internal library of optimised visual components, he had the application view ready the same afternoon. The next day he could just start developing business criteria into it. As Łukasz himself says, the pace of implementation into the ecosystem is fast owing to advanced work tools that contribute to a great developer experience, characteristic of the organisation in which he works.
He is currently creating a new application to support HL Tech customers in the process of transferring their products. This is a very interesting task with lots of new challenges, carried out using the latest IT solutions.
But is there ‘something’ besides technology that gives Luke’s life the shape of his dreams?
A youthful passion that continues to this day
Łukasz began his incredible adventure with sounds while still in high school. At first he was interested in dance music. When he came across a program on RMF FM radio “Technikum Mechanizacji Muzyki” (“Music mechanisation technique”), he quickly realised that the so-called techno will be one of his favourite genres. He recorded broadcasts on cassettes and listened to them until late in the evening. It filled his life. Over the years, the recordings on the cassettes have degraded, but fortunately everything is archived in .mp3 format and made available on the Internet.
When he reached the age of majority, he began to actively participate in musical events. He supported party promoters by helping to organise events, DJing and preparing graphics for posters/leaflets. He then went a step further by trying his hand at writing record reviews. It quickly turned out that this allowed him to establish relationships with various interesting musicians and label owners. And this, in turn, opened the door for Łukasz to do interviews and write articles. The initiatives he undertook at that time often went beyond the usual patterns, and his activity in both online and traditional media went beyond the country’s borders.
A strong need for further progress
At some point in his life, our specialist realised that if he wanted to discover new cultures and communicate with their representatives, he had to learn a foreign language. It was a time when a strong need for development triggered the motivation to learn English. And, as he himself emphasises, if it weren’t for this internal drive, he wouldn’t be working in our company today.
Travelling to other countries helped develop language skills. During his trips abroad, he also absorbed new, local musical genres. For example, while in Reykjavik, he bought records of the rock band Sigur Ros, which he rediscovered thanks to his stay on the island. While travelling around Argentina, it was no accident that he encountered tango, which he had never been interested in before. He then realised that this music was part of national culture, and not just a product of high society, as it is usually associated with on our continent.
Łukasz also experienced the flamenco atmosphere. He claims that only in Spain these native rhythms, songs and dances are best perceived. The same applies to the musical atmosphere of the Caribbean zone. As Łukasz says, the right vibe can be heard only among palm trees and at temperatures above 30 degrees C!
There are still many sounds to discover
Our colleague emphasises that while working at HL Tech, he has many opportunities to visit the parent company based in Bristol. This, in turn, is a great excuse to visit music stores and buy new records. Moreover, already during the interview for the position of Senior Frontend Developer, he associated Bristol with art and music, such as drum & bass, trip hop or broadly understood dance music, as well as the bands Portishead, Massive Attack and Roni Size & Reprazent. When he goes to Great Britain professionally, visits music and video exchange shops. He spends several hours there searching for various local sounds.
In the near future he plans to go to Brighton, where there are music labels that were responsible for great releases over 20 years ago. He hopes to find CDs there that are no longer available online. Besides, there is always London as the cradle of world dance music. Trips there are inextricably linked to hunting for CDs forgotten by time. We already wish Łukasz many musical fulfillments, hoping for his reports from his next journeys.