Meet Team Testomato: Jan

Who are you and what is your role at Testomato?

My name is Jan Prachař and I’m a Senior Developer. One of my main responsibilities at Testomato is handling the client-side Javascript code.

What is the best part of your job?

The best part of my job is the feeling I get when I see that users really use our product and benefit from it. I like getting feedback from them and adding features that satisfy their requirements.

What’s been your proudest moment working on this project?

The proudest moment for me working on this project was the first time I realized that Testomato was actually helping users find problems on their sites. We began receiving this kind of positive feedback during the user testing sessions and interviews we conducted with our early adopters.

How did you get into web development?

The field of web technologies has always attracted me because it was something that I could easily experiment with in a browser on my computer. And, I liked that I could quickly build something useful that helped others. I began playing around with web development during college for fun and then, it became my job.

What is your least favorite error?

My least favorite errors are the kind which are difficult to reproduce, happen randomly, and leave no trace in the log files. The problem with this kind of error is that you cannot be sure that it is fixed until the error occurs again. We have, for example, an error of this type on Testomato, but we’re not sure if it has been resolved. It occurred once during automated browser testing and as far as we know, a real user has never experienced the error.

What is the hardest part of developing an application?

I think the hardest part is time management, i.e. focusing on your goals and finishing them as soon as possible even if the initial results aren’t perfect.

Tell us one geeky fact about yourself.

I love anything and everything that has to do with railways – travelling by train and looking out the window, watching the track and trains against a beautiful landscape, and listening to the sounds. My greatest weakness is steam engine locomotives – especially the ones made by Czech engineers.

You can tweet or follow Jan @jan_prachar.