One of the cornerstones of how Zao works is the way we prioritize collaboration. We build long-term partnerships with our clients, rather than acting as one-off vendors. We’re invested in their success, and build technology that lays a foundation for them to meet their business goals.
Since we work so closely with our clients, we thought it important that you know who we are. Here’s the fourth part of a series introducing our team, featuring our QA engineer, Mihai Joldis.
Who are you?
Just your regular European guy from Romania that people often say sounds Russian. Born in Romania in a small used to be mining town. As of six months ago, I’m the father of a sweet boy, and as of two years ago, a husband!
Where do you live?
Currently living in Timisoara, Romania, but me and the wife have decided to try and see how living in the USA will be. 🙂 (This is a work in progress.)
What do you do at Zao?
Full time customer support for WP eCommerce plugin, some back-end development, and also QA for our client projects.
Wow, Mihai. Mihai is incredible to me; his capacity for adapting to different situations is astonishing. Seeing him effortlessly assimilate into our silly American cultural nuances during our team meet-up was one of the most profound examples of this. But even in daily work life, seeing him effortlessly shift between setting up servers, debugging broken code that I write, handling customer support for WP eCommerce is inspiring. Beyond his capabilities, he’s truly one of the kindest and most enjoyable people to work with.
-Justin Sainton, Zao Founder
What do you like best about your job?
For some weird reason I like digging in code source to find bugs. I believe I really like finding the “cause” in the code that results in it not working (or working but not the way it’s supposed to).
How do you take your coffee?
Black and sometimes with a little milk. As long as it’s coffee and Iget it as soon as possible after I wake up, I don’t really care where/how i have it.
Mihai is our resident WP eCommerce expert, and provides top-notch support and custom development for the plugin. He’s also a humble and gentle friend to us all with a sharp wit that keeps us laughing. Mihai is an integral piece of the Zao puzzle, and I’m thankful to be on the team with him.
-Justin Sternberg, Zao Managing Partner/Back-End Developer
What are your hobbies?
I really started to get into fishing lately. Trying to do it as often as possible. The feeling of catching a big fish by yourself is something different.
What is the first thing you do in the morning?
First thing is checking in with the wife and finding out how the baby is, saying hello to them, cleaning up, and then catching up on Slack discussion that happened since I went to bed.
Mihai is a truth talker and joker who is unfailingly kind. He always brings levity into the conversation, and is willing to be vulnerable when he doesn’t know something or feels unsure–a rare and precious quality in a human being, especially in a professional setting. He sets a great example, and encourages the rest of us to be vulnerable, too.
-Lizz Ehrenpreis, Zao Project Manager
What are your StrengthsFinder themes?
- Includer –
People who are especially talented in the Includer theme are accepting of others. They show awareness of those who feel left out, and make an effort to include them.
- Harmony –
People who are especially talented in the Harmony theme look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement.
- Adaptability –
People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.
- Deliberative –
People who are especially talented in the Deliberative theme are best described by the serious care they take in making decisions or choices. They anticipate the obstacles
- Consistency –
People who are especially talented in the Consistency theme are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same. They try to treat everyone in the world with consistency by setting up clear rules and adhering to them.
What is your Hogwarts House?
Slytherin.
What is something “insignificant” or silly that you feel passionately about?
Mihai is one of the kindest people I know. Having a Mihai on your team is like a warm fuzzy glue that just makes things better, even if he’s not intentionally “doing” anything to build team, his presence does. He’s a super hard worker and always willing to help out.
-Liz Karaffa, Zao Front-End Developer
What is your favorite podcast or TV show and why?
I usually check different TV shows to see which I might like or not. I LOVED Friends because the life stories seem “possible” and not something science fiction. I also really really got hooked on The Walking Dead. That might be a sci-fi scenario but IT MIGHT HAPPEN!