Handling complex projects, managing heterogeneous teams and communicating with clients worldwide – no problem for the Slovenian IT-freelancer Dusan Zupancic who’s in the freelancing business since years. As an experienced Solution Architect, Consultant and Trainer, Dusan Zupancic can convince with an extensive list of well-known clients and tricky projects. Stagnation is regression! The perfect motto for an IT-freelancer who has subscribed to 92 feeds and magazines to keep up-to-date! An interview with Dusan Zupancic….1) First off, can you tell us bit about yourself?
I am Dusan Zupancic from Slovenia. I am a Solutions architect, consultant and trainer (mentor) with 25+ years of experience in the software development business. So I´m one of those who started their career on mainframes with COBOL, then over ten years C/C++ was my primary tool. In the course of my work I started to work as a trainer for C/C++, Java, Visual Basic, Microsoft .NET technologies and development tools and solutions architecture. I became enthusiastic with internet technologies early and it was my passion ever since so in 2006 it resulted in 5 consecutive yearly Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) awards for ASP.NET. Later my attention was drawn to security and I published a book »Cryptography and Cryptographic mechanisms in Microsoft .NET« (in Slovenian language) in 2006. Then I worked on interesting projects, ranging from CIA (Card Issuing Authority) for Digital Tachograph Cards for Slovenia, Biometrical Passport issuing for Slovenia and most recently I worked on REMS (Railway Energy Management Software) for Kazakhstan Railways (as an employee of HP). So I gained a lot of experience on leading heterogeneous teams on complex projects, with variety of technologies and communicating with customers and development teams to achieve project goals.
2) If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the three keywords you would type in the search bar?
“Solution Architect”, ASP.NET, predavatelj (= trainer in Slovenian).
3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer?
I already was a freelancer a few times in my life, and what attracted me was freedom of choice. You can greatly decide about your work/life balance and how much time you will invest to play with arising technologies, on which conferences you will speak and which conferences and trainings you will attend, which may later lead to some great opportunities for work. Before this freelancing period I worked in HP ES (Enterprise Services) as Solution Architect and due to reorganization, the company was laying off all ES employees in my country, so it lead to the decision to work as a freelancer again.
4) What kind of services have your clients asked you to provide?
I mostly worked as a Solution Architecture consultant, evaluating the proposed solution and solution documentation and writing documentation for more complex parts of the solution. I also worked as an external Solution Architect, leading a development team (including daily SCRUM meetings, sometimes remotely), having technical interviews with new hires and later act as their mentor on the project. I was also hired as a Consultant from the customer’s side helping them with architecture requirements for tenders.
5) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess?
Yes, I worked with freelancers on most of my projects. They had in depth knowledge on specific technologies and a lot of experience from a variety of projects they were working on. Until now I usually worked with freelancers which I knew personally or through trusted referral.
6) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services?
For clients in Slovenia it is usually through personal referral. I am now starting to use freelancing websites to reach international clients.
7) What about freelancermap.com? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with our IT-network?
I am a fresh user of freelancemap.com, so I could tell more after some period of using the service, but first impressions are good.
8) How do you set yourself apart from your competitors? What makes you special?
I like challenging projects but with years came wisdom, so I can assess risks with greater confidence and I can confidently say: if I take the project, I will make it work. I have deep technical knowledge on many areas and I still actively program (mostly C#, ASP.NET, HTML5, …) to stay in technical shape, which helps me with the successful alignment of business needs of customer and technology.
9) What are the top three books, blogs or magazines you read to stay up to date in the IT-market?
I am reading books a lot and recently they are mostly e-versions and for blogs, I am relying on Feedly and currently I have 92 feeds and the magazines I read are also mostly in e-format. Currently I am reading “Location Intelligence for Windows Store Apps” from Ricky Brundritt (I am writing a Windows store app for VFR flight planning and it is a good resource for beginners in Bing Maps for Windows Store applications). Regarding magazines/blogs it is hard to pick top three but among others I read: “Blog For Enterprise Architecture Professionals” (http://blogs.forrester.com/enterprise_architecture ), “SD Times” (http://www.sdtimes.com/ ) and MSDN Magazine (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/default.aspx ).
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Where to find Dusan Zupancic?
Freelancer profile: Dusan Zupancic at freelancermap.com
The interview was conducted by Doreen Schollmeier – freelancermap.com team.
Pic: © Dusan Zupancic
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