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Nikola Brežnjak

VP of Engineering

Nomorobo | Croatia

Technologies

My Portfolio Highlights

My New Github

Github

My New Article

Nikola Brežnjak blog

My New Github

Github

Numbers enthusiast, translating data into meaningful insights.

My Work

Take a look at my latest work.

book

Getting MEAN with MEMEs [Leanpub PDF/iPad/Kindle]

github

Github

book

Ionic framework Book

article

Nikola Brežnjak blog

podcast

DevThink

Git

book

Getting MEAN with MEMEs [Leanpub PDF/iPad/Kindle]

DataCamp Course Completion

Take a look at all the courses I’ve completed on DataCamp.

Courses

Working with the OpenAI API

Vibe Coding with Replit

Courses

Working with the OpenAI API

Vibe Coding with Replit

My Work Experience

Where I've interned and worked during my career.

Nomorobo | Jan 2025 - Present

VP of Engineering

N/A

enrich | May 2024 - Present

Member

enrich is a private network for CxOs, VPs and Directors that facilitates structured conversations with people doing your job at similar companies.

Teltech | May 2022 - Jan 2025

VP of Engineering

• Secured a seat at the executive table as the first non-US member, providing valuable insights and decision-making contributions. • Orchestrated the integration of a sister company iTranslate, unifying all engineering teams under my leadership to streamline operations. • Managed a diverse team of 53 professionals across multiple engineering disciplines, driving innovation and excellence. • Led the strategic acquisition of the Confide app and played a pivotal role in the due diligence and successful acquisition of Teltech, twice. • Implemented the Hacker1 program and introduced advanced metrics for measuring engineering performance, enhancing productivity. • Pioneered the use of generative AI tools, leading to an MVP that was integrated into the flagship RoboKiller application. • Provided strategic and operational leadership for mobile, backend, QA, data, and telco development, ensuring alignment with the CEO's vision. • Established technical direction and operational best practices, maintaining security and legal compliance in collaboration with the executive team. • Acted as the principal liaison for service providers, vendors, and partner relationships, strengthening the company's network. • Aligned hiring strategies with the development roadmap, evolving the team to support strategic initiatives. • Mentored directors and enhanced team talent, collaborating with HR to provide training and development resources. • Streamlined the hiring process, improving resume screening and interviewing to attract top-tier talent. • Cultivated a team culture focused on happiness and accomplishment, enhancing collaboration and team effectiveness. • Under my technical leadership, RoboKiller surpassed 15 million downloads and achieved eight-figure annual revenue, garnering media attention and a 4.6-star rating from over 500,000 reviews. • Maintained technical expertise, contributing through articles and curated book recommendations.

Round | Aug 2023 - May 2024

Member

Round is a curated community of technology executives and senior leaders who support, grow, mentor, and learn from each other. The Round experience supports leaders who are at the forefront of technology, working on products and services that have an outsized impact on the world.

Me<CoDe/> | Jun 2016 - May 2023

Founder and Meetup Host

• Founded and hosted Me<CoDe/>, a thriving local Meetup group focused on coding and design, successfully hosting 24 dynamic gatherings.

Teltech | Apr 2019 - May 2022

Director of Engineering

• Led 40+ globally distributed engineering team members across mobile, backend, telco, frontend, data, and QA departments, fostering growth through leadership development and management training. • Strategically scaled the engineering department from 20 to 40+ professionals through effective hiring and team organizational structuring. • Ensured operational excellence and strategic alignment across all engineering disciplines. • Managed HR responsibilities, including performance reviews, recruitment, retention strategies, and career progression (I built our own career progression and job description framework). • Maintained direct communication with engineering managers and conducted skip-level meetings with team leads to enhance engagement. • Collaborated with fellow directors (product, marketing, operations) to synchronize engineering efforts with corporate objectives, ensuring agility in project execution. • Provided executive leadership with regular updates on engineering milestones and strategic insights. • Fostered a cohesive and innovative team environment through regular team- building and professional development activities. • Prioritized IT infrastructure, emphasizing security, compliance, and legal conformity. • Led a successful RfP that resulted in lowering the number of telco vendors from 8 to only 2 • Established a culture of continuous improvement with initiatives like engineering book clubs and knowledge-sharing presentations. • Led the adoption of SCRUM, streamlining the agile product development process. • Authored thought-leadership content on remote development strategies and coding best practices.

Grafing | Feb 2017 - May 2022

Fractional CTO

• Strategically advised on key technology decisions, driving the successful launch and market traction of flagship projects including Socratly, VitaFit, and MathExpert.

DevThink | Feb 2018 - Oct 2021

Co-founder and Podcast Host

• Co-founded and nurtured a successful DevThink podcast, delivering over 100 episodes of engaging content to a dedicated listener base.

Teltech | Mar 2018 - Apr 2019

Director of Mobile Engineering

• Led a team of 8 mobile engineers, successfully identifying and promoting talent to engineering management roles with ongoing coaching and mentorship. • Strategically expanded the team by recruiting 10 new talents in mobile, backend, and frontend by leveraging my reach in the local network in Croatia. • Executed HR responsibilities, including conducting annual performance reviews for direct reports and overseeing subordinate reviews. • Maintained open communication through regular 1on1 meetings with lead engineers and implemented skip-level meetings as required. • Kept the executive team informed with comprehensive updates on engineering team progress and challenges. • Promoted a collaborative culture and team unity by organizing various team- building events. • Ensured team awareness of business insights, industry trends, and developmental improvements. • Served as the pivotal expert for TrapCall and co-architected the successful RoboKiller app (top-grossing iOS Utilities app in the Apple App Store), contributing to Teltech's acquisition by IAC in October 2018. • Collaborated cross-functionally with directors from Backend, Product, Data, Design, Operations, and Marketing to align team capabilities with strategic business objectives. • Launched a book club initiative and shared insights through blogging to foster continuous learning and knowledge sharing. • Authored a popular article on implementing JWT authentication in an Angular application with a Go backend and another article on building a native Android app that can block phone calls

Teltech | Dec 2016 - Mar 2018

Engineering Team Lead

• Transitioned into an Engineering Team Lead role, managing a dynamic team of three software engineers. • Embarked on a leadership development journey, absorbing insights from influential texts such as "Leading Snowflakes" and "Coaching Habit." • Implemented structured weekly 1on1 meetings, dedicating an hour to each team member's growth and concerns. • Optimized task allocation among team members to prevent knowledge and maximize efficiency. • Established code review processes to maintain high-quality software standards. • Conducted annual performance reviews for each team member. • Helped in setting and monitoring of OKRs, ensuring team access to essential resources for peak performance. • Served as the Lead Developer for the TrapCall product, driving collaboration with product and marketing teams to enhance app performance and user satisfaction. • Sustained contributions to the open-source community, developing a Cordova Ionic Plugin for the Search Ads App Attribution API and publishing a comprehensive guide on native iOS app integration with Search Ads Attribution API.

Teltech | Feb 2016 - Dec 2016

Senior Software Engineer

• Spearheaded development within a dynamic 6-person team as a Senior Software Engineer for the high-revenue Ionic Framework mobile app, TrapCall, boasting over $10M in earnings. • Excelled in front-end technologies, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, coupled with advanced proficiency in Angular.js, and Protocol Buffers. • Recognized as the top contributor for the Ionic Framework on StackOverflow, showcasing thought leadership and problem-solving acumen. • Contributed to the open-source community by developing a Cordova plugin for VoIP push notifications and authoring a widely-read guide on native iOS app integration for VoIP push notifications.

CTIM | Dec 2013 - Feb 2016

Software Architect

• Led the evolution of a multifaceted betting/gambling software suite, driving product lifecycle management from inception and development to deployment across desktop, kiosk, mobile, and web platforms, while fostering strong client relationships and steering multiple project teams to generate over $1 million in monthly net profit. • Established as a leading full-stack developer and hybrid mobile expert, authoring two books (MEAN stack and Ionic framework) and securing the #1 answerer position on StackOverflow for the Ionic framework tag, consistently ranking in the top 3% of all contributors. • Open-sourced a project for communication with a coin acceptor using the ccTalk protocol. • Early adopter of Angular.js (used in Ionic and Cordova) and proficient in HTML5, CSS3 (+ SASS), and JavaScript. • Pioneered mobile app development with the Ionic framework, successfully launching applications on both Apple and Google app stores. • Deepened database expertise, broadening capabilities in Postgres, and acquiring an in-depth understanding of MongoDB.

Nikola Brežnjak | Aug 2013 - Present

Blogger, Book Writer, Technical Editor, and Speaker

• Started a blogging journey with my first blog post in 2013, culminating in a robust portfolio of over 500 published posts. • Contributed authoritative tech content to industry giants like Pluralsight, DigitalOcean, HackHands, dev.to, and CodeProject. • Honed editorial expertise as the technical editor for three Packt Publishing titles covering Swift, Ionic, and Node.js technologies. • Authored two well-received technical books on the topic of Ionic Framework and MEAN stack development. • Established thought leadership as a speaker at three international conferences, including two appearances in New York, and numerous local events at universities and tech hubs (Čakovec, Zagreb, Šibenik).

Yellow & Black Ltd | May 2011 - Feb 2016

Principal Engineer

• Led engineering efforts at city-treats.com, a cutting-edge startup founded by former Google engineers, demonstrating exceptional leadership and technical expertise. • Developed a sophisticated system for curating daily deals from major platforms such as Groupon, Wowcher, and LivingSocial, enhancing user experience through personalized email campaigns. • Solely administered a VPS and managed a high-capacity Postfix mail server, successfully sending over a million emails per month to well over 40000 double opt-in users at our peak. • Expert in full-stack development, adept in PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with a commitment to mobile optimization using jQuery Mobile and deploying mobile apps via the Ionic framework to both Apple and Google app stores. • Became an expert in website speed optimization (built my own image optimization, CSS and JavaScript minification and concatenation tools before they became mainstream).

Upwork | Jan 2011 - Feb 2016

Software Architect

• Delivered 17 software solutions on Upwork, consistently achieving an exceptional 4.5+ rating (link to the profile) for outstanding performance and client satisfaction. • Established as an expert in web scraping, leveraging Regular expressions, XPath, PHP, and a profound understanding of web technologies including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

CTIM | Jun 2010 - Dec 2013

Senior Software Engineer

Proficient full-stack developer with extensive experience in a variety of technologies, including: • Backend: used PHP (frameworks CodeIgniter and Laravel) to maintain and enhance the existing backend services, as well as add new features, mainly in the revenue reporting admin panel • Frontend: used HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (+ jQuery) to build several client (and backend) facing web applications for betting and customer management • Mobile web: used jQuery Mobile to develop a mobile version of the site for one of our betting clients • Windows: utilized C# and WPF to develop software for Kiosk betting devices which were deployed to three different countries (Croatia, Romania, and Bosnia). Wrote about my WPF experience. • Databases: demonstrated expertise in database management with Postgres (heavily utilizing PL/SQL) and MySQL • Game development: developed several games using Unity and Phaser.js and blogged extensively on the topic • Linux: managed our Linux servers (mostly on CentOS) and wrote several articles about it

CTIM | Jul 2008 - Jul 2010

Software Engineer

• Attained a Master's degree in Computing from FER (2010) and a Bachelor's degree (2008), balancing full-time work commitments throughout. • Advanced Linux proficiency, with a focus on CentOS, supplemented by experience with Fedora and Debian. • Broadened technical capabilities through dedicated C# learning and .NET framework application, significantly improving betting system software and expanding on the 'sure bet' and quote management project.

CTIM | Jul 2004 - Jul 2008

Software Engineering Intern

• Designed and developed an innovative odds-matching system to identify so- called 'sure bets', successfully integrating the solution into the larger betting platform during consecutive summer internships from my last year of high school through to earning my Bachelor's degree. • Acquired foundational skills in Linux, Visual Basic 6, Visual Basic for Applications, Microsoft Access, and source control systems (SourceSafe).

My Education

Take a look at my formal education

Master, Computer ScienceFER | 2010

About Me

MSc VP of Engineering @Nomorobo, Speaker, Author, Meetup & Podcast host

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