If you’ve been following the Vukovar 365 series, you’ve met some of its creative souls, sports enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, overall impressive, engaging, and positive examples of the human species. Lucky we are to have them. Hopefully, the series broadened your views and understandings and made you look at Vukovar as a breathing city, indeed full of life and ready to face the future. And no image of the future would be complete without the IT guys powering it all. Time to learn about the IT scene in Vukovar and the fantastic team (Corgi included) behind it all.
Code Consulting is a reasonably young but reputable software development company whose home is no less than this humble town on the Danube. It was brought to life by Saša Salamon, who left a full-time permanent job (the dream of many Croatians) to start his own business in 2013. Since then, Code Consulting grew and established its position mainly within the medical industry. Saša spoke about the beginnings, the now, the future. He finds Vukovar to be the perfect place to live and grow. Asked about the Vukovar Card idea, he does say that the schedule is packed full and that our guests might need a break. One could argue that this only shows how much there is to offer. It also highlights one of the more important points of the true Slavonian (and Croatian) lifestyle – take it easy. Focus on the real values in life and appreciate those around you, at least as much as Saša appreciates his team.
Tell us about Code Consulting – what do you do?
CodeCons is a team of about 60 web and mobile application development professionals. We mainly deal with solutions in the medical industry for clients in the US. Our team consists of experts in different areas of software development, from architecture, design, development, testing, infrastructure… thus we can cover the entire course of software development, from the initial idea to production. We work mainly on long-term projects that last for several years and constantly evolve.
How did it all start?
It started a long time ago, about 10 years. I had a permanent job in a large company, but I would spend my free time programming, mostly freelance, with various clients from all over the world. My clients were quite happy with my work and wanted to continue our collaboration, so I decided to start doing it full-time at one point. As the business expanded, I kept looking for and hiring more people, so it all kept unfolding.
What was it like to start such a business in Vukovar? What were the main challenges?
IT is a location-independent industry. Whether it’s Vukovar, Zagreb, Varaždin… it doesn’t matter where you are. The team is important; you need to make up a good team of people who love their job and are experts in what they do.
The biggest challenge has always been finding good people, enough good people to get the job done. So we are constantly hiring; in fact, I would like to use this opportunity to invite anyone interested to contact us, check us out and see if you like what we do here.
As far as location goes, it wasn’t about that at all for us. Our team is crucial for our success.
Are you happy with how your business is developing? What is your perspective for the future?
I am happy. We have an excellent team, regular clients satisfied with our product, and we are working on some new technologies. So far, we have been doing well, and I hope the trend continues.
What opportunities are there in our city and our region?
Vukovar is a small town, and we need to keep that in mind. The pros of living here include no crowds, everyone knows everyone, and we are a very safe city. There are also some cons, primarily that we lack some facilities, but Osijek is 30 minutes away, which is not that far. When it comes to work, like anywhere, it heavily depends on what people do.
What is your view on other small businesses in the area?
We are trying to connect with other IT companies in the region. In 2019 we founded the association VVIT to connect and get to know IT companies in the region and promote our IT sector. Our region is not just about agriculture; we want to show a strong IT community here to get more people and companies to come in this direction.
If we were to implement Vukovar Card, would you support the initiative, and what would you add to this idea?
I believe that tourism is a neglected economic branch in our region and any initiative to raise it to a higher level is welcome. However, I don’t know whether this is the right way to do it. I don’t know. We need good ways to attract people to come and see experience Slavonia, but this requires a joint effort of the state and private companies in tourism or related to tourism. The situation is getting better year by year, but very little has been done so far.
I read about this initiative and the proposed itinerary, and my suggestion would be to tone it down a little. Seven days at such a pace might be too much, and people would not get the real experience of Slavonia and Baranja, living a slow pace in which everything is still achieved. I am afraid that by day 3, our guests would become tired and would have had enough of it. Also, why not include family farms and private accommodation facilities, which are plentiful and offer much more than hotels in terms of experience and comfort.
Finally, tell us about life in Vukovar. What do you like most? What would you say to all potential visitors?
When you say Vukovar, the first thing I think of is the Danube. It is the second-largest river in Europe and the city that literally lies on its banks. The Danube provides sailing, fishing, swimming, exploring nature from land or water. Rare are the cities that lie on such large and mighty rivers.
I love living in a small town; I think it gives me everything I need at the moment. I always tell people to come and see, try, experience it. Give yourself a time plan in a relaxed way. Oh, and we are not that far from Zagreb… they say that Zagreb is about the same distance from us!
Where can we find you?
Check out our website as well as our Facebook page.
For more, check out our lifestyle section.
