Andrei joined our front end team and has been kicking butt ever since! His way around WordPress has helped us move really quickly in the last few months and we’ve been able to release some awesome new features!
In a few sentences – Who are you?
I’m Andrei Mikhailov and I came fr
om Russia to work at the awesome Zemanta. I’m a versatile and enthusiastic developer who loves to be on both front and back ends. It keeps me in balance and brings me a new dose of inspiration over and over again and helps me develop apps with love.
Where did you go grow up?
I grew up in Lipetsk, 500k in population industrial city in Central Federal District of Russia that was a resort in the past and is famous for it’s metallurgical factory nowadays… and It’s not in Siberia 
Who are your influences?
Many influences, it would take a day or two if I started talking now. I really love music and I have to say that music follows me all the time. Literature of course, thanks to my russian roots, I’m able to read originals and get a lot of satisfaction from reading. People and cultures, I’m happy I have this opportunity to travel around the world and meet different people, oh and of course girls!
What did you study?
Mostly computers and computer networks, but programming was always dominating for me even if I didn’t have enough emphasis on that during the study, so I learnt many things myself, thanks Internet, the best library in the world!
What is your role at Zemanta?
I am a front-end developer and widget development is my primary responsibility. I do many prototypes of upcoming features and always keep in touch with our UX team. Together we make Zemanta better and better everyday.
What are some blogs that at you follow that others may not know about?
I can’t say I read a lot on the Internet, but some quite interesting technical posts may be found on Paul Irish blog. I recommend it to our front-end staff.
Team Google or Team Apple? Explain!
Somewhere in the middle. Apple has an aggressive and restrictive policy and has distinguishing features to take simple things and turn it upside down, that makes me feel puzzled at times, however I like their design mostly and their usability approach. Google has a lot of great products but their design looks too simple and feels like two steps behind from Apple in certain products, but I have to admit they run many apps that keep saving me a lot of time, regardless any visual appearance or usability, it just works!
How did you get involved with Zemanta?
Zemanta and I had a friend in common, so he told me that Zemanta was looking for javascript developers and gave me their contact information, so this is how we found each other. After two months and five interviews they told me they wanted me to join the team, and I was totally absorbed. As Andraz said, so far friend suggestions were the best source of good candidates, I hope he was talking about me, or am I flattering myself? Nah! 
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