Every month is exciting for our colleagues in India, who will be employee of the month? For the month of January this was Hardik Tanna. We would like to introduce you to Hardik and put him in the spotlight.

Let
me introduce myself : I am Hardik Tanna, senior PHP Developer at DevRepublic. Here I am working with Laravel, MySQL, MongoDB, JQuery and Web APIs. I am also a technical trainer for new colleagues.  

In my spare time I like to be with my family and I enjoy traveling and driving. In second place next to my family is pizza, or actually food. I love it and I love good food. I also like to cook myself. My favorite to prepare yourself is “Masala Khichdi”: easy, healthy and above all very tasty.

What does your working day look like?
My day starts with a good cup of tea (in India we usually drink tea). Then I have a short session with my colleagues or a daily stand up. Then I start developing.

Our office in India has been closed for a year and you have been working from home ever since. Is that different?
Travel time to the office, one way, is 2 hours. In short, I now don't have 4 to 5 hours of travel a day that I can spend on work and family. So it is no problem to work a little longer. In addition, I find my productivity better at home than at the office. I speak to my colleagues every day, via Teams.

 You have been working at DevRepublic for 3 years now, can I say that you like it?
Absolutely! At DevRepublic I have the opportunity to develop myself. In addition, there is a good work-life balance and the work culture is very pleasant.

And what is it like for you to work with Dutch people?
Fantastic! The contact is always polite and friendly.

 However, there are still differences in culture. What do you notice about that?
Yes there is certainly a difference in culture. Especially in communication. The Dutch are very direct and straightforward. Whether it's a small or big achievement, there is always appreciation. And if something is not right or you don't like it, you will usually hear it immediately. And I have to admit: I really like that.

And are there other typically Dutch things that you like?
Yes! I once got an oliebol when there was a Dutch visitor at our office. I loved that. Do you actually eat that every day?