In this article, we want to introduce Erika Gili, our Developer. When Erika joined our agency in April 2021, we asked her a few questions to get to know her a little better.
This is Erika Gili
Erika lives in Bassano del Grappa, Italy.
![](https://syde.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/05/blog_content_employee_erika-gili@2x-1024x717.jpg)
How would you describe yourself?
I’m a curious and persevering kind of person. I like to learn and master new skills, find solutions and when I have a goal I totally apply myself to that. Furthermore, I may be introverted and shy with people but a magnet for cats. I’m calm and have a positive mindset and a genuine will to be happy in my life.
I’m a simple person with few needs: I want a balance between work and personal life and I want to enjoy every single moment of it. Not only that, but I’m creating a wonderful family with my husband (I’m now pregnant with our baby girl) and I want to spend as much time as I can with him and my future child. Happiness and self-consciousness are important in every aspect – without taking anything for granted. For me, my job is not only a way of earning money, but it’s an important part of my life and a way of expressing myself, so it must be something that I love doing.
How do you spend your spare time?
I bake pizza, watch movies and enjoy taking a walk with my husband. Sometimes we also do a motorcycle trip, or we go out for a hike. Other times we are in front of our computers looking into new things. I like to play around with Arduino (nothing fancy), experiment with new technologies (like conversational interfaces or bots), and realize 3D designs to print. I’m really lucky to share a lot of interests with my husband, and we enjoy creating things together. I also like to crochet as a way to decompress from a hard period of stress. Apart from that, I enjoy doing some light sport, like going out with the bicycle or doing body exercises. They have the advantage of both relaxing my body and mind after a day at work.
Erika’s way to Syde
Academically I’m an Energy Engineer and I worked in that field for one year, analyzing the energy efficiency of public buildings or compiling projects for CO2 offset of huge fabrics. I was not happy in that position, so I decided to change my destiny and started teaching myself web development. I had already studied software development for 5 years at school and university and the web seemed very interesting for me. I began working as a freelancer for little projects. In 2014, I started to work in an agency both on their product and with their customers in Italian public administration. After I have had many experiences in startups, multinational agencies with their product and web agencies on multiple customers, I finally landed at Syde.
Syde’s quality-policy aligned with my personal principle of delivering an amazing job. Just as important is their focus on WordPress, making them the best agency that you can go to when dealing with complex projects on WordPress and I wanted to be a part of that team of experts! I was fascinated by working in an international environment. I think that having an influx from different cultures will broaden my mind and make me a better person. Working remotely with flexible hours is a huge benefit for me, because I no longer have to move my car and pollute the environment to do my job and I will be more flexible to balance work and personal life when I will give birth to my daughter.
I really like the culture of the team that we have, and I’m really looking forward to being part of this new world and improving my knowledge working in big projects.
Questions to Syder Erika
We asked Erika a few personal questions to learn more about her:
What was the last book you read?
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
What was the best advice you ever got? Who gave it to you?
During high school, my professor of Italian grammar and Latin once subscribed me to a regional competition about Latin translations. When I asked why she did (my grade in Latin grammar was not that good), she said to me: “If you don’t take part, you’ll never win”. Fun fact: I won.
What do you like most about your city?
It’s a tiny city at the base of the Alps: I have a lot of nature around home and the city is small enough to be enjoyable and family friendly, but big enough to have all I need.
What is the best meal you can cook on your own?
I’m a good cook, my only problem is that I use less salt than needed (I justify myself saying that it’s for health matters, and no one can say the contrary)
You get stuck in the elevator for many hours and there’s a song playing in a continuous loop, what song would that be?
Velcro Fly by ZZtop
By the way: The Syde Team is 100% remote
This enables us to bring together the best minds in the world in one team. You want to learn more about our way of working and the Syders? Take a look inside Syde!