How long have you worked at Musopia?
Since September 2022, so I’m still a newcomer.
Why did you want to work for Musopia?
In the summer of 2022, I was forced to look for a job after layoffs at my previous company. With my ex-coworkers, we cooperated to search and recommend suitable positions to each other, and Musopia was one of the recommendations for me. Plus, I was fed up working for hyper casual mobile games and wanted to try something different yet related to the Unity game engine. Musopia was, therefore, a perfect fit for me!
Where have you worked before Musopia?
I worked at Seriously Entertainment on the game Best Fiends, and before that, at a
Belarusian game studio called Belka games, testing three of their mobile games.
What do you like best about working at Musopia?
Mainly it’s the company vision; the idea of making the world more musically inclined in an
entertaining, gamifying way really speaks to me. And, of course, the company culture. I
enjoy working with like-minded people, experiencing transparency and encouragement in every discussion, and I value a goal-oriented approach. Good riddance of red tape! No surprise that for the first time in my life, I am glad it’s Monday and time to go to work!
What do you think are Musopia’s strengths?
The strengths are similar to what I like best about working here — a perfect combination of a great product and a startup mindset. The company is stable and keeps growing steadily, constantly exploring new ideas but keeping its mission within the scope.
What is your area of responsibility at Musopia?
I am responsible for the quality of our apps in production, development, and website. Anything our users interact with has to be tested by me first, and my focus is on finding flaws before anyone else does. Be it new features for learning how to play an instrument, music content or LiveOps-related stuff like in-app messaging and purchasing.
I don’t know anything more universal in the world than music. Almost everyone likes to
listen to it and wants to encounter new things.
How have you been able to develop your skills at Musopia?
As I am relatively new to the company, I am learning a lot about its flagship products, trying
to follow the same path our users have to walk to learn an instrument. I believe it’s the best
way to come across errors and get improvement ideas. It inspired me to look back and brush
up on my language skills related to music theory, particularly in English, as I am used to a different terminology. At the same time, I am developing testing documentation, embedding software testing lifecycle into the development cycle and doing many other challenging yet exciting things.
What is your musical background?
I come from a musical family. My grandmother was a huge opera fan and befriended the great singer Nadezhda Obukhova. Both my aunts were piano teachers, and my mother plays the piano very well, as do all my cousins. As you can see, I had no choice but to continue the tradition. I started my formal training at 6 when I was accepted to the local music school and continued my studies till high school. I managed to write a few songs of my own, but poetry and other forms of creative writing attracted me more, so later on, I focused on writing lyrics.
Do you play an instrument?
The piano used to be my main instrument, and the second was my voice as I sang in the choir during my school years. As mentioned above, I quit playing long ago because I didn’t find it rewarding enough; besides, I was never free to choose my repertoire. Nowadays, things are very different, and I can learn anything I want at my own pace without grades and public concerts.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I am versatile, and my collection of 1700 songs includes almost every genre and
style to match my current mood or, on the contrary, to change it entirely by mentally
sending me to another dimension. But according to my Spotify wrap, in 2022, I mostly
listened to heavy metal, atmospheric black metal, indie and Latin rock, world music and hard
blues. Anything with a hard bass or general badass sound makes me jump right in! I also always remember classical music, which I listened to and played throughout my
childhood. Every time I visit my hometown, I must attend a symphony concert at
one of our numerous festivals.
How do you feel music makes the world a better place?
I don’t know anything more universal in the world than music. Almost everyone likes to
listen to it and wants to encounter new things. Music, for me, is the best way to learn one’s culture and express my emotions and thoughts. When nothing else helps, when all hope is gone, and a misunderstanding between you and someone is overwhelming, talk to them in the language of music. Their heart will answer even if their mind is silent.
What is the meaning of music in your life?
The idea of communicating through music with people I have met (thanks to the internet) worldwide led me to create a playlist with songs from over 100 countries, in different languages, belonging to various genres from different eras. Each piece is someone’s story—Sung in their native language, creating a unique atmosphere and feelings. I spent many hours exploring the songs’ history, lyrics, and social background. That’s just one example of how much music means to me.
What is your guilty pleasure song, the song that you secretly love?
I don’t really feel guilty about listening to anything I like, but perhaps it could be a
chanson that is rooted in prison life and criminal culture, as it is the last thing you think I would listen to, like the song Kolschik by Michail Krug.
What kind of coffee do you start your working day with?
If I don’t have time to brew coffee, I prefer Japanese drip coffee brands like UCC and AGF. But when I have enough time for filtered coffee rituals, I choose something from my Vietnamese collection: Mocca by Trung Nguyen or Phuong Vy. Thanks to my Vietnamese friends and ex-colleagues, I can try local brands not for sale anywhere else, like a signature coffee by Himiko Nguyen from her Visual Cafe – the first alternative art space in Hồ Chí Minh.
Which famous musician would you like to jam with, if possible?
Those who inspired my artistic side and became my inspiration and reference point: Chris
Corner – for electronic experiments and confessional lyricism, bringing up mental health topics and the music industry vices. I also want to mention Edmund Shklyarskiy – a musician and an artist who manages to create masterpieces even after 40 years on stage and knows how to sing about love without using that word.
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