One Year In: My Journey as a Developer at Vyking

Hi, I’m Dušan, a backend engineer at Vyking, responsible for building and maintaining the APIs and integrations that connect our platform to iGaming content suppliers and here is my story at Vyking so far.

So, it’s been a really enjoyable first year at Vyking. Over the past 12 months, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside highly skilled engineers while tackling problems that genuinely challenge how I think about software development. If you enjoy pushing systems to their limits, optimising performance, and building things that are designed to last, this is exactly the kind of environment where that mindset thrives.

Learning the System, Piece by Piece

I initially came across Vyking while exploring new opportunities, but what immediately stood out was the technology. The use of Golang, which is my preferred language, made a strong first impression. It is perfectly suited to the kind of distributed, high throughput systems we build here. Very quickly, though, it became clear that it was not just about the tech. It was the opportunity to work on genuinely challenging projects, alongside talented people, that made the decision easy. 

In the first few weeks, the complexity of the platform was obvious. There are many interconnected services, each responsible for a specific part of the system. It takes time to understand how everything fits together. But that is also what makes it interesting. Once you start connecting the pieces, you realise the depth of what is being built here. It is the kind of software company where you are constantly learning, and where understanding evolves over time rather than overnight.

Working on Systems That Actually Scale

As part of the casino team, my work has spanned integrations, core platform features, and high volume data systems. Early on, I worked on content provider integrations, including Slotegrator. From there, I moved into building admin tools, KPIs, and reporting features. More recently, my focus has been on high volume data processing, including real time event pipelines that feed into our Intelligence systems.

A big part of the role is pushing systems to their limits. It is about optimising performance, ensuring efficiency, and building services that can handle large volumes of data without breaking. One of the most significant projects I have worked on is the bonus engine upgrade, which is now close to completion and will soon be live within the core platform. It is a complex system that requires precision at every level, ensuring consistency, preventing invalid states, and guaranteeing correct outcomes at scale.

Building Things Properly, Not Just Quickly

One thing that stands out at Vyking is the approach to engineering. There is no pressure to rush features just to ship quickly. The focus is on building and developing things properly. That means correctness, performance, and long term quality are always prioritised.

The bonus engine upgrade is a good example of this. It is one of the most complex systems I have worked on, not just in terms of logic, but also in ensuring stability under real world conditions. Seeing it come together as a near complete platform feature has been a great experience. At this level, even small improvements can have a meaningful impact. Better performance improves the user experience, reduces infrastructure costs, and makes the entire platform more scalable.

Growing Through Real Engineering Challenges

A lot of my growth over the past year has come from working on problems you simply do not encounter in smaller scale systems. When you are dealing with performance at scale, you need to think differently. Monitoring, observability, and recovery become just as important as the feature itself. Making sure systems behave correctly under load and can recover when something goes wrong has significantly sharpened how I approach development. I have also become more detail oriented. It is no longer about making something work, but about making sure it works in all scenarios, under real conditions, and over time. 

Ownership, Autonomy, and Continuous Learning

The tech and engineering culture at Vyking is built around ownership. You are not just writing code and moving on. You are responsible for what you build. If something breaks, you fix it. That naturally pushes you to think more carefully about how you design and implement solutions. At the same time, there is a strong focus on growth. You are encouraged to explore new technologies, work on problems that interest you, and continuously improve your skills. Opportunities like attending conferences and tech talks are supported, which adds another layer to that development. It is an environment where you are trusted to solve problems, not just execute tasks.

A Strong Team, Even in a Remote World

Even though we work remotely, the team dynamic is one of the strongest aspects of working at Vyking. We are a relatively small team, which makes communication fast and direct. If you need help, you get it quickly. Over time, that has built a strong sense of trust and collaboration.

And while remote work offers flexibility, Vyking also invests in regularly bringing people and the wider team together for workations in places recently like Schladming, Austria and Zagreb, Croatia. These get together events give us the chance to connect in person, share ideas, and strengthen relationships outside of day to day work. That balance between remote flexibility and in person connection works really nicely.

Looking Ahead

What excites me most at Vyking is continuing to improve performance and contribute to building software that is robust, reliable, and built to scale. I am focused on growing as an engineer, deepening my technical expertise, and helping support and mentor new team members as the company continues to grow. If you are someone who values ownership, enjoys solving complex problems, and cares about building systems that remain stable and reliable over time, Vyking is a great place to be. It is not just about writing code. It is about building things that work, scale, and last, while continuously exploring new technologies and challenging projects.

Final Thoughts

If you are someone who values ownership, enjoys solving complex problems, and cares about building systems that remain stable and reliable over time, Vyking is a great place to be. It is not just about writing code. It is about building things that work, scale, and last, while continuously exploring new technologies and challenging projects.