Vitaly Friedman, the co-founder and editor-in-chief at Smashing Magazine, is revving up the Vilnius design scene with his front-end developers’ event at the Liverpool bar on Tuesday. Startup Lithuania had a quick word with Vitaly about his move to Vilnius last September and his impressions about our scene.

Hi Vitaly, so how did you end up in Vilnius? What are you up to here?

Vitaly Friedman: I settled in Vilnius for personal reasons, and now that I'm in Vilnius, I'm very curious to explore the front-end/UX community and build up a growing group to nourish the knowledge and sharing of ideas! Basically Vilnius is my home now — that's the place where I get back to to work on articles and ongoing projects in a cafe around the corner on Gedimino st., mostly spending my days editing, writing, experimenting with front-end and UX and working on ongoing consultancy projects!

Cool! It’s been nearly a year since you arrived. So how did you find Lithuania in general and the Vilnius IT scene?

Vitaly Friedman: To be honest, I was very impressed with a few things when I arrived in Vilnius. First of all, people are very friendly, helpful and open-minded. Also, the designers and developers I met are very knowledgeable and eager to learn! (Which is probably why there is a new Wix.com office and Google coming to Lithuania). Also, the infrastructure is very good for any start-ups or tech-driven companies, from very affordable and high-speed Internet to costs of living. It's great to come back to Vilnius after a busy city like London, Munich or Berlin and focus on working without being distracted!

Thanks, Vitaly, see you on Tuesday! Vitaly will share his experience in pattern libraries at the Liverpool bar. He still has open slots for more speakers and quick talks!