Aug 9, 2024

Colleague Chronicles: Konstantin Ivanov, Software Developer

Colleague Chronicles: Konstantin Ivanov, Software Developer

So my first question is that how long have you been working at the company and in what role and which project?

I've been working with P92 since the middle of April last year, so more than one year already. I started as a senior Python developer and recently I transitioned to the tech lead role.

And what is the project that you're working on?

I'm working on a benefits management system. It’s a big project that has been developed for a long time.

You came from another company with this project. Can you tell me why you switched companies?

The main reasons are that the team was small and we didn’t have the broader expertise of P92 and since the product is growing, P92 was chosen to continue developing the product.

And what is it like working from a team that's mostly based in another country?

Ever since he pandemic I’ve been working remotely so it is not a big change for me. I think culturally we are close, so it’s again not a huge difference in the way we communicate. Except talking in English and the 1 hour difference there is nothing else that would make it different than working with Bulgarian colleagues. Moreover I have one more Bulgarian colleague with whom we were working together before and we came to P92 together. I enjoy working with my Hungarian colleagues.

What do you think about Hungarian people in general?

As I mentioned in the previous answers, I don’t think that cultural difference is huge. All my colleagues are polite, have good sense of humor and it is pleasure to work with them.

This is your first time meeting with Hungarian colleagues?

No, we've met already several times. The first time we met was in Bulgaria and since then we had few workshops together in Budapest and Szeged.

What are some tasks associated with your work? What do you usually do on an average day?

Because Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Hungary, I would start my day a little bit earlier. So I would be able to be the most productive before our daily standups. Then we would have our daily. Depending on the day, we would have the other scrum meetings. I would then try to assist whoever needs some of my domain knowledge on the project. So that nobody is stuck. And then I would be usually working on a new feature or fixing some bugs that might come up.

Do you have some additional roles as a team lead?

My roles at the moment consists of working closely with the product owners to gather requirements and assist the project manager with planning the work ahead. Also I try to assist my teammates whenever they need any knowledge or a stuck on any task. That's what I usually do. And I'm also responsible for most of the bug fixes and releases. And then if there is enough time I would be working on features as well.

What do you most like about working with this team?

I most enjoy the collaborative and supportive atmosphere within our developer team.

What are your future plans?

Since the project has been developed for around 10 years now, as expected, there are a lot of things that has to be refactored and improved. It is a challenge to update such big system while it is being actively used by many users. But with those challenges come a lot of opportunities for learning.

Why would you recommend this company to others?

I would recommend because of their exceptional expertise and commitment to delivering high-quality solutions. The team is incredibly knowledgeable and stays up-to-date with the latest industry trends and technologies.