As we’ve reached December, and soon the end of 2023, it’s time to reflect on the past 12 months and to cherish all the lessons learned and the milestones achieved.
This is HackSoft’s Year in Review for 2023. Take a look inside what happened at the company during the year and let’s set our goals for the next one to be even better and bigger for all of us.
HackSoft turned 9! 🥳
This year marked HackSoft's 9th anniversary. To honor this milestone, we gathered for a lively birthday lunch, celebrating the growth of our company and the personal growth of each team member. 🎉
In the spirit of celebration, we hosted a special giveaway. Nine fortunate winners received Amazon Gift Cards as a token of our gratitude for being part of our remarkable journey. 🤗
The team is growing! 🙌
The HackSoft team has been slowly, but surely expanding the last couple of years and 2023 was no different! We now have a dedicated QA team that helps our developers fight bugs efficiently! 🪲 Of course, we didn’t miss the young talents that are ready to conquer the software development world! 🧑💻
We introduced some of our new additions to the team in our The Faces of HackSoft series. Meet Stilian, Tanya, Miroslav, Pavel and Stefka. 🤗 Each of them brings a unique contribution, and we're fortunate to have them on board! 🙌
We also had our annual team building in Sapareva Banya, which resulted in stronger bonds and lots of fun for everyone involved! 🎊
One of our biggest achievements - HackCast ✨
HackCast is our official podcast that has been our outlet to discuss different topics. With episodes spanning software development insights to business intricacies, HackCast has become a valuable resource for us. 🎧
In 2023, we completed both Season 2 and Season 3, and Season 4 is already underway with fantastic feedback from our audience.
A big shoutout to Teodora Georgieva for her tireless efforts in elevating the podcast's quality, and thanks to Radoslav Georgiev, Ivaylo Bachvarov, and Kamen Kotsev for their dedication to recording new episodes. Special thanks to our incredible guests, past and future, for making Season 4 possible!
HackCast has evolved into a powerful tool, contributing to both our employer branding and business development. 💪
Positive feedback from clients 🌟
The positive feedback we receive from our clients isn't just motivation; it's a testament to the impact of our work at HackSoft.
This year, we had the pleasure of showcasing two brand-new case studies, highlighting the successful collaborations with two of our valued clients.
We take immense pride in these achievements and see them as stepping stones toward continuous improvement. Our commitment remains the same - to enhance our capabilities, exceed expectations, and bring more joy to our clients. Here's to making even more customers happy in the next few years! 🫡
Sharing our knowledge and expertise 💡
At HackSoft, sharing our expertise is a tradition, and we kept the momentum going throughout the year with insightful blog articles.
Some of our new blog articles are:
- “Timestamps in Django - exploring auto_now, auto_now_add and default” by Radoslav Georgiev
- “Chatting with Django’s documentation using langchain, Chroma & OpenAI APIs" by Radoslav Georgiev
- “Adding Google login to your existing Django and Django Rest Framework applications” by Tanya Kokonyan
- “Adding required two-factor authentication (2FA) to the Django admin” by Vasil Slavov
The good news is that we have even more blog articles in the pipeline that will be coming your way very soon! 👀
Team members as conference speakers 🗣️
Highlighting our commitment to knowledge sharing, our team members continued to share insights at both international and local conferences.
During EuroPython 2023, our VP of Engineering, Kamen Kotsev, presented "Upgrading Django - from legacy to latest," and Ivaylo Donchev, one of our technical team leads, delivered "A quick guide to logging for Django developers." 🌐
Our team had a strong presence at EuroPython, creating memorable moments and experiences! 🙌
Additionally, Radoslav Georgiev took the stage at OpenFest 2023, the largest Bulgarian open-source conference, sharing his wisdom on "Leading & growing software teams." We were thrilled to hear his insights and contribute to the vibrant discussions! 💬
Company representation 🙌
In 2023, we had a fantastic year of engagement, sponsoring and participating in three major events with our own vibrant booth! 😊
HackSoft proudly participated in two FMI (Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University) events — the Career Fair and the Freshers’ Weekend: FMI Edition. Meeting numerous enthusiastic and talented students aspiring to kickstart their careers in IT was truly inspiring. 🤗
Our third event was OpenFest 2023. We brought fun games and exciting prizes to our booth, creating a lively atmosphere that the entire team thoroughly enjoyed! 🙌
We're eagerly anticipating the events lined up for 2024. 👀
Dedicated vloggers 🎥
As avid storytellers, we extensively vlogged our journey throughout the year.
From our business trip to Lisbon, participation in both FMI events, to celebrating the birthdays of Django & React - our vlogs captured it all. We even treated you to a sneak peek into "A week in the life of an Eastern European software development company" to share our dynamic and work culture. 😅
Explore our collection of vlogs to get a real sense of what it's like to be part of the HackSoft family. 🤗
Improving our website 🎨
Recognizing the importance of growth, we took a hard look at our operations and decided to start with a crucial upgrade - our website.
We've enriched it with more information about our services, approach, and way of work. The improved structure and design are just the beginning; there's much more in the pipeline. This is a small step towards delivering an enhanced experience for our customers.
Stay tuned for more exciting improvements scheduled for the new year! 👀
Django Bulgaria Meetups 🗨️
This year, we took pride in hosting Django Bulgaria Meetups every month without a pause, even during the summer! 🙌 These gatherings provided a valuable space for knowledge exchange and discussions on best practices in Django development and related Python topics.
We were honored to welcome speakers from various Django companies, including special guests Alexander Angelov, Miroslav Georgiev, Viktor Botev, Valentin Hristev, and some of our brilliant minds - Radoslav Georgiev, Ivaylo Bachvarov, Ivaylo Donchev, and Teodora Georgieva.
It's our commitment to the Django community, aspiring for collective growth and craft improvement. Can't wait to meet you again in the new year! 🍻
Django Styleguide 💫
Although the year might seem crazy, we managed to spare some time and improve our open source project - the Django Styleguide.
We have recently passed 4.2k stars on GitHub and everyday we hear that someone has found it useful for their use case. This is our pride and we plan on continuing to improve it little by little. 💪
Oh, we also managed to design a new logo for the Styleguide. 👀 Check it out!
Social Media & online presence 🤳
Building on lessons from the past, we carried the lesson of maintaining a robust online presence into 2023. Our commitment to growth reflects in our relentless efforts to share valuable insights and information on our social media platforms - yes, including some light-hearted memes! 😅
The fruits of our labor are evident, and we're grateful for the recognition received. 🙏 Notably, we were featured in several issues of the Django News newsletter, a recognition that meant a lot to us! 🙌
Let's wrap it up ✨
Well, this sums up our year. As we bid farewell to 2023, we're grateful for the shared moments and excitedly look forward to an even bigger and better 2024.
Thank you for being an integral part of our story! 🚀
