What makes a company great? Its people! In our blog post series "The Faces of HackSoft," we go behind the scene and invite the people of HackSoft to share their stories.
Slavyana Monkova is a full-stack developer, she has been working at HackSoft since the very beginning. She is a cheerful colleague, an active volleyball player, and one of our most adept team members.
She always enjoys spending some fun time with her colleagues. Let's see what Slavyana shares about her story at the company.
Can you tell us more about yourself?
My name is Slavyana. I am 25 years old and have a bachelor's degree in Software Engineering. I would describe myself as a sporty, creative, and ambitious person. As a professional, I am a passionate and motivated software developer.
What are you working and for how long? What languages have you been using?
I've been with the company for 4 years. During that time, I have been involved in many web projects and some other side initiatives.
I'm a full-stack developer by profession and the front end part is my passion. I usually take care of the front end infrastructure including structuring and designing the application, making custom reusable components, writing styles, etc.
The technologies I use are Python, Django, and React.
Apart from my duties as a developer, I often step into an office manager's shoes and an organizer of various company activities like Christmas parties, team buildings, conferences, etc.
I have also been a teaching lecturer of HackBulgaria's "Programming 101 with Python" editions in 2018 and 2017 and a guest lecturer in the recent editions.
Why are you at HackSoft?
The thing I value the most here is that my opinion matters. Whether it's a bug fix, implementation of a new feature, deployment to production, or choosing a new refrigerator for the office, I feel that I have the complete freedom to suggest new ideas, make decisions, and take action. This helped me grow not only as a responsible professional but as a person as well. Ivo and Rado - thank you for that.
The thing that inspires me is to see how someone grows in front of my eyes. I always look for an opportunity to be a mentor. This is why I get very excited when a new person comes to the (my) team.
The best thing about the company is the team. We:
- are friends
- take care of each other
- respect each other
- help each other
- are professionals
We all share the same values and look in the same direction. That is the recipe for a good and valuable company like HackSoft.
What are your hobbies?
I love playing sports! Particularly volleyball.
I've participated in many competitions when I was a high-school student. Going through ups and downs taught me some valuable skills - discipline, leadership, teamwork, and motivation. Today, I still play volleyball, unfortunately, not so often.
I also love skiing and especially the freedom when I am going down the slopes and the beautiful views of the mountains. I also started learning ice skating last winter, I am not falling anymore, but I'm still a bit slow. 😀
My colleagues Martin and Krasi introduced me to folk dancing, which I find very challenging. We did a special dance for two of our colleagues' weddings as a surprise from the Hack team.
When I am not so active, I enjoy reading, painting, and of course, shopping. These hobbies unleash my creativity.
What is the motto that motivates you?
"There is nothing I can't do!"
Name three HackSoft values that fit your personality?
"Long term thinking."
This value fully corresponds to me. Thinking, in the long run, is crucial. I always try to write code that is reusable, easy to understand, and maintain. I know that by doing this, I will help the work process for the whole team.
"Balance. Manage your health and stress."
The company is caring for everyone's health and encourages our life-work balance. We all try to be productive at work and happy in life. I always strive to find and manage my balance.
"Growth mindset."
What is the most important piece of advice you would like to pass to the junior developers?
Find a good team to work with and a mentor to learn from. Never stop learning and expanding your knowledge.
