Slavcho has been with our company from the very beginning and is now a DevOps Practice Lead. His hard work, dedication, and knowledge-sharing skills have helped ⋮IWConnect deliver successful projects, build long-term client relationships, and even open an office in Prilep. His motto is: “When plan A doesn’t work, always have a plan B.” Here is his story.
IWC: Today you are a DevOps Practice Lead at ⋮IWConnect. How did you get to this stage of your career?
This is where my IT journey began. I hope young people considering a career in this industry find it inspirational. We all need an extra push sometimes to chase our dreams, take risks, and use all available resources to achieve our goals.
The 6-month training I completed in 2007 at InterSoft Consulting (the former name of ⋮IWConnect) confirmed I was on the right track. I enjoyed every minute spent coding with my colleagues and developing various programs and applications.
Early in my studies, I learned several programming languages, including Java, PHP, NET, JavaScript, and TIBCO. I applied this knowledge to projects for various clients, facing and solving daily challenges. Working with these technologies allowed me to explore new areas and deepen my experience in IT. I also gained knowledge in operating systems, networks, and IT infrastructure. Over time, I realized that automation would become essential for speeding up processes in our daily lives. I decided to join a team of experts who could foresee and implement these changes. I also focused on developing my soft skills, leadership, time management, and organizational skills. The broad scope of technologies I used and the trust from ⋮IWConnect’s management team helped me become a DevOps Practice Lead.
IWC: What is your biggest accomplishment?
My biggest accomplishment is migrating integration applications from Windows to Linux. This included creating scalable infrastructure, installing, configuring, and automating TIBCO products (Admin, Hawk, RV, EMS, EMSCA, TEA, Hawk Web console, BW5, BW6), and setting up encrypted communication (HTTPS, SSL) within a month.
IWC: Would you like to share a challenge you encountered along your professional path?
Adapting to fast technology changes in the IT industry helped me overcome all the challenges I faced. The path wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
IWC: What made you be part of ⋮IWConnect all these years?
Currently, I am working on multiple large and dynamic projects. Surprisingly, I learned the most from an unsuccessful project. It was an internal project where we made mistakes in analysis and requirements definition. We lacked expertise, were poorly organized, had different goals, and the market wasn’t ready for the idea. This failure taught me a lot and helped shape who I am today.
IWC: What do you enjoy most about the project you are working on?
To be honest, at the moment I am working on multiple projects at the same time, and they are all huge and dynamic. I hope my answer won’t come as a surprise but I think I enjoyed and learned the most out of an unsuccessful project. It was an internal project and we made some mistakes in the analysis and definition of requirements. We lacked expertise in the team, we weren’t organized properly, each of us had a different goal, and last but not least, the market wasn’t ready for that idea. That was an excellent experience because you learn the most when you fail and I believe that this project helped me gain a lot of experience and become who I am today.
