Publish date: 28 November, 2024Tonislav Troyev has been part of the OneBit Software team for more than five years and is both a student at Shumen University and a lecturer at SoftUni.
In 2022, he was awarded the “Youth Award” of BAIT. He is a two-time winner of the John Atanasoff Scholarship for outstanding achievements in computer science. Although he is only 22 years old, for the second time in a row he is among the 100 most influential IT personalities in the country according to the Career Show ranking.
Tonislav is the next participant in H512.com’s special series where we show you the faces that are driving the tech industry forward in Bulgaria.
How did you end up in the IT industry? What attracted you to it and when did it happen?
I started coding relatively late – when I was in 10th grade. One day, quite by chance, I came across an advertisement that SoftUni was organizing courses on the basics of programming, which would be held in smaller towns. This quite caught my attention and just a few seconds later, when I saw that my hometown, Shumen, was included in the list, I had already signed up.
At that time I had no expectations that a few years later I would be working in the IT field or that I would continue to develop in this direction at all. I was just interested to find out how I could control a computer through programming code, make it do calculations, display some things on the screen, etc. However, after the very first lesson I was really hooked and that feeling lives on in me to this day.
Over the next few years, I continued to learn and build on my skills, and with the completion of my high school education, I began my professional path at OneBit Software. There was a relatively difficult stage where I had to juggle school, work, and exam preparation, but I was very highly motivated to succeed at the time and I did it all (I even got a full Distinction on my maths exam).
An interesting fact is that before the advent of programming in my life, I had channeled all my energy in a completely different direction – music. However, things turned out differently and now it remains a wonderful hobby.
What motivated you to take the position of Product Technical Lead at OneBit Software?
To work at OneBit Software was a dream for me since the moment when fate met me with Radi Atanasov (CEO). He was teaching me in one of the courses at SoftUni and I remember with what passion he talked about the company and the projects they were developing with his team – for me it was extremely inspiring.
The position I currently hold brings with it a lot of responsibilities – developing key features, making architectural decisions, defining long-term development goals, etc., but this only enhances my drive. I can safely say that I am happy in my workplace because I feel appreciated, and at the same time I am grateful for the opportunity to develop in a supportive environment for the 5th year now.
What do you find easiest and most difficult about your job?
What I enjoy most about my profession is the fact that every day is different from the last – there is always a new challenge that I and my colleagues face.
I would not like to characterise these challenges as ‘easy’ or ‘complex’, as each one is interesting in its own right. Rather, I divide them into two other categories. “Pleasant” challenges for me are those that carry with them a mystery – something to make me think in order to arrive at the final answer. They are also quite useful because I gain new knowledge. However, if the answer is obvious or too easy to find, then I rather define them as “too ordinary”.
Which company benefits have you found most useful?
There are great working conditions at OneBit Software, and in answer to this question I can list at least 10 things to back up my words – starting with the flexible working hours and complete freedom regarding the choice of workplace, all the way through to the memorable parties and teambuilding, all the way to the interesting projects we work on and the limitless opportunity for development.
But the most important thing (at least for me) is the relationships between colleagues. We are an extremely close-knit team and each of us is willing to help the other. This contributes a lot to the good work process we follow and creates an atmosphere of mutual trust and support.
Also, the company nurtures a love for technology (especially .NET) – the quality standards and level of professionalism are extremely high, and this can only motivate our drive for self-improvement.
What do you think of the homeoffice and are you taking advantage of it?
I have been working remotely all the time for the last 5 years and I make the most of all the pros and conveniences of homeoffice. I also like to travel and sometimes I have to change the place I work from very dynamically.
It’s certainly the work model I prefer and the one that best suits my personal preferences because of its flexibility – I have the freedom to be productive and creative anywhere.
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What is your free time reserved for?
I make sure I always have free time for music during the day. As I mentioned earlier, this has been a passion of mine for many years now. I love to play the piano and guitar, I love to sing – it’s how I unwind and recharge my mind.
I’m also involved in teaching – it’s a great pleasure to share what I’ve learned and my experiences with those around me. In this way I feel useful and fulfilled. Currently, I am part of the teaching team at SoftUni and teach the professional modules to the C# pathway.
Finish the sentence, “For me, the work ends when…”
The work ends when I have completed to the best of my ability all the tasks I set myself at the beginning of the day, and I have fulfilled my commitments to my teammates – it is important to me to contribute to the overall success of the project , and so I am always willing to assist in any way I can.
I strive to introduce lasting and robust solutions that will be useful in both the short and long term.
Against the backdrop of rapid technological development, what do you imagine your work will look like in 10 years’ time?
I hope that my job will continue to be as exciting and challenging as it is now, and that I will have the opportunity to enrich myself with new knowledge and learn about innovative technologies.
I would love to be surrounded by even more people who, like me, seek beauty in code and accept that programming is a creative process – an art of sorts. This may sound a bit paradoxical (especially in the face of the increased influence of artificial intelligence), but it is this way of thinking that gives our profession a deeper meaning.
