7 Questions with Veselin Georgiev — Engineering manager of 15toGO
Veselin has an extensive experience in developing web-based systems. He is the Engineering manager of 15toGO and he is responsible for the development of our web client and also has an advisory role — helping with his experience in the development processes and team management.
Check his LinkedIn profile
- What is your background and why did you join 15toGO?
My background is mainly in developing web-based systems. Actually, in 1997 I have created my very first website. The first professional website developed by me was in 2004 and ever since I have been building web-based systems — not only websites, as most of the systems such as ERP systems, CRM, Corporate Intranet, etc. Overall, I am working with computing and web. Practically this is why I got a degree in Informatics and a Masters in Business Informatics. I started working with computers in 1996 and it has lead to what I chose to study afterwards. I even went on doing a PhD in computer science, specializing in how to effectively manage tech teams in order to drive better performance in developing software. In 2011 I also did my thesis on Agile Methodology and Social Networks, at that time it was still not so well-known and used method in the IT industry. This method enables teams to respond to the unpredictability of constructing software. Agile manifesto for software development supports rapid and flexible response to change and it evolves through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams. I used social media and the so-called corporate social media — the intranet, to manage agile projects. Basically, this is what I have been doing for the last 15 years — developing and managing software systems as well as optimizing the teamwork. During the most recent years, I have been a CTO in 3 companies where I developed and integrated the internal processes, effectively coordinated the teams and was also responsible for managing entire projects. I was trying to facilitate the developers’ work as being accountable to communicate the progress of the work completed to the project managers, so the developers can focus on the implementation itself.
As for 15toGO, it is an interesting project which has a great potential. Looking at it from a technical point of view, it is really difficult to realize the project technologically. There are many challenges that motivate me personally to do well and find the best solution to certain issues. The application has to be well developed in order to run smoothly and seamlessly, that’s why the team is working effectively and everything is planned precisely. I am glad to say that I am part of 15toGO’s team.
2. What is your role in the 15toGO team?
The initial idea was to be a consultant when building the team and implementing the internal processes in the first months after the project’s initiation. However, my role did slightly change in a direction where I engage deeper, planning and managing the processes for web development and also guiding and supervising the web Dev team according to my know-how in web-based systems… I also take part in all other processes, but not as actively.
3. What gets you most excited about the project?
First of all, the 15toGO’s team is formed entirely of professionals in their particular field. I can definitely say that every unit of the project is managed by someone who does a great job and is an expert on an international level. Everyone can contribute to a greater extent in order to make this project successful and each one of us values the opportunity to be a part of something that will change the future of group traveling. And this is exactly what really motivates me and enthuses me about the project. We are all united by one common goal!
4. Where do you see the project in the next few years?
The good thing about the project is that once it is released, we can easily estimate what the potential is. 15toGO offers something that is entirely distinctive and provides a solution to an explicit problem in the group traveling for both Users and Local Tour Operators. Knowing from the beginning what is the potential of the project, we can certainly recognize how far the project will progress and scale. I personally see 15toGO in the next years with millions of active users who are happy to spend time on the app every day and seamlessly book their next holidays.
5. Which do you think are the main challenges that the project and the team will face?
As I have already mentioned, the realization of the project technically is demanding because there are many complex business processes and it is hard to foresee the scalability of the project. It is hard to distinguish and have well-defined business processes so that everybody could be responsive to them and to set all the methods effectively from day one in order to be able to handle a growing amount of work or the potential to expand and accommodate that growth. To make the project easily scalable is one of the main challenges, so we devote a lot of time on that.
There is also a marketing challenge of how to endorse the project so it can be easily adopted by the mass audience. Even if we have the best product, the potential can’t be unleashed and understood by its main users if the underlying idea is not well conveyed and there are not enough active users using the app.
6. How would you describe the atmosphere around 15toGO?
It doesn’t matter if, in the marketing division, the business development or the tech one — each one of us is working with passion and desire to bring the idea one step further. It is not even a job, it is more like a personal challenge — all of us motivated by a common goal as we all know what we are pursuing to achieve and what the results are going to be. We are all united by shared purpose and the feeling can’t be described. The team understands the potential of 15toGO and every day contributes to the accomplishment of the initial idea that will disrupt the travel industry.
7. Tell us one interesting thing about yourself?
It was in the first years when I discovered the existence of computers in 1995–1996 and I was so impressed by what opportunities could they bring to us, so I was spending hours and hours in front of the screen. There were days, I was spending around 20 hours per day, when going to school I used to ditch some classes, so that I can stay in the computer club. Then I was going home and again spending additional hours on the computer. Back in those days, the Internet was not easily accessible so we were trying many ways to have a connection. For example, there was a dial-up Internet access through which you can establish a connection to an Internet service provider by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telephone line. Sometimes we were using the one from school :)
From an early age, I was spending most of my time in front of the computer and eventually, this turned out to be my job that I truly enjoy.
