Meet Nikola, our web developer and the youngest member of the team — goodbag spotlight

Have you ever heard about the employee or team spotlight? Or read something about it? In case you haven’t, employee or team spotlight means presenting the company’s employees to the outside world. Publishing their stories or something interesting about their job and life.

We decided to do something similar with the “goodbag spotlight” series, where eventually you will find the articles about all goodbag’s team members. They will be in the interview-form and consisted of 3 parts.

1. General-intro questions (which are same for all)
2. Specific questions for each team member’s job
3. Short questions with instant answers (again, same for all)

Today, we are talking with Nikola, who will share some things about his life and experience at goodbag. We will kick off with our general section i.e. some introduction questions.

Hi Nikola, could you tell us something about yourself and your role at goodbag?

Hello, my name is Nikola and I am 19 years old. I live in Varna, Bulgaria. I graduated from the math school and since the 9th grade, I have been deeply interested in web development. Besides that, I love reading books, working on self-improvement, and spending time at home.

As for my role, I am a web developer at goodbag. My job is to implement features, designs, and whenever something new needs to be added to our web applications, I am the responsible one.

How and when did you join the goodbag team?

I joined the goodbag team in June 2019. After I had graduated from high school, I saw a job ad in one of the Facebook groups for developers. I applied, and a couple of days later I had an interview with Todor and Chris. My goal was to find a job that I could do remotely, and it was achieved only after a few weeks haha.

What motivates you to be a part of the goodbag company?

Firstly, I would say the nature of the job. I have a lot of autonomy and flexibility to work whenever I want and from wherever I want. Secondly, the team. I really enjoy working with open-minded people. Last but not least, our mission to help preserve and save the environment. I am proud that I can contribute in that sense.

What are the 3 things you like the most about the goodbag’s culture?

Flexibility — having the freedom to organize the working day on your own.

Team — we are like a big family, always ready to help one another.

Mission — we care about the environment and the future. We are trying to show people that it is not that hard to do good and be good.

Do you manage to learn while working and how?

Certainly. Since I joined goodbag, I learned a ton of things and I still do of course.

To be honest, when I applied, I did not satisfy all the requirements 100%. Nevertheless, I spent a lot of time working next to Todor, thanks to whom I learned a lot of new and useful things. For example, I learned a whole new programming language since I joined the team (that we used for the Heathrow project).

Thank you, Nikola, for answering those general questions, now we will focus more on some specific questions regarding your work specifically.

Are there any differences between Bulgaria’s and Austria’s working culture?

It is pretty tough for me to comment on this since I don’t have any prior work experience in Bulgaria. I would maybe say that the Austrian working culture is a bit better organized and structured.

Since the users spend most of their time interacting with the goodbag app, what is the role of the goodbag’s website?

At the moment, the website is mostly informative. We put all the relevant information there, especially about us and our NGO partners. Moreover, the website has an online shop where people can order their goodbags. Lastly, the website plays a big role because it is usually the first place where users come across to learn more about us.

The bottom line, our website serves higher importance when it comes to attracting new users, while the app keeps the existing users engaged.

Which project at goodbag are you the proudest of? Why? How much time did it take to finish?

Wow, it is like asking which child do you love the most hah. It is hard to choose.

However, I am keen to say that the onboarding tool is the project I am really proud of. It is basically the signing up platform for new businesses that wish to become our partners. I started from scratch and a lot of things needed to be done there. I have been working entirely alone on the front end part. It took me 3–4 months to finish.

I definitely owe a huge thanks to Elén for the visual part on that project and decent part to Todor, regarding the logic.

Do you ever feel some disadvantages of the remote work from Bulgaria while the rest of the product team is located in Vienna?

Yes, of course. You cannot go out for a beer with the rest of the team (smiles).

The biggest disadvantage is definitely the fact that you do not meet people in person. It is awesome when you can go out for a drink after work with your team or do some outdoor activities together. That is why I am really looking forward to visiting Vienna and meeting the team one day.

And we came to our final section, where we will go through some short questions to find out more about Nikola :) So, tell us:

• Where is your favorite place to be? Home.
• What is one thing you cannot resist? Sweets.
• Would you like to visit space once in your life? Of course, most definitely.
• If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would you meet? Mark Minervini and Jordan Belfort (the Wolf of Wall Street).
• Do you have a favorite quote? Dreams do not work, unless you do.
• Do you have an (office) nickname? What is it? No.
• What is your favorite book so far? Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter.
• If you could choose one place worldwide where goodbag opens its next office, which place would that be? Bali.
• Who would you most like to swap places with on the team? Todor, our CTO.

That was Nikola, our web developer who makes sure that you have a flawless experience when navigating the goodbag’s website :). If you liked the article, make sure to follow us on our social media channels. In the following weeks, we will be talking with other team members and get to know them better. Stay tuned :)

About goodbag

goodbag is the first reusable tote bag that lets you plant trees, collect plastic waste out of our oceans, or receive exclusive discounts every time you go shopping. All you need to do is to download the goodbag app, get a goodbag, and start scanning it when you shop. To learn more about it, check our website.