Meet the SessionStack Crew: Mario Daskalov, VP of Engineering
With this “SessionStack Crew” series we’d like to present the people behind the company, as they are the key reason SessionStack is alive, expanding, upgrading, and serving product teams across the globe with awesome insights.
In this post, we are happy to talk with: Mario Daskalov, VP of Engineering at SessionStack.
Who are you in your personal life?
I have discovered the joys of the mountains in recent years. For some reason, I had never been to Vitosha before the age of 25. Now I spend most of my free time in the mountains — mountain biking, hiking, skiing. If I am in the city I love rock concerts, drinking a few beers with friends and reading.
Can you share a picture of you doing your favorite hobby?
How did you choose software development as a profession?
I graduated from the Sofia Highschool of Mathematics. I was good at maths, went to a few competitions, but I never saw myself doing pure mathematics after graduating. I wasn’t interested in other subjects and I tried to look for something similar but more practical, and not as abstract. I invested some time in self-learning C, algorithms and got really passionate about programming. Went to a few informatics competitions. I found my first job right after I graduated high school and I have been developing ever since. I really like the problem-solving part of the job and how mentally challenging it is.
How did you find out about SessionStack and what excites you about the company?
Alexander (the CEO of SessionStack) and I went to the same high school, but we didn’t know each other back then. We met at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics where we both were part of the same study group. A few years later Alexander told me he, Georgis, and Lachezar (other friends from the University) were working on their own product called SessionStack. After hearing about it, I got really excited. The product was unmatched at the time for doing bug reproduction on web applications. I could see SessionStack can actually help me in my day-to-day work and that is something I loved. In most other places I’ve worked, I liked my co-workers but never the products. Then I got really hyped about how SessionStack can make everything way better when it comes to product development. And to be fair, it is really fascinating to understand how record and replay works and be part of the team developing it.
What is your favorite company project you’ve been working on?
We are working on a project where we are switching from a lot of third-party tools to PostgreSQL. It is really satisfying to see how you can simplify a complex system with the proper tools and architecture.
What do you think about product analytics from the optics of your position?
For me, this is the way to go. In software development monitoring your system has been the standard for years for every serious company. This is becoming true for product teams all over the world and I think monitoring your customer’s satisfaction and experience is the most valuable metric there can be in a product company. Knowing the uptime of your system cannot guarantee that somebody isn’t having trouble fighting bad UX and now we have the tools to monitor it.
What do you think of the SessionStack team, and the company’s culture?
I love the team. It is and has always been a joy to work with everybody. I like how we have managed to structure our processes so that they work both remotely and on-site. I am proud of how our development team is constantly improving the way we work and deliver code so we can ship reliable and stable products.
What advice would you give to people joining a scaling product company?
I have been doing a lot of endurance sports lately and I find they have something in common with startups. It is not as important to be really fast for some of the stages but to be consistent for all of them and finish. And of course — enjoy the ride (as said by a smart startup guy I once read but cannot remember).
Tell us an interesting fact about you?
One of my most endorsed skills on Linkedin was juggling but I have never been approached by circus recruiters.
Bonus question. Would you share with us a fun meme?
Follow up with the other posts from the series SessionStack Crew.
Interested in joining our team? See the open positions here.
