Yuner

My background

I was born in the Rhodope mountains, in a beautiful village called Borino. Nearby are lots of interesting landmarks, like the Yagodinska cave.  

Turkish is my mother tongue. I also speak English and Bulgarian. I started school in Borino and later continued in the High School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Smolyan. Then I graduated in software engineering from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of Sofia University. Currently, I'm taking a master's degree in software and technology entrepreneurship.

I have lots of other interests besides software and engineering, like biology, everything new, management, and organization.

I worked in two software companies before joining ZigiWave 2.5 years ago. I've been working with C#, C, C++, JavaScript, and a little bit of Assembler. I have some experience with Linux. In ZigiWave I learned Clojure.

My role at ZigiWave

I am a full-stack Clojure developer. When I started in Zigi, I had no idea what Clojure was. I started in front-end development and gradually transitioned to full stack.

Things in ZigiWave are quite dynamic. I am currently one of the senior developers on the team since I know the product very well.  

I also like onboarding new people. I am onboarding some new members at the moment, as our team is expanding rapidly.

The ZigiWave Team

We have a wonderful team, that is rising quickly. We have a few new people starting now and a few more learning Clojure and about to start. Our team lead Ivaylo is always responsive and helpful. He is organizing everything we need distributing tasks, tracking progress, and communication.  

I am happy to be a part of the team and help with the onboarding of our new members. I strive to answer all questions and be as helpful as possible, too.  

What advice would you give to someone just starting in ZigiWave

Not just for starting at ZigiWave, but for anything: Ask questions!

There are no stupid questions! The only stupid thing you can do is not to ask questions.  

Even if you already know the answer, you will confirm it. If you don't ask the question, you lose too many things. Asking questions is a great way to socialize with other people and get to know your peers.

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Dealing with difficulties at work

There are always things that can make you stumble. Even in moments when you are at the peak, this is not the highest peak, there is always a higher one.  

This is ZigiWave there is always something to learn.  

If there is something I don't know, I can always ask my teammates. It doesn't matter who. If I ask our team lead ad does not know the answer, I ill direct him to someone else who knows it. It is quite pleasant to work here, because no one is worried about asking anyone else on the team. It doesn't matter what the question is.  

and in life in general

When I'm out of work, I love reading books. No matter the genre, I like all types of books.  

So reading helps me find the answers I need.

How do you celebrate success?

I share with the people around me. Especially with my wife.  

I share with my family and my friends. I like sharing my emotions. Good or bad. If they are negative, I can get good advice. If they are positive  I want to spread the joy.

And when someone shares with me, I try to help and do whatever I can. If I cannot do anything else, I can at least listen to them.

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Recharging and de-stressing

Im on the laptop more than 12 hours per day. I work, study, and participate in some side projects. To de-stress, I just change the project, go outside, read a book, or do something radically different than what I was doing so far. Or I can just start teasing my wife until I feel better.

I also have two mini hamsters as pets which amuse me a lot.

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Favorite activities

I like to learn and look for information everywhere. I like YouTube vloggers, like Veritasium, Smarter Every Day, Mark Rober, Steve Mould, and Tom Scott.

Other things I like are forging, walking in nature, and going out with friends. Everything new is interesting for me new developments in medicine, technology, whatever. I like everything new both as experiences and knowledge.

I like playing computer games once in a while, and also watching anime, which is something left from my school years. I also like fishing, but to me, fishing is more like meditating rather than catching fish.

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My sources of inspiration

When a piece of information attracts me, I start thinking of it. If I see there is potential, this motivates me, and I start planning and acting upon it.  

Of course, it is nice to have someone next to me who says Go, go, you can do it! when there are moments of desperation. For example, this was happening often with forging, because it is difficult to build a suitable forge. Standard coal forges are too dirty and I wanted a gas forge. But I did not know who could help me, etc. So my wife was saying I know you can, go do it!. It is great to have someone who believes in you and helps you move forward.  

My hobbies

Reading books, walking in nature, forging. Jumping on trampolines is one of the things I enjoy lately. If the weather is bad  I play games or watch anime.  

Related to my master's degree, I am doing a project for virtual walks in Revival houses in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. Not everyone can go up to the old part of Plovdiv city or get to the second floor of the houses there. It would be really nice for disabled or elderly people who would like to visit such houses.  

Another project I'm working on is a mushroom farm. I am working on automating the whole process, so that you can grow the mushrooms without actually touching them. Maximum automation.  

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Books and movies I like

I like all types of books (excluding love novels). Lately, I'm reading fiction. Awaken Online is a series that I'm reading really fast. Last week I read a 600-page book for 3 evenings.

I like classic movies, like Gladiator, for example. Also science fiction, but not too unreal ones. A prime example would be Stargate.

Favorite place in the world

Borino, my home village. I haven't been there for more than 2 months and even this morning when driving to work, I was thinking about how much I want to go there right now.  

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A day in my life

I wake up about an hour before work. I want to have some time before starting work. I make myself a tea (I don't drink coffee).

Then I start work. I take a 15-minute break to have breakfast. When it's time for lunch we cook something with my wife. We are both home offices, so we work side by side.  

After lunch, I continue with meetings, and anything that needs to be done at work.  

I might go out for a while during the day to clean my head or meet a friend. When I finish work, I can go out or just watch a movie or read a book. I talked to my wife about how our day was. Even though we work next to each other, we are not actually spending this time together, so we catch up in the evenings. If there is any interesting article, I would read it. Then I go to bed.

The things I am looking forward to

Buying an apartment in Sofia. Graduate from my master's degree. Get back to Borino my home village.

If I can dream a little bit, I want to arrange my life in a way I'm not dependent on time and financially free. I'd love to live and work in Borino and also somehow help other people return to their home village and find work there.