One day as Stef – BI Analyst / Developer

Meet Stef. He’s a BI Analyst / Developer at B EYE and he’s been a part of the company for 3 years now. He’s graduated from Sofia University with a degree in Balkan Studies.
Below you can find out more about him and what he does during a typical workday as a BI Analyst / Developer.

• Hi, Stef! What makes you come to work with a smile on your face every single day?
  Hello! The main reason I come to work with pleasure is my colleagues. It may sound like a cliché, but the office is full of young, motivated, dynamic and positive professionals. Working with them just makes coming to work with a smile a simple task.
• Describe a typical morning for you.
  Similarly to other people, my morning starts with a light breakfast and a cup of hot coffee. After I’m fully awake I head towards my first challenge of the day – Sofia’s morning traffic and finding a good place to park near the office. Naturally, I get to work on time for the morning meeting, where the whole development team discusses the tasks for the day. Last but not least, I read all my e-mails and then answer them
• What are your main responsibilities at work?
  My team’s main job is actually very creative and innovative. We use huge databases, which are provided to us by the clients, and based on them we build applications, helping our customers easily analyse their corporate data and effortlessly solve any company problems.

• What‘s your favorite activity at work?
  This question really made me think about it. I believe the most satisfactory feeling I get is when my team and I bump into a really big issue, which makes us rack our brains for a while, but eventually, we manage to solve it through a group effort. That’s a really gratifying moment for me because, on one hand, you’re proud of yourself and on the other, you reinforce your ability to work in a team.
• Describe a funny story from work.
  One afternoon a colleague of mine started complaining that their computer mouse was acting weird and going all over the place without anyone touching it. At first, no one believed him, but eventually, people started gathering up on his desk to witness the phenomenon and watched him struggle to regain control over his PC. It turned out that another colleague from the same floor switched around their mouse USBs while everyone was on break, as a prank, and that actually they were controlling the “crazy” mouse all this time. We didn’t let this go for weeks after and there were plenty of jokes that came out of that moment.
• You have graduated with a degree that’s completely different from your current field of work. How hard was it to make the transfer?
  Changing the field of work could be a very stressful and hard process. However, that wasn’t the case for me. The switch from my university, and my old job, to becoming a night shift support at B EYE was a very natural process. My colleagues were always there to help me with any challenges and the fact that we were a smaller team back then, working on the same floor, made communicating very easy. Everyone was willing to answer my questions – something that, I believe, hasn’t changed to this day. The next transfer I made was to become a BI Developer and it too was an effortless process. That was due to the fact that I had majored in math back in high school, and also my mentor was such a cool and calm person, who managed to fully answer every single question I had.

• What made you change your professional orientation?
  The combination of a few components probably, but mainly – a friend of mine sparked my interest in BI technologies. Not long after, I had a word with Dimitar Dekov, the founder of B EYE, where the main emphasis of the conversation was the company’s activities. After that talk, I was sure that I wanted to head down the BI consultancy road.
• Did you have any doubts before, that what you graduated wasn’t what you wanted to do in your life?
  The truth is that during university I found out that what I was studying wasn’t exactly the career path I wanted to take. However, I’m the kind of person that follows through with what he has started, and since I had already studied Balkan Studies for 3 years, I decided to finish it.
  When I graduated from high school, I wanted to get into the humanitarian studies for my master’s degree to see what it was like. After I got into that, I realized that the exact sciences were my calling in life and later, joining B EYE, made the transfer back to them.
• What kind of qualifications and experience are necessary for your work?
  Our job is quite complex. On one hand, it requires a good understanding of economics, so that we could really understand our clients’ needs, and on the other, a business consultant needs to have serious technical and mathematical knowledge, in order to be able to develop the necessary software application. However, I don’t believe that previous experience is always needed. I didn’t have any when I began my work here and I’ve always strongly believed that if there is a will, there is a way.

• What‘s your motto at work?
  “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t … you’re right.” – Henry Ford
  The idea of the motto is that everything is dependent on us and that it’s all about the mindset. If we believe that something is achievable, then it will be, but if we ourselves start placing barriers in front – then we’re doomed to fail.
• What kind of advice would you give to someone who is willing to apply at B EYE for the same job position – BI Analyst / Developer?
  What I can say is that the road to becoming a professional in this field is long and filled with obstacles, but at the same time, it’s also really gratifying and rewarding. Everyone that’s in two minds about applying to our company should just drop the doubt and go for it!