I have a life too! as written by Petar Yonkov

The soul of Pangea.ai’s brand is making human connections. Our tech partners continue to build and strengthen our community’s DNA. We are very proud to have Looming Tech as part of our circle, whose unique individuals now inspire and empower all of our team members.

Time to meet the Fullstack Developer at Looming Tech, Petar!

Describe what you were like at age 10.

A10-year old Petar was pretty much still a wild man. Just winding down from a mostly wonderful childhood of playing with sticks, going fishing and being prepared to become a professional shepherd by my grandfather with a pinch of tree climbing and a ton of biking.

Anyway, at 10 I was doing OK in school (I guess), I kept up my tree climbing activities, but I also was also rather keen on demonstrating my ability to climb up and down to the first floor (where we lived) by using some metal window bars, instead of the staircase.

It was good, clean childish fun. By then I also had started a collection of metal cars Bburago. I think I had a Benz 300SL gullwing and a Jag E-Type as crown jewels.

Loved those things to bits. Now my daughter has a collection of new Bburago models.

Do you have any hobbies, go-to weekend activities, or long-term passion projects you’re working on?

I am a passionate guitar player since mid 11th grade.

How it started?

Well in Bulgaria, when I was a scholar, you could get the mighty sum of 21.60 BGN per school month (so not all year long), if you had a GPA of 5.50 or upper (highest grade is 6.00, and lowest positive is 3.00). So for the excellencee crew, there was some fortune to be had. Naturally you can buy a bunch of things for that money, but I decided to follow along with one of my classmates (mr. Kumanov) and save-up for a guitar.

Naturally after a lot of saving I had the bulk of 100 bucks, so I went to the only shop I knew and said "Look man, IDK if this is my thing at all, so please give me a gutar and a tuner for 100 bucks tops". So I left with the magnificent Factor New Line for 98 BGN and a tuner for 20 BGN, a total of 118, but they made me 10 BGN discount, so I paid 108 BGN for the lot and I was off to the races.

Since then I have not put the guitar down for more than a week (when I go somewhere and I am too lazy to get one of my guitars with me).

I highly reccomend this, as it is absolute lifesaver and great way to unwind after a hard-days work.

Why did you join [company name], and what has kept you here?

When I joined Looming Tech we were at the brink of the entire Covid-19 shenanigan and everyone was still going to the office.

However, Looming was different before it was even cool/necessary. Both founders have been working in corporate environments, including seeing the not so happy era of cubicles. So they both knew that freedom can easily translate into people doing what they were asked for and more. So yes, long story short, they had that option and I had a baby daughter, who needed care and attention, so this fell perfectly in place.

The other major reason I joined for is the green approach Looming has. I love people who love hiking and climbing hills and trees and mountains, so this tribe definetly has my vibe (or it is the other way around?).

In your opinion, what are the hallmark traits of a great [role title]?

The Fullstack developer to me is one very reliable member of the team. Especially if he/she is built the right way. What do I mean by that? Well, in order to be able to look at all aspects of any system, you need to have the guts to write all the code, commit all the bugs, fix them, deploy it all, support it all, write the docs, test it and in generally to live through it all.

From my perspective this takes discipline, a mindset and a lot of knowledge, relative to varied technologies and their implementation. I consider I still have some way to go before I consider myself a well-seasoned fullstack developer as I want to delve into native mobile development, Go lang, Rust, Clojure and DevOps. Right now I am working on my Android skillset.

Left to right: my nephew Todor, me and my daughter Kati going to a town fare  

How do you define success in life?

Success in life will look wildly different to each and everyone of us. To me it looks like so:

I have an amazing and loving family, which gives me immense boosts of confidence and well-being. I then use this abundant source of energy to go into any day with a great attitude and get a ton of things done (for example in my career). And as we all know nature loves when its things and processes move in circles, so this is no different - my work charges me up for family life, which means I return home and plunge right into being a good dad and husband.

My 2 cents here is: Find the joy within and carry it everywhere you go. Be it at home or on your desk. This is how you succeed in life. Oh yes, and forget not to acquire the latest gadget, because otherwise you won't impress anybody (JOKING!).

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?

Assuming the island is a deserted one, and also assuming my family or a dog does not qualify as a thing, but rather as a being, I would bring an acoustic guitar, the largest selection of plant seeds I am allowed to get and the largest supply of matchsticks I am allowed to get.

The breakdown of my choices is:

Guitar - keeps me busy and entertained. I assume total loneliness and isolation, so keeping my mental health up is really important. If I am crazy, nothing else matters that much.

Seeds - assuming the island may or may not be rich in things to eat, I would be keen on farming, because hunger is no pal.

Matchsticks - starting a fire is the oldest superpower we humans have. Amongst other things a fire will keep you warm, you can cook on its flames and it will keep animals away.

If I am allowed to get a living creature, I would get a dog. 

Get to know Petar and the rest of the Looming Tech team!

We’re delighted that Petar decided to join Looming Tech – it’s been great having them on board! If you have any questions or want to get to know Petar or one of their colleagues from the Looming Tech team, we can put you in touch. Don’t hesitate to reach out!