Tell us a little bit about you and team FPS
Petya: Hi, I am Petya. My great professional passion is related to UX & UI web design and creating products that provide a meaningful user experience, so in my spare time I develop various projects in this direction.
Petya Dimitrova, Software Delivery & Department Manager
On the other hand, management is an area that makes me learn new things, be a better professional version of myself, and broaden my horizons while caring about the success of people and projects.
I have been working in the IT field for 10 years and I am fascinated by it. Curiosity, desire, and opportunity for continuous development, as well as challenges, are the things that win me and keep me in the IT profession, as well as in the company I work for.
I started as a front-end developer, and in the last 4 years I have been leading the FPS team in VSG Bulgaria. In Bulgaria we are 13 people, part of a larger fintech team based in the USA. The product is a platform that, together with its available modules, provides an integrated set of solutions allowing banks to access Customer Profitability tools. Pricing, Forecasting, CECL (Current Expected Credit Losses) compliance, Performance Scorecard and allow to consolidate financial statements into a system with a monthly update process. Enterprise Microsoft® Azure™ solution based on .NET, C#, Angular, SQL Server technologies.
How do you choose people for your team and what is most important to you?
Petya: It is always easiest to work with motivated and ambitious people. Even if they are at the beginning of their career, it is important for me to work with positive, communicative team players with a desire for development who contribute to the good atmosphere in the team. Of course, the competence and experience of candidates in the project field is another guarantee for future success.
What are the most important things for a group of people to become a team?
Petya: Diversity, equality, and inclusion are the basis for building a team. Together, we strive to create an environment that takes advantage of the diversity of individuals in the team, to build an atmosphere of mutual trust, a culture of collaboration and shared engagement that help us achieve our goals and work together more effectively.
We are positive and motivated professionals who love what we do. This is our formula from just a group of people and colleagues, to become friends who can rely on each other in the tricky situations of our daily work, and not to forget to have fun together! 🍻
What are the biggest challenges you have faced as far as a team?
Petya: The main challenge is virtual teams and cultural differences. As we work closely with a team on a different continent, time zone, experience, and language, sometimes the lack of "live" contact requires additional effort in specifying communication problems. Empathy, tolerance, and the ability to put yourself in the other's shoes are key to resolving these differences.
What is the role of the leader in building and developing the team?
Petya: The leader plays a key role – one must promote the free sharing of opinions; to understand the strengths of each person, to assist their development and use them to achieve his professional goals and those of the company. Setting clear expectations, setting standards of work, and communicating responsibilities are also at the heart of leadership tasks that contribute to building a successful team.
The main challenges I face as a leader are the need for quick adaptation, flexibility, project knowledge and the ability to work with people. And to have a good team, you need to have an important level of responsibility, be able to plan and be consistent.
What mistakes did you make and what did you learn from them?
Petya: Oh, I certainly make mistakes that I try to analyze and try to avoid in the future.
Lack of preparation and sufficient confidence were some of the things I faced at the beginning of my career. Excessive tolerance for people in the team whose values do not coincide with those of the company is the mistake I can highlight as the most significant.
The good thing about IT culture is that mistakes are not seen as something bad, on the contrary – as an opportunity for improvement and professional growth.
