Vasil Kostadinov

Education

My main path

• "Tsar Simeon Veliki" Secondary School;
  2007 - 2014
  

  Where I found the majority of my friends, some of who turned out to be colleagues! Here I had my first spark for the Computer world in the IT lessons, where we mostly played games, but occasionally took a look at Word or PowerPoint.

  
  

  I was drawing a lot back then. My parents wanted for me to become and architect. I, however, wanted to become a graphic designer. My Photoshop skills grew exponentially in that period. More on that in the other section

• "Plovdiv" Language School; Major: German;
  2014 - 2019
  

  Here I was learning more sophisticated things, such as C++. We did not go beyond the Main function, but we still did some programming. I also made some of my best pencil drawings. (I was not Piccasso or Da'Vinci but I was still proud of myself.) I also made my first website, which was sadly deleted in 2023, standing strong for almost 10 years!

  
  

  While the german language didn't turn out to be my thing, programming and drawing did. In the 11^th grade I made the decision to study graphic design, but in the 12^th I found out that the entry exam required a significantly bigger portfolio than mine (and was practiced in another city aswell), so I did a switcheroo and picked "Software technology and design".

• University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski";
  Faculty: Mathematics and Informatics;
  Major: Software technology and design;
  2019 - 2023
  

  University - The real deal! I qualified and got into this new major, along with 100+ more people, all with similar interests.

  
  

  The 4 year programm, altough not that great IMO, offered a lot of programming related activites, many Math classes and a few Design classes.

  
  

  We had the opportunity to learn C# and Java, and to understand what "Object oriented" means. We also did Kotlin for Android devices.

  
  

  We did 2 or 3 courses on HTML, CSS and JS, along with React/Angular. We also had optional classes on them as well.

  
  

  We took up Liniear algebra and Analytic geometry (That's where you learn how you make shaders and AI, btw), 3D modelling, 3D projecting using Wolfram Alfa.

  
  

  We dived into advanced Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign with PS having more than one course planned.

  
  

  We did analytics with Excel and Power BI. We also used MS Access and took some classes in SQL

  
  

  We crafted diagrams with StarUML. We copyrighted in Word and presented in PowerPoint.

  
  

  Some of us approached the english launguage at C1 level. Some of us learned networking and routing.

  
  

  We also had internship programs, where we learned so much more about real work. That's where I landed my first job.

  
  

  Sadly, the pandemic struck when I was a freshman and we had to switch to online education. Nobody was prepared for what was comming, every teacher had their own place, where they uploaded lectures and exams. It was chaos until the end of the second year, when the UNI finally understood that the situation is permanent and instructed everyone to use Google Classroom.

  
  

  Personally, I had no problem with online education, for I was at work most of the time. I could rewatch lectures and do my study before of after my 9-to-5 and nail my exams. Something that wouldn't be possible with conventional on-premises educations

Side-learing

• "Europe" Private language school
  2008 - 2012
  

  My late grandmother saw that english was taking over the world. She could see that as early as my kindergarten days. So, everytime she had the opportunity to put me into some english-learning group - she did.

  
  

  I can say that I grew up with english. Every youtube video, every blog, every movie, series or skits, I've been watching and/or reading in english. An that school laid the foundation of it. I did not tackle the C1 certificate (yet), in fact I think I only had B2 when I stopped going to these clases. But I was 12, so yeah. Oh... And on my first exam I had 100%, still proud to this day! :P

• SoftUni Creative: Graphic Design

  Well, that is not something that I took up myself, which is why it is listed here. In fact it was my girlfriend that did. I was just watching the lectures with her and helping where I could. But I did learn a bit more about UI and UX, which was broadly expanded at work. Also some Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesing and Figma/XD tricks.

Conclusion

In conclusion I can safely say that I can:

• work with: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js.
• make something with: C#, Java and Kotlin. I will also be learning GoLang and Python someday. And Swift if didn't die already.
• create art with: Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, Figma.
• analyze data with: PowerBI, Access, Excel.
• craft diagrams with: StartUML.
• workout heavy math equations with: Wolfram Alpha.
• build databases with SQL. Postgre FTW! Also Supabase and Strapi.js.
• model virtual objects with: Cinema4D, Blender.
• cut clips with: Da'Vinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, After Effects.
• write my own name in english.
• tell you what a Matrix in maths means.
• probably calculate how many private addreses a given IPv4 has.

My work

Internship

As I said, I landed my first job at the end of my first internship. I had no experience prior and went into that company basically "naked and afraid" knowing only what html was and how to structure it semi-properly.

There I was learning React from a course in Udemy, and made my first few apps. One was OOP with class components and the other one was functional with react hooks, which were a new thing back then. The apps, of course, had instructions on how to code them in the course, I was practically copying and pasting 60% of the things, but at the end I made and App, a real app. So proud.

Time went by and I had to, you know, start making them myself. The team gave me a task to create a Pokémon front end presenter that consumed the PokéApi. They even did some desinging on the whiteboard, that I had to implement. Of course, no inspect like in Figma, but they wanted to see how I would cut out the UI.

Some sleepless nights went into this app but at the end I had a working, searchable PokéDex!

Actual work, that made money

After my initial projects, the company saw something in me and decided to hire me full time. I was, of course, thrown into the depths of front end development, knowing nothing but basic React.

We started using CMS like Contentful to build static sites with vanilla React (which was not an easy task). We had to use GraphQL, for it was the most modern thing back then. Yuck!

I started to receive errands in productivity management apps like Trello and JB Space. Some of the projects were not in GitHub, but in GitLab (like, whaaat? GH is not a monopoly!?). In short, my head was a mess back then, like every sub-junior dev ever! My code was returned for changes thousands of times, I was seeing myself as a useless piece of GB, that was costing money, but didn't do anything in return of investment. It was bad... but neccesary for my growth.

After the rough start, I started to push out some projects that *actually* made some money. With help from the team, we crafted some online stores like Goddess and Born to move . We experimented with WebSockets to create an online fitness app with real time chat and video, that sadly did not see the light of day. I also did some side work on Brendan Kane's websites Hookpoint.com and https://brendanjkane.com/ . We event started work on an bookings platform, that works to this day - Easybook.bg . Suddenly, I found myself working on more and bigger projects, from static websites like Neighbours and Ntelflex , via mobile apps like Patterned Belt and ZooMallClub to web base admin panels and from providers like Cargo1 and Koleda.net .

My experience grew, as well as my self esteem. I started using more tools, not just react. Utilizing more frameworks and JavaScript shenanigans.

If you are interested, you can check out all of the projects that I've crafted myself, or with the help of others.

Today

Currently I am maintaining easybook, as well as cooking something new! With a team of professionals from all over the dev spectrum, we are building a web-based SaaS that takes work management to a whole new level. Doesn't matter what your job is, you can manage everything you do on this app and I can wait to show it to you! And yes... It has AI, duh!

Follow this project for more info on the matter!