I am Ekaterina Anachkova from Sofia, Bulgaria. I have been working for SAP Labs Bulgaria for 6 years now. I first started as an Information Developer and after that I changed my area completely by moving into the IMS organization in the XPI Sofia team. I was invited to continue blogging forward by my colleague and dearest friend vanya.maneva and her blog post.
Introduction
I am this kind of person: if I hear: "Do you have a lot of things to do these days?", my usual reply is "Yes, I do". However, a conversation started like this never ends this way. It usually continues with: "Oh, I see, I had this very interesting project, it is connected to a great cause, it needs full dedication, and it is only for a couple of days, or weeks, or years. Too bad you're so busy.", and at this moment the words alone come from my mouth, "I am in, you can count on me".
How do you think the way you were raised affected your Career?
When I was a kid I was very good at most of the subjects I studied in school and besides that I was interested in many other topics, singing, playing, theatre, sports. It was not an easy task to choose an area for my future profession. My school was named after Yuri Gagarin, who was the first human to journey into outer space, so I wanted to become an astronaut like him. Somehow I was convinced that to do so, I need to be really good at Maths. And I loved Maths. Years later I remember telling my Dad when he asked me what I would like to work when I grow up: "I would like to become a puppeteer, or a Mathematician (just in case I got the chance to become an astronaut)". I could equally imagine myself working with the Cookie Monster and solving Maths problems. Well, almost my whole family consists of Mathematicians, and although no one told me what should I do with my future, I became a Mathematician as well.
What was the most valuable project you ever participated in and why?
I joined SAP Labs Bulgaria 6 years ago. Soon after becoming an SAP employee I was introduced to a very interesting project, FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competitions, a world wide robotics competition for kids between the age 10 and 16. I was a mentor of an FLL team for two years (yes, it occupied great part of my free time, but it was worth every second). And in Bulgaria only 5 to 10 kids each year were able to take part in the FLL competition, only one Bulgarian team, participating together with the other SAP FLL teams in Germany. As a consequence, together with my colleagues 3 years ago we started our own School of Robotics “Robopartans”, based in several cities in Bulgaria and opened for all kids. Last year, with the support of SAP AG (thank you again, Gabi) and SAP Labs Bulgaria, for the first time we had our own Bulgarian local FLL tournament. Due to its success, this year we have even more kids taking part in the competition.
What is your professional life dream?
What I am working on right now is to help young kids to discover and to develop their passion for technical sciences, and in 10, 15 years, to become one of the best IT specialists I have worked with. And when they look back, they would say: "It all started with an FLL competition, a small team and a robot on the field."
What is the best resource of information in SCN?
Articles, blogs, and forums. Especially in SAP XPI area. I am very serious here, I work as a support developer for more than 3 years now and SCN definitely saves my life. Thank you, SCN!
Blog forward to
Now I would like to invite Elisaveta Vladova and Desislava Chocheva. I don't want to limit their stories by specifying definite questions. What I would like to do is inspire them by giving them base topics that they are free to transform or change at any time.
Share one thing that you are proud of, a project, an event, or a single moment.
Which 5 things do you absolutely want to achieve in life?
Share an interesting/funny story related to you or to your project.
What do you think are the key elements for a successful project?
Name the person who affected you most in your career/ way of thinking and why?
Go blogging!
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