MAS 057: Georgi Parlakov

Adventures in Angular

• Episode: MAS 057: Georgi Parlakov
• Website: Adventures in Angular
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedwrench.com/AdventuresInAngular.rss
• Duration: 00:38:47
• Published: 2018-10-24 12:00

Panel: Charles Max Wood

Guest: Georgi Parlakov

This week on My Angular Story, Charles speaks with Georgi Parlakov who is an R&D Developer at Petrotechnical Data Systems who resides in Bulgaria. Chuck and Georgi talk about his background, past and current projects, and so much more!

In particular, we dive pretty deep on:

0:15 – Advertisement: Get A Coder Job!

0:49 – Chuck: Hello!

0:53 – Georgi: Hi!

1:00 – Chuck: Introduce yourself, please!

1:08 – Georgi: I have been an Angular developer and love it every step of the way.

1:20 – Chuck: I stared talking to past guests of Angular, and I find that ½ the people are in the U.S. and the other places, too. Different places but what is your experience as being a developer in the other parts of the world are similar.

2:12 – Georgi: I got into programming but I didn’t want to be at a desk all day. I had some friends in the software industry and I liked what they had. In Bulgaria the people in the software industry they have a 2x or 3x standard of living. I really wanted to begin to try to get into software engineering. I didn’t have any technical background. I went to some interviews and I saw that I needed a lot of knowledge to gain. I learned about the Telerik Academy is doing. They have a large academy and that year I learned a lot and I jumped to this opportunity b/c it seemed like magic. Someone is going to teach me how to be a developer and not charge me? I got into it and it was fun, challenging, and rewarding for me. I dropped my current gig and I went to being a developer.

5:14 – How long is the program at the Telerik Academy.

5:20 – Georgi: It’s about a year. Evenings and then you need to go fulltime.

5:45 – Do they teach you JavaScript?

5:50 – Georgi: Yes. Also, DotNet. Java was mentioned in 2011.

6:17 – Kendo UI have widgets for DotNet.

6:28 – Georgi.

6:35 – Chuck: What got you into JavaScript?

6:44 – Georgi: The previous job I had they used Angular. At that time I was doing...which is a service site rendered HTML. We were using some jQuery and Knock Out, I was learning about Angular and was interested. It was an Angular job and it was technically interesting. They talked about 3D rendering. At least that’s what I got from the conversation. Doing the job we got a few new hires, and they started a project in Angular. We learned from each other, and inspired by people like YOU, and from the Angular talks at conferences. I was inspired.

8:21 – You get into Java and Angular did you get into API?

8:31 – Georgi: Yes.

8:38 – I like how Microsoft names stuff.

8:47 – Georgi: I am listening to...if you have a cool project alias then the project name becomes WCF or something long and tedious.

9:09 – I love those guys.

9:15 – Georgi: I am listening to them b/c someone recommended them. They put the bar really high with their mood and content.

9:40 – Chuck: Carl owns a production company. They do a great job.

9:52 – Chuck: What was it about Angular that got you excited?

10:05 – Georgi: It’s similar to the backend stuff and people get into Angular g/c it’s similar to NVC. I got a lot of the documentation b/c it’s written well. At that time my daughter was 6 months old and I was reading her the Angular documentation. I really enjoyed that. Angular was brand new at that point and I didn’t have a mentor at that time. The learning experience was great, and the flow was fun for me b/c it was challenging.

11:33 – Chuck: The experience is good.

11:42 – How did you get your first programming job?

11:45 – Georgi: Basically out of the academy – 2 months out. The people believed in me and I am thankful. I was only 28 years old and I wasn’t the normal person.

12:22 – I got my first job at 27.

12:30 – A lot of people are transitioning. I did an episode with Tina from South Africa. She moved to England and then to the U.S. She has a Ph.D. in Physics and she transitioned into programming in her 50’s. People think: I am “old”, and it really doesn’t matter.

13:27 – Georgi: People complain while they are sitting down on their butts. I want people to know that you can do it. No matter your age or your experience. The coding knowledge will give you a lot of freedom in the future, because it’s doing magic. Everyone should learn how to code as a hobby in addition to your normal job.

14:55 – Chuck: It might be things like AI and how we interact on our devices. It will be a life skill what we consider to be mundane jobs at this point.

15:18 – Georgi: People say AI could take my job, but also AI will create jobs.

15:36 – Chuck: People theorize about this. Every time people advance in technology it does create more jobs. I worry about the psychology of here is money as a handout.

16:29 – Georgi: We get our self-respect b/c of what we accomplish in the job. Most of us work 8 hours with these certain people and these problems. It’s good to like and even love what you do.

17:00 – Chuck: What have you done with Angular that you are proud of?

17:05 – Georgi: Learning from scratch and learning the basics; eventually advancing my knowledge. Lately I have been going to Meetups and do a presentation there. The theme was...

I wanted to contribute back to Angular, and my computer at home is PC. I had troubles with...

I am an Angular contributor and I am proud of that. I am not a docker nor was I expert angular person, but here I am.

20:25 – Chuck: That’s what peoples mindsets are: I am not this___, I am not that____, etc. If you want a job and you are 90 years old – got for it. You don’t have to be a genius, but you can find something to contribute to the community.

21:17 – Georgi: We have a lot of Angular from my work, I wanted to give back some. Also, and make a name for myself. Again, it was fun and challenging and nice to do it.

21:44 – Chuck: Now that doesn’t hurt b/c you can put on your CV.

21:55 – Georgi: It only shows the top 100. I am not there, but oh well.

22:09 – Chuck: Every little piece helps. You know, it’s a good way to get involved and so much more. What are you working on now?

22:28 – Georgi: The project I am working on is not using Angular. Besides that I am doing a video course on functional C# and it’s a work in progress.

23:10 – Chuck: Anywhere people can find your course?

23:15 – Georgi: It’s less than 50% done, so no.

23:30 – Chuck: What’s it like being a developer in Bulgaria?

23:35 – Georgi: Bulgaria, has a higher living standard for the software industry.

24:55 – Chuck: Is most of the documentation for computers out there in English in Bulgaria?

24:58 – Georgi: No, not the general population speaks English. It does make it a tad harder to transition if you don’t know English. But some of the academies do

25:50 – Chuck: I was a missionary for LDDS in Italy and so my experience as the younger generation speaks English but not the older generation.

26:39 - Georgi: English is 2^nd language in Amsterdam.

27:11 – (Chuck talks about international community and developers.)

27:38 – Our team was ½ and ½ out here in Bulgaria. We did meetings in English most of the time.

28:07 – Chuck: Are you located in Sofia?

Georgi: Yes.

28:15 – Chuck: When you get outside of the city is there a programming community?

28:20 – Georgi: Yes, definitely. Again, though, it does change. When they graduate from the Telerik Academy...

29:27 – Chuck: I live in Utah and we are between NV and WY and CO. There is an area (North of Salt Lake City) that has a healthy tech scene. It depends on where you are in UT for a strong/weak teach center.

30:31 – Georgi: I would think the younger kids would like to do it and they need to do it here in the bigger cities. That is not unusual.

31:00 – Chuck: Yes, people pick up the skills and get hired and then they go and work remotely. Do you have a Medium account?

31:20 - Georgi: Yes, through Twitter and Medium.

32:20 – Picks!

Links:

• jQuery
• Angular
• JavaScript
• Vue
• C++
• C#
• Georgi’s LinkedIn
• Georgi’s Medium
• Georgi’s Medium Article
• Georgi’s Twitter
• Georgi’s GitHub
• Georgi’s Stack Overflow
• Georgi’s Blog

Sponsors:

• Get A Coder Job
• Fresh Books
• Cache Fly

Picks:

Georgi

• Find your thing and take a leap of faith – it’s never too late.
• Angular BrowserModule
• Book: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
• Book: Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher

Charles

• The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung
• Audible
• Book: Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes
• 2 Keto Dudes
• Walk or Run a 5K everyday (3.1 miles)