Meet Kiril Peyanski, Software Engineer, DevTools at Progress

We’d like to introduce you to some of the people from around the world who make us who we are at Progress. In this post, meet Kiril Peyanski, software engineer for DevTools at Progress.

A former professional baseball player, a self-taught DJ, a proud cat owner, a video game lover, and a software developer, Kiril is all that and more. He is one of those curious youngsters who never miss a chance to experience something new. One thing that has remained constant throughout it all is his love for technology, starting from hardware and eventually moving to building software. An idealist at code and a realist in life, Kiril is one of the youngest people in the company, joining Progress at the age of 20.

You seem to have plenty of interests, but tell us some more about how you got into technology in the first place.

I don’t believe in stereotypes, but I think every little boy likes technology, cars and video games. With me it all began in third grade, when my dad bought me my first personal computer. After countless hours of playing video games, the machine broke. I didn’t want to tell my father about it, so I decided to fix it myself by watching videos online and figuring out how things work. In eighth grade, I built my own gaming computer from scratch, which was an eye-opening experience to what one can achieve with technology. Naturally, from building hardware I had to look at the software side. My math teacher noticed this interest of mine and shared with me Telerik Academy’s programming courses. I signed up, and three years later I graduated from it. It was the best decision of my life.

And in the fall you’re about to go back to Telerik Academy, but this time as one of the teachers.

Yes, I will be leading the lecture on React Hooks. This is the newest way to write reusable content in React, which is the framework I work with. I’m excited about the course as I will also be challenging myself to learn it as best as I can. I look forward to experimenting with it, showing it to the students, but also applying it to the Progress products I’m working on.

Besides developing my technical skills, I will be working on my presentation abilities as well. My first experience giving a lecture was awful, but I believe this time it will be different I feel at home at Telerik Academy.

What is the most important lesson you want to teach your students?

If you go the extra mile, your efforts will be appreciated. If they see that they could do something better, they should go for it. The recognition may not come right away, but it always does. I learned that while at Telerik Academy and I haven’t stopped following this rule ever since. I also want to encourage them to always ask the question “Why?” This is a proven way to get better acquainted with new concepts.

At Progress you’re on the developer tools team, working on the Kendo UI components. What’s your favorite project you’ve been involved with so far?

The biggest product I’ve built thus far, which was also quite the challenge to complete, was the Scheduler component. It contains all sorts of date-related controls and thus it was a complex task, which required me to learn a lot on the side. For example, I can now calculate time zones on the fly.

The Scheduler component took half a year to complete and it was successfully released in September 2019, but we’re constantly working on improvements. Being the main person behind it, I’m responsible for its maintenance, future updates, as well as talking with clients.

My favorite project to work on, however, is none of the components. Apart from building them, we also took the responsibility to create and maintain our own product website together with our colleagues from the marketing team. I’m responsible for the backend development of it. Even though the Scheduler component is fascinating to build, I feel the website closer to my heart.

What role has the company played in your personal and professional development?

Progress is my first ever employer, so I owe 100% of my professional and a big share of my personal development to it. I joined Progress when I was 20 years old, so in a way the company helped me grow into an adult. Having the people, the community and the ideology of the company further shaped my understanding of the world. I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

What’s your favorite part about the Progress community?

I am a fan of the livestreaming coding events the developer relations team has been organizing since the pandemic hit. I am often jumping in the chat after work, sharing silly advice or pointing out typos in the code.

When we’re in the office, I love joking around with the team over a cup of coffee and just having a casual non-work-related chat. I’ve been missing this quite a bit these past few months.

Who’s your favorite person at Progress?

It has to be Vesko Kolev, vice president of developer tools at Progress. He talks with everyone and always shares his experience in a way that the person listening can understand him best. He never hesitates to put himself in your shoes. It’s fascinating to see a person with his background do this with an ease. He’s a natural leader. It’s always a pleasure working with and learning from him.

To get to know other Progressers like Kiril, read more of our Progress employee interviews here.