Meet Hristo Ivanov, ITSM Team Lead at Do IT Wise. He is a real example of how hard work and dedication lead you to excellence and great adventures. 

He is known for his love for sports and travel and for being one of the most honest and fun people in the office. Learn more about him in the following interview. 

I am…

Hello, my name is Hristo Ivanov, and I am ITSM Team Lead at Do IT Wise. What can I say about myself? Born and raised in our beautiful capital Sofia. My high school education was focused on physics, informatics, and mathematics, and you can think my path in the IT world was already paved, but actually, life took a different direction. At first, I wanted to apply for the Academy of the Ministry of Interior, but due to some circumstances, I decided to go forward with another subject that comes naturally to me – foreign languages. To make it more exotic, I picked Iranian studies, and in the end, we were only two people who graduated. 

But yet again, how I ended up in IT was a stroke of pure luck and happened through my connections from the university. I heard about an open position and started my first job in the field as Incident Manager at a big company. For the two years I spent there, I learned a lot, but the lack of growth opportunities made me think about other options. At that point, I decided to take a course in QA and start looking for a new job. It turned out to be a good reality check for where I was standing in the market back then. 

About Do IT Wise, I have heard from a friend that started working here and recommended me as well for the ITSM Technical Consultant role. To be completely honest, in the beginning, everything was absolutely new to me, and it was quite hard to get in the flow. But shortly, I started to see amazing changes. I am grateful that I got one of the Solutions Architects – Dan Belostotsky, as my mentor and friend, who helped me tremendously to become a great specialist in my field. This was right before the Covid pandemic, which turned out to be a real game-changer for me. Once being out of the office and with limited contacts, I got super motivated and started to believe in myself more. At that time, I was assigned to one big, complex project with very tight deadlines, and that gave me an additional boost to push myself to the limit. Two years ago, I was promoted to my current position as a Team Lead.

My role in Do IT Wise

I am often joking that some days being a Team Lead feels like managing a kinder garden. Joke aside, it is a pretty interesting and fulfilling job – I work two days ≥/of the week with my team and three days I dedicate to the clients. Yet, of course, I separate my time wherever needed. My role is to manage the team and its resources, to pick suitable projects for them that will be both challenging and develop their skills further, but also make them happy and interested. Sometimes I help with the technical part as well. On the other side, for client projects, I work with the whole management team, and depending on the assignment, I take on different tasks helping with pre-sales, architecture, technical consulting, and more.  

The more complex and difficult the task is, the better. Challenges are my main drivers.

Why Do IT Wise?

To be honest, before applying for Do IT Wise, I haven’t heard much about the company back in the days. But I got here through a friend of mine from my previous job who joined before me and shared how awesome it is working here, which proved to be exactly right throughout the years.

What I love about Do IT Wise?

I believe there are a couple of factors which make you happy in a certain place. First are the people who you are surrounded with. If you can find friends and a fun environment at work, every day becomes a pleasure. The second thing I love at Do IT Wise is that I feel heard and valued. In every case that I have raised with the management, I have seen good discussions and changes where necessary. And, of course, the third one is the growth and development opportunities.

My favorite moment in Do IT Wise

I had a life-changing work experience last year, which I consider my favorite so far. I was sent on a project to South Korea, and the story is quite wild about how I got there. The process started long before it got to me, with the client searching for the right person with a certain background, firstly in Australia and then in the whole of Europe. From the many companies and contacted partners, I got into the pool of potential consultants, and after one interview, I was selected to develop the project. As we were joking, considering all the circumstances, the chance was around 1% for this to happen.

My most significant achievement

Again, I will refer to my work trip to South Korea. I am proud of the whole experience and results, but maybe some of the most significant outcomes are the friendships and contacts I made, the fact that through this process, we managed to attract one of the most amazing and smart ladies in the ServiceNow world to work in Do IT Wise, and also the following work opportunities that came after the project. I am grateful I stood up to the high expectations and had e good impact on the client and my company. 

On a personal level, my greatest achievement is the home we are building with my significant other to whom I also proposed in South Korea. 

Sharing is caring

I have read a couple of very useful books about ServiceNow, which are a great source of knowledge. Nowadays, however, my main inspiration comes from LinkedIn. I follow many professionals and gain news and insights through their content online. This way I have discovered, for example, a Discord group about ServiceNow and some newsletters on the latest updates.

My biggest lesson

If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will.

My hobbies

It may sound a bit cliche, but one of my favorite things to do is travel and explore new cultures. I am also much into sports and enjoy heavy lifting, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and boxing. Furthermore, I love hiking, and since last year when we went skiing together with the company, I want to try it again this winter. In general, I like being active. 

Favorite book or movie

“The Office” is the greatest piece of comedy ever! And also, all the movies from Christopher Nolan but especially the absolute masterwork “The Dark Knight Rises”. No joke, I have maybe seen it around 60 times already. 

Where I see myself in 10 years

Being some kind of boss. 😉 

A word from the wise

Consulting is the best business. If you want to know why, come and join us. 

If I was a superhero, my power would be…  

I would love to have the ability to teleport from place to place and avoid all the traffic and save time for more important things. 

If I could meet one famous person that would be…

That is a tough question. Perhaps I would pick Joe Rogan, host of one of the most famous podcasts in the world, in which he discusses current events, comedy, politics, philosophy, science, and hobbies with a variety of guests. He is known for his rawness and for openly discussing the pillars of modern masculinity and rational thinking. I think it could be a very interesting conversation with many insights to think about. 

My childhood dream

To become a Pilot. Since I was a child, I have had many neighbors who were working in the field, and I was inspired by their freedom and success. They were always the first to get in touch with new trends or technology. 

If I could switch my job and do anything for a day, what would it be?

I always said to my friends how I wanted to do YouTube videos back in the days, even before it was cool. So, if I could switch for a day, I would conduct interviews with interesting people and share their stories. 

My favorite dish

As a proud Bulgarian, I would choose one of the most traditional and delicious dishes – banitsa. 

Personal “motto” – spoken or unspoken?

Fake it till you make it. 

Favorite family tradition

Being from Sofia, I am grateful I have the opportunity to have weekly dinner meetings with my family. But I also want to start a tradition of going together on holidays with them as we have already visited Egypt and it was amazing. 

What is one thing I would never do again?

Well, I have two things in mind. Long story short, I would never go again to the super extreme and fast rollercoasters, and I would not drink energy drinks. 

Dream destinations

My dream destination is “the country of the rising sun” – Japan. They live in the future, and I want to experience their culture and see the way people live daily. When you think about it, we are all human and are basically the same – we breathe, we sleep, we eat, and we love. And yet we are so different in the ways we go through life because of the environment that shaped us. 

As my favorite, I can definitely say California in the USA. I cherish it with amazing memories, and I just love the vibe there. The mountains and the ocean are right next to you – the best of both worlds. 

What would I do if I had one more life? 

I am confident with all my choices and lessons learned. I would not change it for the world. 

For more inspiring stories, follow our series “Meet the Wise Team”. Learn more about our colleagues and meet next Raya Radeva, Platform Developer at Do IT Wise.