Meet Martin Zhivkov, Senior ServiceNow ITOM Consultant at Do IT Wise. He follows the philosophy that if you do something, you must commit yourself fully and do it passionately.

Marto is a night owl who can often be spotted working at night, but also, he is the life of the party and an adventure seeker always looking for new experiences.

I am…

My name is Martin Zhivkov, and I was born and raised in Pernik. My professional journey started a little strange by studying Informatics at the South-West University “Neofit Rilski” as a bachelor, but I had no interest in it at all. So, when I graduated, I decided to find a different job that would be more intriguing for me and started as a sales consultant in one of the biggest Telecoms in Bulgaria. And as life has some funny twists, after one year there, a friend and I decided to start studying Master’s in… well IT – Distributed Systems and Mobile Technologies at Sofia University. But this time around, I was determined to dive in deep and give my best to become an excellent specialist. 

I am still grateful for one of my professors – Mr. Georgiev, who helped us with making CVs highlighting our strongest capabilities. One day he asked me – “How do you feel about traveling to exotic countries, and how well do you know English?”. And that is how I started my first IT job as a consultant, which happened to match my passion for travel, new experiences, and foreign languages. From the very beginning, I had to jump straight to working on some really complicated cases on-site with the clients with countless sleepless nights developing the best solutions for them. It was an outstanding experience, and after three and a half years, I decided I had reached my limit there and needed new challenges and growth opportunities and ended up in a big corporation.  

I was a bit disappointed with how processes work there, but it gave me another gift – meeting one of my mentors from whom I gained invaluable knowledge and experience. And who also, later on, convinced me to join Do IT Wise alongside him in 2018.

My role in Do IT Wise 

My position in the company is a Senior ITOM Consultant, delivering end-to-end monitoring and inventory solutions in the MicroFocus portfolio. I am developing further in the ServiceNow ITOM portfolio with Discovery, service mapping, and agent-based monitoring. After four years in the company, I can say that I am not even halfway to my potential here with the constantly changing technologies and new thrilling client cases that require creativity and deep knowledge of the cloud platforms.

Why Do IT Wise?

As I mentioned back in the day, my previous company became small for me, my job there was not challenging, and this is always a red flag for me. 

I came to Do IT Wise because of Totyo Totev, who was my mentor at my previous place and became a close friend of mine, and I highly appreciate his opinion. He told me that Do IT Wise is a company with big customers and challenging projects across all business verticals, and that was enough for me. My main goal at work is to learn new technologies and extend my limits and combined with his recommendation, it was the natural choice for me. Four years later, I can again confirm I have landed in the right place.

What I love about Do IT Wise?

It is all about the team. When I started at Do IT Wise, I was really impressed by the variety of true professionals working in the company. Many well-known names are working here who always spark the hunger to learn and achieve more. The core of our company culture is knowledge sharing, and I am confident to say that everyone is contributing to the development of their colleagues. 

The thing I love the most is striving for big customers and challenging projects and the chance to work with people with whom teamwork is a pleasure.

My favorite moment in Do IT Wise

Many small moments from being in the so-called brainstorming rooms where we are solving our most challenging tasks to playing football with my colleagues after the end of the working day or traveling to different countries to deliver projects.

My most significant achievement

On a professional level, the first thing that comes to my mind is that I am always fortunate enough to be a part of amazing teams with people who have your back. Usually, we understand each other with just a few words.  

Of course, I am proud of all the training courses and certificates I have obtained during the years thanks to the company, and continue my learning curve with each project.

Sharing is caring

Usually, I use many different approaches to get the most detailed information I can find about a case, and these are my tips. 

• First, read the official documentation about the software/solution/product. 
• Search for a colleague, mentor, or some authority in the field from whom you can get experience-based knowledge on the topic. 
• Always run some tests and don’t be afraid to fail. 

• Search for similar cases in forums dedicated to the topic. 

My hobbies

I am still celebrating the title of AC Milan this year. 😀 We haven’t won since 2011, and it was a huge victory. My father was a professional goalkeeper, and since I was a child, I have watched and played football. This year I also made one of my dreams come true by going to watch a live game in Italy. Boxing and MMA are also among my favorite sports to watch as they build discipline, determination, and character. 

In contrast to my everyday life, my other hobbies consist of everything that can give me adrenaline and makes me feel alive. Sometimes people joke I cannot really work in the IT field and at the same time be such an adventurous person.  

You can also see me regularly in the gym or climbing a mountain in Bulgaria on the weekends. 

Favorite book or movie

“The Godfather” with the great Al Pacino. 

My future

I want to continue to go further in my technical career and later on become a solutions architect. The goal is to have a broader overview of the clients’ cases, improve my sales skills and provide elegant solutions. 

A word to the wise

Never stop developing and challenging yourself, try to always push yourself up to the limit. 

Strive for difficult projects, jump into the deep, and emerge. On the road, you will always be surrounded by great people who will inspire you for more. 😊 

Famous people I would want to meet…

Charlie Sheen – I admire people who don’t take themselves that seriously and are able to enjoy life to the fullest. I would love to experience a day of his life. 

On the other hand, someone who is a true inspiration to me is the Italian football legend Paolo Maldini. He is an example of a true professionalist and has strong personal values that you can observe in every step of his career. In this world that is mostly driven by money, three generations of the Maldini family have been playing only for one club – AC Milan. Having had 25 seasons as an active player and winning almost everything in the football world, no wonder his nickname is still “Il Capitano”. So, it will be an extremely interesting conversation for me if I ever have the chance to meet him. 

If I could switch my job and do anything for a day, I would be…

A professional football player or hidden beaches guide in Seychelles or a similar place. I would love to try for a day to do the exact opposite of IT – to be outside, communicating with all kinds of strangers and taking them to the most unrevealed places. 

If I could only eat one meal for the rest of my life, it would be…

My great grandmother’s “lyutika”. It is a traditional Bulgarian dish made of peppers, tomatoes, and onions. Delicious. 

Personal “motto” – spoken or unspoken?

Always fall asleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose! 

My favorite destination…

I can say my favorite destinations so far are Seychelles, Lebanon, and Switzerland. And something may be surprising, but one of my favorite places is my childhood village. In terms of what I want to visit – the Swiss Alps. And as an experience, I would like to attend the Tomorrowland festival in Belgium.

Do you want to know more about our outstanding team? Explore more stories in our blog.