This month we bring you a story from Macedonia – one of the favorite destinations of global hikers and nature lovers since 85% of Macedonia’s territory is covered in the mountains and has the most mountaintops above 2,000 meters per square kilometer globally. Moreover, this beautiful country is home to one of the world’s oldest lakes, “Ohrid’ and the capital city of this rich country, Skopje, was the birthplace of one of the greatest humanitarians known to the world – Mother Teresa.
Now let’s meet Gjorgji Grgovski, Program Architect and Software Developer at AP, who will share more exciting things about Macedonia and his most memorable moments in AP. He will talk about his biggest challenge that proved to be a blessing, reveal which Architect he looks up to the most, and much more.
AP: Gjorgji please introduce yourself.
GG: Hello there, my name is Gjorgji Grgovski, and I’m coming from Macedonia. I’ve worked in software engineering for my entire 8-year career, and my commitment to critical thinking and attention to detail has gotten me to where I am today. In general, I’m a modest, positive and funny person, who doesn’t have so much free time, but when there is some, I like to spend it with family, friends and some sports activities.
AP: Tell us more about your country.
GG: Macedonia is a small country geographically located in the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Even though it is a small country, it offers many picturesque places like the old astronomic observatory, caves, lakes, and many mountains and mountain peaks. One of the most beautiful and most visited cities in Macedonia is Ohrid, which has 365 churches and one of the oldest lakes in the World, called Ohrid Lake. On the other hand, people are very friendly and hospitable.
AP: What is your role in AP?
GG: I have been working in AP for about one and a half years as a Software Architect. An incredibly interesting and challenging position where you have to possess a lot of professional and soft skills, but at the same time, AP gives you great opportunities to learn some new skills. My main responsibilities are to create high-level product specifications and design documents to meet customers’ software requirements, and of course, based on my previous experience, I’m involved in modernizing the current solution.
AP: What was your biggest challenge that proved to be the biggest blessing?
GG: There are a lot of challenges in life, some of them make you blessed, and some you just want to overcome. However, all the challenges you face make you more experienced and can teach you a lot. There are multiple things that were challenging, and I’m proud of the outcome of them, and those are: studying Computer Science, building an apartment, and a weekend house.
AP: What are your most memorable moments in AP?
GG: Every day in AP is interesting and dynamic. Remote work has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages for me is that I don’t have so many opportunities to have face-to-face communication with my colleagues. Anyways during this one and a half years period, there was one moment that I would remember, and that is when I was in Sarajevo. It was a real pleasure and honor to see that interesting city with many cultures and really nice places as well to meet the colleagues in person and to have fun with them after work. I can’t wait to meet them again somewhere.
AP: What would you tell your younger self at the beginning of your career?
GG: Make sure that every position you hold will grow your skills to make you a more valuable consultant. Because just like that, you will have a clear career path and will end up with a fulfilling career.
AP: What three qualities are most important for you in a job?
GG: My unique attribute is passion. Without a passion for what you are doing, it is not possible to ideally perform your job. I have a strong desire to help others on daily bases when needed, which has led to my past success as a team lead and lead software engineer. Most jobs require a degree of collaboration with other people – and sometimes managing others, as well. Even work that’s often seen as lonely, such as software development, may involve considerable input from other people who are able to collaborate well with others.
AP: Name one person who you looked up the most?
GG: My mom is a person who I really respect and admire. She is my hero, and I learned a lot from her. She works as an Architect, something I had been interested in since I was little, but I went a bit in a different direction in Software Engineering. Yet there is something that connects these two professions, and that is the word “Architect” 🙂
AP: What has been your process for turning a bad day into a good one?
GG: Happiness is something that could help you to turn a bad day into a good one. Even when something objectively negative happens, it’s important to focus on the positive things that are also happening and makes you more productive. I prefer to start the day with music and always make some jokes.
AP: What is the fun fact that most people at AP still do not know about you?
GG: Usually, our profession is not related to sports, but one fun fact about me is that I was professionally training five different sports: basketball, football, handball, volleyball, and karate.
AP: Thank you Gjorgji!