Greetings and salutations, dear DevriX blog readers!
In today’s episode of “A Day in the Life of…”, we’ll be talking to our WordPress technical support – Plamen Georgiev.
We’ll be covering topics like the pros and cons of remote work, how important it is to help others, advice on custom PC building, and much more.
And before we proceed to the interview, make sure you read the rest:
- A Day in the Life of an Executive Assistant [Vladi]
- A Day in the Life of a Recruiter/HR [Molly]
- A Day in the Life of a Project Coordinator [Reni] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of a Community Manager [Hrisi D] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of a Product Manager [Radost] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of a Front-End Developer [Ani] – DevriX
- Day in the Life of a Backend Developer [Emo] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of a Marketing Coordinator [Elly] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer [Niki] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of a Front-end Team Lead [Tony] – DevriX
- A Day in the Life of an Intern [Gabby]
A Day in the Life of a Tech Support
Hey, Plamen, thank you for this interview. To start off, can you share a bit about yourself?
Hello, Denis, I am grateful for the invitation. It’s an honor to be your guest. About myself, I’ve been working as a WordPress Technical Support at DevriX for almost 4 years now. Wow, how time flies, no? Haha.
I’m from Oryahovo, a small and beautiful town, situated on the shore of the Danube river. Most people have probably never heard about the place. Before I started at DevriX, I served in the army for over 5 years, and I have some serious experience, being on military missions in foreign lands. However, that’s a topic for another day. We would be here forever if we touched on it (laughing).
I studied to be an electrotechnician, but fate decided otherwise, and I went into the military, where I learned valuable life experiences. After that, I came here.
One of my hobbies is shooting, which is not a big surprise to many of you. I also enjoy walking in nature, especially around the beautiful Danube. Furthermore, I love to help at animal shelters, as they also need our help.
I admit, the military part sounds interesting, and I’m itching to know more, but you’re right in that we wouldn’t have enough time for that.
Instead, let’s focus on the present. You’ve been working with WordPress for nearly a decade now. What would you say has changed the most since then? Do you have any new favorite features?
I’ve been working with WordPress since 2012, and I must admit that it’s been great. The entire system has changed a lot in 10 years. As you might know from the latest updates, we now have the Gutenberg editor, which is the so-called “Builder”. I would say that it is the future, and we will definitely see more awesome features.
Many of the big hosting companies now offer a lot of personalized WordPress solutions, which means that things are going in the right direction for WP. Personally, I expect that this year we’ll see more development of Gutenberg, its performance and features.
I agree – the best is yet to come. You are a part of DevriX, yet you’re working completely remote, and some of us have never seen you in person… In your opinion, what are the main pros and cons of remote working?
That’s right, I’m completely remote, and I try to visit the office whenever I have the opportunity. To be honest, I miss you guys and hope to see you in person soon. My personal opinion on remote work is that it’s cool. The positive side is that you can focus on your work, there aren’t any distractions like noises or people.
Unfortunately, there’s also a very big negative. Sometimes, having no people around you can be awful. It’s always good to have a colleague to talk to, whether about work or other topics. As you know, sometimes the best conversations start around the coffee machine. Since we all visit it a couple of times a day (laughing).
I agree (laughing). The coffee machine is sacred. I hope to see you at the office soon, meanwhile, my next question is regarding one of our core values – never stop learning. What are the most important lessons/skills you’ve learned from working at DevriX?
That’s a great question, thank you. One of the most significant things is to never stop learning from each other, and to always help a colleague in need, if we can.
One of the most important skills I have learned here is the importance of not being shy or worried about asking for help. I’m saying this because some colleagues get anxious when they start working on a given task, and they have questions about it. They start wasting time looking for an answer, which could have been easily solved by asking a colleague at the next desk, for example. Teamwork is among the most essential skills here. I learned a lot from working in our team, as well as, our clients and products.
Just like every other person, I’ve made some mistakes in the beginning, but with time, I have learned a lot about my role as a tech support.
Absolutely, teamwork makes the dream work. From my personal experience, I know that you’re a very responsive person, always willing to help a colleague in need, for which I thank you on behalf of the entire team.
Now, it’s time for you to take us through the journey that is a day in the life of a tech support? What usually happens, do you follow a specific workflow or routine, or do you prefer working according to the situation?
I have an established routine, and I try to follow it, but as you know, that’s not always possible, as things don’t always go according to plan. We’ve had incidents, when a website is down early in the morning, and when that happens, we don’t have time to follow our routines. We work according to the situation.
Luckily for us, it’s been more than a year, since we’ve had such a crisis (laughing). I always put extra efforts into monitoring the statuses of websites, especially since we insist on keeping all our websites online 24/7, and not having issues with them. This means I need to also make sure to inform myself on any new and upcoming updates.
Usually though, my day stars at 10 AM, I check my daily tasks, my emails, Slack messages. I check the statuses of all our websites – internal ones and clients – to see if something had happened during the night. Then I continue with Asana, unless there’s an urgent email that requires immediate attention. Some mornings, I have requests from colleagues to help with something, be it a task or just to research some information.
I’m always happy to help the team. My workday typically ends at 7 PM, but sometimes I stay longer to help for projects, if necessary.
It’s obvious that you’re a very reliable worker, and our clients can be rest assured that you’re always watching over their websites. Now, I want to ask you about a certain type of survival game or airsoft as they call it in Japanese.
How would you describe the thrill of participating in an airsoft game? More so, as someone who’s actually been on real battlefields – is there any room for comparison, at all?
I expected that question (laughing). There’s no room for comparison – one thing is a game, and the other is real life. About airsoft, I would say it’s a good way to have fun with friends over the weekend. To be honest, I think this survival game is still in its early stages in our country. A lot of people either don’t know about it, or are not sure how to play it properly. I would add that it’s a rather expensive hobby, considering the cost of all the equipment.
That said, I would be delighted at the idea of organizing a game for everyone at work.
In that case, you’re probably expecting my next question, but… I know you’re into custom PC building, do you have any advice for enthusiasts that are just starting? What is the most important thing to pay attention to, and what – not so much?
In all honesty, I didn’t expect that one (laughing). I used to have my own office/store for computer repairs in my hometown. I wanted to have a taste of what owning a business was like, so to speak. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out, and the business failed.
I don’t regret it, though, I would try again. As they say, experience comes from mistakes. My advice to people who want to do custom PC building as a hobby is to invest in the right tools.
Currently, there is everything you need right at your finger tips, from tools to computer parts, and the prices are more than fair. Invest time in looking for information about a particular product before you start doing any kind of repairs, and always start with something small.
Cool. If I’m honest, it’s been very nice talking to you, and I’d love to keep on chatting, but it’s also important to know when to stop, so…
Last question: What is the one WordPress implementation you’ve always wanted to happen, but hasn’t yet? What would you add to WP, if you had the unlimited power and knowledge to do so?
Great question, really! I would build a platform for people in need, a platform that served the entire world. We all know how difficult it is right now, we went through a global pandemic, and currently there’s an ongoing war, that’s very close to us.
There are so many people in need of help daily. The platform would probably be a place where anyone could share what they wanted with those that required it – the help could be through financial aid, or just normal everyday stuff, like food, clothes, etc.
Before anything, we’re all human, and we need to help others out. It costs you nothing to greet a stranger or help out an unknown person in a hard situation.
“Give ordinary people the right tools, and they will design and build the most extraordinary things.”
— Neil Gershenfeld
Alright, thank you once again for the interesting conversation. Any last thoughts?
Again, I would like to thank you for the invitation, the pleasure was mine. I would just like to say: let us all be better people!
Do you want to make the world a better place? Let’s build it together.
What Is It Like to Work With Plamen?
“Working with Plamen is a delight. Even though he’s not in the office, I always know that if I am struggling with any technical difficulties, I can rely on him. He’s always quick to respond, super approachable, and a delight to talk to. Working on a project with him always guarantees success, and we have a lot of fun along the way.”
“Plamen is a nice person, and a reliable colleague. He always exceeds expectations by providing quick, and accurate support on technical topics. A real asset for any company, and a good human being, above all.”
“Plamen was one of the first colleagues I started actively working with right after joining the team. My first impression was that he was reliable and always willing to help. And the great thing is that this first impression remains the same even 2.5 years later.”