Meet Marianna Karaargirova, our Web Engineer, based in Bulgaria

Hi Marianna, great to chat to you today! Could you please introduce yourself in a sentence?

Hello! My name is Marianna. I have worked as a front-end/web developer for around 6 years and I joined Tide 6 months ago.

Tell us about what you were doing before Tide and how did you cross paths with us?

I first heard about Tide when my husband applied for a job there. A while later, I was looking for new opportunities and Tide looked like the logical choice – I had done some research and found out that Tide is one of the few product companies in Bulgaria that does something meaningful. I joined Tide because I liked the mission to support small businesses.

Talking about our wonderful members, tell us about your relationship with small businesses.

I would say my connection with small business is that I try, as much as possible, to do my daily shopping from small neighbourhood shops and order groceries from local farms.

How would you explain your role to someone who isn’t familiar with your area?

As a web developer, I often explain to people that my work is making everything that they see on a web page – buttons, forms, tables etc. And I try to tell them about UX and how we (web developers) try to improve people’s experiences and how they feel while they are using a website.

At Tide, I am part of the core web team where we look after the shared components for the web applications. In other words, I work on the account creation process. This is usually the first touch point for our members so it is very important that it goes smoothly and is frustration-free.

Do you have a typical working day?

My typical work day starts with a cup of coffee ☕

In the morning I check my emails, review pull requests and we have a daily meeting where we talk about our sprint goals and discuss issues. Most of my time goes to coding and discussions with colleagues about how to optimise our work. I also participate in different meetings with the product team throughout the day.

For any engineers looking to apply for a role at Tide, why do you think they should join the team?

Engineers should join Tide, because the company gives great opportunities for development. I met a group of highly skilled engineers from whom I learn a lot. You will also have the opportunity to work with new technologies, to experiment and give suggestions for improvement.

What can an engineer expect from their first 3 months at Tide?

A lot of information! About different business areas including the one your team is part of. The great thing is, people are very open and eager to help – they know that there is a lot of new stuff to learn.

What is your favourite employee benefit?

The whole benefit package that Tide provides is very good. I would say that the thing I like the most is the 25 days holiday and the learning/training budget that everyone can use to sign up for online courses, order books, enlist webinars or whatever else we need to up our professional skills.

Oh, and one last thing before you go! When you’re not at Tide, what’s your favourite thing to do?

Hiking, reading and baking are my first go to activities, but I have a lot of other hobbies as well. I try to stay as much as possible away from the computer when I am not at work