Myths against facts / Robert Tanev CEO Clean Code Factory

The most important thing is happening right now, and we will start with a person who loves dynamics and reinvents himself in everything that he does. He also likes sports, catch phrases on polo shirts, healthy smoothies, and “cheating" bicycles. Seeking inspiration from his personal ideology, Robert Tanev, CEO of Clean Code Factory gives the final word to the mirror, because of clear relationship between them. His experience advises him but also grounds him. Robert is a dreamer, but also a rationalist. He has never arranged his playlist in alphabetical order and cuts the pizza into equally pieces.

Tell us shortly what you are now and what you were not?

I study every day and it's not for nothing. I'm certainly not who I was a year ago, and I'll probably be different a year from today. The new books and meditation are really changing me, I think for better. My mission is not to make a profit, but to develop useful and technically sophisticated product. What time do successful people wake up? I get up at 7:45. I go to bed late and I like to get up later.

When and how did you choose your career?

When I studied Economics in Cologne, Germany, I did not like computers. At this time, I lived in Dusseldorf and travelled to Cologne every day. Often, when I was taking the train, I would see young people reading computer magazines or computer books and wondered what exactly they were looking for. I bought a laptop to access a business partner database. I started buying books for C ++ and Delphi. I wrote my first small programs. I was fascinated by what was happening at all programing levels.

What is the reason to get along with your profession?

In the IT industry, the subjective have a lesser role than in the other professions. The main reason to love my job is because of it gives me complete freedom to express my creativity any time, any place. If I get an idea in the middle of the night, I don’t always have the patience to wait until the morning to test it.

What do you do first after you wake up?

I drink coffee and google German news. I like the way the German news is written. Then is my time to meditate.

Do you believe in ordinary working time and what it should be?

I believe in routine. Humans are creatures of habit. I think that the idea of “working time” gives us a routine that makes us feel more useful. So, one day from 9-to-5 in the office, the other day from 14:00 to 22:00 in Honolulu beach and the third day from the hut in the Italian Alps from 20:00 to 4:00 gives no good results in the long run.

Do you like to work at home?

Yes, I love work at home. I usually test my ideas at home or on my phone. I find good ideas everywhere. Sometimes I catch them in my bathroom. You have to order them in your mind and start implement them when you’re relaxed.

Create an evacuation plan for Sofia.

Do you mean evacuation for all-inclusive weekend or evacuation when aliens attack us? Both are possible evacuations, but I would approach them differently. For the first type of evacuation, I will plan green waves from the city center to the highways exits, for the second I would suggest municipality to involve all transport resources to rush up people from Sofia. Recently I will create a schedule to avoid congestion and to optimize parallel routes.

What puts you in a dead end?

It’s very difficult to be multitasking but I have to figure out with that.

Who do you admire? Why?

I don’t have admire no one, but I admire the German people after World War II. Germany has no pride and limited opportunities after the destruction of most major cities. This people believed in its own capabilities and that is the main reason to overcome all other European economies. I always remember you can achieve and lose everting in your live. Who do you not like to talk to? I don’t like people jerk nonsense.

How much would you charge to wash your own office windows?

I wash windows no charge. It helps me feel useful.

What is different between selling a product to customer and selling to friend?

It has to be the same. I always treat client like he has to receive more than they paid.

Why the IT sector is dynamic and how do you manage to engage employees?

The IT sector is a truly dynamic environment, but innovations are just a small percentage of production. New trends are constantly appearing; but they are essentially old solutions. There is an important relationship between the growth of productivity and wages in IT sector. In Bulgaria there is less productivity and high wages, meaning we are no longer as competitive as others. Therefore, we must increase productivity. Only the visionary company comparing services to those in India and Bangladesh are going to succeed. My dream is to let my team work. I am proud to share that CCF develop a framework that made profit over $ 1.5 billion. This is very important! We believe that we are able to create brand new, innovative framework. Which is more important to learn to use a particular framework or to understand how all of that products work? Which will make you more in demand?

How to treat the problem with turnover of people in your team?

A very complicated question that I still no have answer to. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”

Explain to a 9-year-old, what is BindKraft?

Based on the tactics “Divide and conquer” the browser by writing simple applications that exchange data with each other. Configure the server to generate data without coding. Combine these two main approaches to build components that, at a later stage, make complex but easily manageable systems.