Meet Nataliya Kostova, our Mobile Engineer in Bulgaria

The Tech team builds and maintains the Tide app that our members use every day. We’d love for you to meet the people behind the software engineering team – here’s Nataliya, our Mobile Engineer in Bulgaria

Hey Nataliya! Great to chat to you today, tell us about yourself in a few sentences. Who is Nataliya? 

👋 Hi, I’m Nataliya, QA turned Mobile Engineer at Tide. 

I enjoy spending peaceful time with my family and friends. I love animals 🐾 Coming home to a little dog that showers you with love and affection is probably the best thing… But I am actually a cat person 😉 🐈

It has been almost 5 years since you joined Tide. You are part of the ones we fondly refer to as “First People” in Sofia 👩‍🚀 Tell us how did you cross paths with Tide?

I used to work at an outsourcing company in Bulgaria and was assigned to test the Tide app. In the early stages it had all the necessary functionality but the UI wasn’t my favourite. Now the app has grown so much, and the UI has gone a really long way 🚀

After leaving the outsourcing company I moved to a different company but the QA manager at the time (Hey, Omar!) kept in touch and when Tide opened an office in Sofia, he made me an offer I couldn’t resist, so I came back and I am really glad I did 💙

So, you first joined as QA and you are now a Mobile Engineer. Tell us more about your journey – were there any challenges and what advice would you give someone who wants to switch careers or learn new skills?

Well, of course, as in every change there are challenges. First you doubt your decision a lot, you think of quitting when you hit a rough patch. But honestly, the most important thing to have when taking such a step and when, like me, you are not in your twenties anymore, is supportive colleagues. Secondly, a company that backs you up through the journey. I can genuinely say that Tide offers both 👊

My advice would be to find at least one person that really wants to share their knowledge and follow their advice to help you learn and grow 🌱 (Hi, Lazo!).  Tide actually has a brilliant Mentoring Programme to match Tideans together!  

How would you explain your role to someone who isn’t familiar with your area? What does your typical work day look like?

A typical work day would be choosing the task that suits me and start working on it, typically I’ll then write some code,  maybe ask the senior engineers for some help, write some more code and some tests to complete the task. I still experience some self doubt and I am sometimes concerned whether or not I have chosen the right path – but I am more confident each day 😊

Recently Tide has decided to undergo a major transition from native to Flutter. What was it like for you?

I personally started with Android and was trained by a senior engineer. Because I hadn’t been working with it for years, it wasn’t a big shift for me. However, being mentored by an Android specialist gave me a good foundation, making it easier for me to move to Flutter. Building the UI felt especially easier.

Talking about building the app… What’s your favourite Tide feature?

My favourite feature is our Invoicing tool. I love how easy and fast it is to create and send an Invoice 📑🤳📨

What do you think makes our Engineering team and Tide in general special?

I have worked for some good companies before but none of them have managed to help me transition so easily to a new role. And it is not only me — we have this great policy that anyone within the company, after some period of time, can try out and change roles.

Plus, all Tideans have a great learning budget which helps us enrol in different courses to guide us in that direction.

And last but not least – we work with new technologies and have  internal Hackathons where our ideas get considered by company leaders. Overall there are a lot of opportunities working at Tide and no two days are the same 🔥

Your field is constantly evolving. How do you stay ahead?

Currently I am watching a lot of YouTube tutorials on Flutter. There are also some groups on LinkedIn like this one that I have joined, I even follow a person on Instagram that creates fast coding videos. 

What’s your favourite Tide memory so far?

The board-game nights our Culture Club team organises in our Sofia office ⭐

One more question before you go! When you’re not at Tide, what’s your favourite thing to do?

I enjoy playing board games, reading fantasy novels, watching movies, going to the beach and honestly – I hate the cold weather but I love going to the spa.
Overall that’s it, nice to meet you! 😊