Nikolay Kivshanov - 10 years at Melon

Nikolay Kivshanov took up his career at Melon 10 years ago. He was 20 when he moved to Sofia, began his studies at the university, and started working at our software development company.    

Nikolay shares that Melon helped him grow up.  

He says that he spent the most dynamic years in his life with us. He does not hide that working, studying, and preparing for exams at the same time was not easy, but taught him great lessons. “Melon is responsible for building my character not only as a professional but as a person too.”  

He has overcome a lot of challenges for the past 10 years.  

Nikolay had gone through so many projects and clients that he has lost track of the number of the challenging moments he had faced. Balancing between his personal, university, and work life was definitely hard to handle. However, Nikolay defines himself as persistent, so he managed to go through the struggle of finding the work-life balance.  

Working with fun people is what Nikolay enjoys the most about his job.  

He appreciates being around his colleagues. He says that if the people are nice, the whole team is motivated, and everybody enjoys working on their clients’ projects. For Nikolay, this is the case at Melon. What brings him great satisfaction is achieving the preset project goals. “It is like a chain reaction, and at the end, everybody is happy: the client, the team, and the company,” he says.

Nikolay’s favorite memories at Melon come from gatherings with his colleagues.    

“I have been with Melon for 10 years. This means that I have been to a lot of team buildings and parties,” he laughs. As an outgoing person, Nikolay cannot think of one moment he can pin down as his most favorite. He loves partying and hanging out with people, and he does not usually miss any company event. He cannot count the happy moments he has experienced as well. He is sure that those kinds of gatherings are important for the team and are not only what builds it, but also helps it stay united.  

He defines his team as “diverse”.  

They connect in a lot of different ways. There are no stereotypes. Every single person shows a different personality, but they can talk about anything. “I don’t know how we do it, but we manage to do it. Magic, I guess,” he adds.  

What makes Melon special for him is the exceptional relationships people have.  

“The company feels like a family,” Nikolay says. There is no visible distinction between people in different positions or the management. He remembers when the company consisted of 60 people. The feeling of unitedness used to come naturally. In his opinion, it is great that it still feels the same now when we are more than 200 people.  

The advice to the people that have recently joined Melon is to be responsible.

“Nothing good in life comes easily. Sometimes, some projects are difficult to work on. Sometimes, you have to push yourself a little bit harder,” he says. Nikolay does not think that everything at Melon is perfect, but he loves that in the last 10 years, he is continuing to see the company grow and evolve.