{"id":24650,"date":"2015-08-25T13:15:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-25T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=24650"},"modified":"2017-08-25T18:05:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T16:05:35","slug":"one-year-at-qobo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/25\/one-year-at-qobo\/","title":{"rendered":"One year at Qobo"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>Today marks <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/08\/19\/goodbye-easy-forex-hello-qobo\/\">a year since I joined Qobo<\/a> as a CTO. \u00a0And what a year it has been! \u00a0On one hand, it flew by like a week. \u00a0On the other hand, looking at how much has been done, it feels like a decade. \u00a0Here are just a few highlights, in no particular order:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Team changes<\/strong> &#8211; a few people left, a few people joined. \u00a0A gadzillion people were interviewed, met, and even worked with on a project basis. \u00a0Those who are in the office now have also grown and got better both individually and as a team. \u00a0I&#8217;m always excited to see change in people.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Technology focus<\/strong> &#8211; a variety of technologies from earlier company history were consolidated into fewer, but better solutions. \u00a0We are a PHP shop now, with solid expertise in WordPress, CakePHP, and SugarCRM. \u00a0Focusing on fewer technologies allowed us to gain deeper knowledge and to perfect our tools. \u00a0Which leads me to the next point &#8230;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Open Source Software<\/strong>. \u00a0I&#8217;ve been a fan and an advocate for Open Source Software for years. \u00a0But it was always difficult to push it in the corporate world. \u00a0I got better with it at each previous work place, and Open Source grew up with years too. \u00a0But it wasn&#8217;t until Qobo that I got to the level that I wanted. \u00a0Have a look at<a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/QoboLtd\"> our GitHub profile<\/a> &#8211; there are forks of projects that we contribute to (mostly third-party WordPress plugins), our project templates, experiments, and tools. \u00a0And we are far from done yet.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hosting consolidation and the cloud<\/strong>. \u00a0When I joined a year ago, the company was using a variety of hosting companies around the world. \u00a0While that provided an immediate base for some of the platforms in use, it was somewhat difficult to manage. \u00a0Since then, we&#8217;ve moved everything to <a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/\">Amazon Virtual Private Cloud<\/a>. \u00a0We use quite a bit of the AWS stack, mainly &#8211; VPC, EC2, Route53, and S3. \u00a0And\u00a0it works great for us!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Deployment automation, quality assurance, monitoring, etc<\/strong>. \u00a0We&#8217;ve built (yet again) and (finally) Open Sourced our deployment automation tools. \u00a0 I&#8217;ve built this kind of tools before, but I was never quite happy with them, and I had to reiterate again and again. \u00a0Finally, we have something that works quite well. \u00a0There&#8217;s always room for improvement, of course, but it served us well for a few month now.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Projects, projects, projects<\/strong>. \u00a0We&#8217;ve worked on client projects big and small all year round. \u00a0And there are quite a few that we are proud of. \u00a0The Portfolio page for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qobo.biz\/\">our website<\/a> is coming soon too, so we can properly showcase those.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Office move<\/strong>. \u00a0We&#8217;ve moved offices in the shortest possible time, \u00a0optimizing and completely restructuring our internal infrastructure. \u00a0We are now in better premises with a better setup. \u00a0We need less hardware and things are much easier to handle.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Podcasts and audio books<\/strong>. \u00a0In the last year, I&#8217;ve driven over 40,000 kilometers, mostly going back and forth between Limassol and Nicosia. \u00a0Most of this time was spent listening to podcasts and audio books, from which I&#8217;ve learned a lot and got a billion ideas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There&#8217;s plenty more, of course. \u00a0But the most important out of this all, I think, is that I&#8217;ve learned a whole lot about a whole lot, I&#8217;ve tried plenty of things I wanted to try for a while, and I&#8217;ve had a tonne of fun, even though sometimes that meant long nights and no weekends.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been a great year and I hope I&#8217;ll have many more like this one. \u00a0To all, who were around &#8211; a big thank you and please don&#8217;t go away. \u00a0To those who parted ways &#8211; thanks anyway and good luck. \u00a0I hope more people get to experience what I&#8217;ve experienced this year.<\/p>\n<p>P.S.: And the blog section of our website is coming soon too. \u00a0Once it&#8217;s up, we&#8217;ll keep you all updated on our endeavors\u00a0through there.<\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>Today marks a year since I joined Qobo as a CTO. \u00a0And what a year it has been! \u00a0On one hand, it flew by like a week. \u00a0On the other hand, looking at how much has been done, it feels like a decade. \u00a0Here are just a few highlights, in no particular order: Team changes &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/25\/one-year-at-qobo\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">One year at Qobo<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"One year at Qobo #work #anniversary","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,2,62],"tags":[991,3318,17],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-24650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-personal","category-technology","tag-milestones","tag-qobo","tag-work"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22584,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/29\/mr-meat-meat-online-shop-for-nicosia-cyprus\/","url_meta":{"origin":24650,"position":0},"title":"Mr.Meat &#8211; meat online shop for Nicosia, Cyprus","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"September 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mr.Meat is the first project going live since I joined Qobo. \u00a0I've only had a minor role in this one, but it's still delicious. \u00a0There aren't many online shops in Cyprus, and even fewer that handle the delivery, so this new addition is very welcome, even if they only cover\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"mrmeat.eu","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/mrmeat.eu_-500x500.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24376,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/17\/qobo-learning-from-past-to-build-the-forex-crm-of-the-present-and-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":24650,"position":1},"title":"Qobo \u2013 Learning from Past to Build the Forex CRM of the Present and Future","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 17, 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"Finance Magnates story about us: \"Qobo \u2013 Learning from Past to Build the Forex CRM of the Present and Future\"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"qobo-crm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/qobo-crm-500x221.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30990,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2019\/02\/01\/time-for-a-new-adventure\/","url_meta":{"origin":24650,"position":2},"title":"Time for a new adventure","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"February 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This week I've handed in my resignation letter, marking my last working day as February 28, 2019. 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Looking back at the last 4.5 years, it feels like there is enough to fill\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29066,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2018\/12\/05\/qobo-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":24650,"position":3},"title":"Qobo Christmas","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"December 5, 2018","format":"image","excerpt":"Qobo Christmas","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Instagram&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Instagram","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/photography\/instagram\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/qobo-christmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/qobo-christmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/qobo-christmas.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/qobo-christmas.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/qobo-christmas.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27928,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2017\/09\/01\/qobo-nicosia-office\/","url_meta":{"origin":24650,"position":4},"title":"Qobo Nicosia Office","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"September 1, 2017","format":"image","excerpt":"Qobo Nicosia Office","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Instagram&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Instagram","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/photography\/instagram\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/1504262272.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/1504262272.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/1504262272.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/1504262272.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/1504262272.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22401,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/08\/19\/goodbye-easy-forex-hello-qobo\/","url_meta":{"origin":24650,"position":5},"title":"Goodbye Easy Forex, hello Qobo","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"August 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've spent the last two and a half years working for Easy Forex. \u00a0I went from a consultant through senior web developer, team leader to the director of web development. \u00a0I've worked on a variety of projects and managed several teams. \u00a0I've had great fun and I've learned a lot.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24650"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=24650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}