Hello, my name is Galina Nikolova, and I’m the Training Manager at Code Academy.
I would describe myself as a family-oriented person — my family is always my top priority. With a background rooted in numbers, I appreciate structure and organization, but working with people has always been my true inspiration, bringing me fulfillment.
For over 13 years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside the Code Academy team on a variety of projects. Initially, I began hesitantly and somewhat insecure, but over time, the team proved to always be there for me, lending a hand through life’s challenges and offering solid support. It’s thanks to this bond that I became one of the few people to break the tradition of working abroad yet continuing with a Bulgarian company.
When I completed my involvement in one of the company’s projects, I went to live and study finance in the UK. I had plans, like many others, to settle there and eventually bring my family over, but during my studies, I realized that although the UK was a vibrant and interesting place, it wasn’t the warm, welcoming home we know in Bulgaria. So when Yoana, Code Academy’s operations manager, called me (who I lovingly refer to as “Mommy”), asking if I could help with a programmer training project, I was initially terrified — yes, I’m the type who barely knows the difference between a flat-head and a Phillips screwdriver! After taking a deep breath, though, I said “YES.”
For the next several years, I tried to juggle university, work in the UK, and somehow carve out hours to help with the academy.
Code Academy turned into my cause — not just a job where I headed on Mondays with my head down, counting the minutes until the weekend, but a place where I felt genuinely helpful and able to support people in Bulgaria in achieving a dignified and quality life.
You won’t be surprised that two days after graduation, with a moving truck full of belongings, I returned to Bulgaria — a place that was not only my home but a dream for a brighter future, a dream I could contribute to.
Finding someone’s potential, helping them grow, and seeing them change their life for the better, returning to or choosing to stay in Bulgaria because the academy has given them the tools for a dignified future — this is my realized dream.
Of course, the path is neither fast nor easy. We’re talking about months packed with hundreds of hours of preparation, meetings, project writing, and practicing newly learned skills. Trainees affectionately call me “The Class Teacher,” and for me, it’s the greatest joy when they come to me after each completed group and share that the support from the team, my nudges to persevere, and all those things that seemed tiring and annoying at the time, led them to achieve something so important to them. Sometimes I jokingly say that modesty is an excuse for those lacking qualities, but at such moments, I blush like a tomato, proud and grateful for the recognition yet filled with pride and satisfaction from the work done by both myself and the team.
But the market is a living organism, and at one point, it became saturated with juniors. We had to think about how to keep contributing to people’s growth and sense of fulfillment.
That’s when the idea for the Lifelong Development Program was born — a project to give companies a means of retaining top talent and employees the opportunity to continually develop, becoming more successful, fulfilled, and happy both at work and in their personal lives.
They say it’s sad when a person achieves their dream because then they’re left without one… Yet here I can say I’ve found a new dream, one that motivates me and gives me the strength to continue working toward realizing it. And with a team by your side that has become like family, no dream is impossible.