Stanislav Tashev is a final-year student at the Professional High School of Computer Programming and Innovation in Burgas, a Microsoft Certified Trainer, an active member of the “Association of Graduates of the Professional High School of Computer Programming and Innovation,” and plays a key role in organizing the upcoming edition of Code Of The Future. His focus is on actively supporting the development of young programmers by sharing his experience and expertise.

We talked with Stoyan and Stanislav Tashev about the upcoming edition of the Code Of The Future 25* hackathon.

How did the idea for the “Code of the Future” hackathon come about?

Stoyan: The idea for the “Code of the Future” hackathon was born from our personal experience as participants in many similar competitions. In the past, we have taken part in hackathons, even winning top prizes, but we were always interested in how such an event is organized from the organizers’ perspective. The best way to find out was to organize a hackathon ourselves. We decided to create “Code of the Future” and offer a platform that combines all the good practices we’ve seen with our own innovative ideas.

How do you determine the themes of the competition?

Stanislav: Our main goal is for the competition’s theme to be a surprise and announced on the day of the event, to ensure fairness and equal conditions for all participants. In last year’s edition, we gave each sponsor the opportunity to propose their own theme if they wished. This year, we’ll make the format even more interesting—sponsors will again be able to suggest themes, but at the opening ceremony, we’ll choose only one at random. This adds an element of surprise not only for the participants but also for us as organizers.

How prepared do participants need to be? What advice would you give them?

Stoyan: The hackathon is open to everyone, regardless of their level of technical preparation. We changed the evaluation criteria to place more emphasis on ideas rather than technical execution. Of course, participants will need to create a prototype (MVP) and validate their idea, but we encourage greater creativity and innovation. Our advice is to spend enough time developing the idea rather than jumping straight into coding. From personal experience, we know the first day is best used for generating the idea and distributing tasks within the team. Everyone can contribute according to their skills—some can do market research while others focus on development.

What is different about the 2025 edition?

Stanislav: Besides the new approach to choosing the theme, this year we’ve listened to the feedback from the previous edition to improve the participants’ experience as much as possible. We have prepared numerous surprises, more conveniences—including more food and coffee—as well as improvements to the mentorship program.

What is your favorite part of organizing the competition?

Stoyan: It’s very hard to pick just one aspect, but one of the most exciting moments is when we first hear the participants’ ideas and have the opportunity to discuss them. It’s a special moment when you see creativity and innovation come to life.

What challenges do participants most frequently encounter, and how do they overcome them?

Stanislav: Participants often face various challenges—from technical problems to a lack of clarity about how to structure their idea. That’s why, as in previous years, we’ll provide mentors. This year, however, we are adding a mentor reservation system so that teams can have personalized time with a mentor who focuses on their idea, presentation, and validation. Mentors won’t write code for them, but they will provide valuable guidance throughout the process.

How does the hackathon influence students’ skills and the projects they develop?

Stoyan: The hackathon is an excellent opportunity to develop skills in innovation, idea validation, and creating an MVP—a minimum viable product. This is a crucial process for starting a successful startup. Participants gain experience in presenting their ideas, analyzing the market, and creating practical solutions.

Can the projects be realistically applied in a business environment?

Stanislav: Absolutely. We even have an example of a project that started as a hackathon idea and is currently being successfully implemented in a business environment as a startup project. This shows that the innovative solutions created during the competition can find real-world applications.

Individual-oriented learning at SoftServe is part of the corporate learning and development ecosystem. SoftServe University offers learning solutions in over 20 different formats. Besides trainings, long-term, conventional, and e-learning programs, mentoring and coaching enable associates to gain knowledge and experience faster, improving employee performance and satisfying the need for individual multicomponent learning that may not be available in group learning. Additionally, mentoring and coaching allow associates to gain the knowledge that is currently in high demand at the company. Other prominent winners in the Coaching and Mentoring category include Bank of America Corporation, Google Cloud, McKinsey & Company, TD Bank, and Tata Consultancy Services. Nataliya Kuba, Center of Learning Excellence Director at SoftServe, said:

“We started to introduce instruments such as mentoring and coaching about seven years ago. Mentoring meets the associates’ individual needs for development. It’s a flexible way to gain new knowledge and skills in partnership with a more experienced colleague. In SoftServe’s environment of quick growth, mentoring not only provides for the legacy of competencies and best practices but also allows to maintain and develop the corporate culture. And coaching is the instrument for development and an important part of leadership development. 99% of our mentors and coaches are SoftServe associates, and they amount to over one thousand experts across all of SoftServe’s locations.”

SoftServe currently has over a thousand active mentoring and coaching pairs, with a new mentor-mentee pair registered every hour. The number of mentors has grown by 67% within the last 12 months. Mentors include SoftServe’s co-founders and members of the board, the CEO, and his executive team. The company is a partner of the International Coaching Federation, jointly holding the annual Coaching Week.

SoftServe University is a corporate learning ecosystem established in 2006 with the mission to develop the associates’ professional competencies and capabilities. In 2020, the University implemented more than 3,000 educational solutions to support the company’s now over 10,000 current associates.