By Anastasia Popova
Putting together a project of our own can be challenging, particularly because most of the time we have to do it while we work, pay bills, take the children to school, etcetera. But what if all this work is not a hindrance but a training field where you can prepare yourself to do what you really want to do, let’s say, 10 years from now?
This is what Anton’s story teaches us and why I decided to write about it in this piece. Perseverance is key when it comes to reaching our goals and making our dreams come true. This is the story of Anton Abyzov who has a master’s in computer science, a passion for sports, and a relentless desire to make his dreams come true.
First steps in programming and software engineering
The first company that saw Anton in action was Itransition, a large business based in Belarus and with over 1,000 employees all over the world, including the US. Still based in Minsk, Anton was in charge of developing software for resource planning, invoice issuance, and payment management, an experience that was to become vital for Anton during his career.
A key resource that he learned from this period was the import and export of data from an excel sheet, which, you’ll see further down in the article, was of vital importance.
Anton was undoubtedly starting to shine as his work was very well received by his superiors to the point that he got plenty of bonuses and similar rewards.
A new opportunity, a new challenge
But a true entrepreneur cannot be a conformist, and this is why in 2009 he changed to a new software development company where he was assigned to many projects. Adorama was the largest one. Here he played an important role in designing and implementing an interface that works on ASP.NET MVC.
Changing to this new position was a challenge for Anton as they worked with larger projects and more advanced technical resources. He knew that he had a lot to learn and was ready to jump in as he saw the next big opportunity.
Anton knows that good interfaces must be reliable, secure, and easy to use. This is why he reworked all the existing UI controls. As a result, information on accessories, products, and packages became very easy to customize and user-friendly. At the time, he was already thinking of his next big project and knew that this knowledge would be useful at some point, and he wasn’t wrong.
Besides, with Adorama, Anton had his first experience working with a huge, distributed team and with a high-load application used by millions of people across the world.
Taking the next step: leadership
A couple of years after his participation in Intetics, Anton had to face his next big challenge: he was appointed team leader of a .NET team. For Anton, the leadership experience was a huge step forward and, under his guidance, the team was able to optimize the work of many schools and colleges in the UK.
But his highest achievement as a leader was the ability to deliver exactly what the client wanted. The IT world is a field of constant innovation, and this can make the horizon look blurry sometimes. This is why Anton’s ability to effectively communicate with clients paid off.
Anton believes in leadership based on great communication, excellent planning, and good result tracking throughout the process. To achieve these results, he doesn’t pressure his coworkers, instead, he inspires them. His experience as a futsal captain undoubtedly helps him: he has the ability to organize teams and encourage people to work on specific goals.
Finally, in 2017 he became CTO at Softgreat which was a small company at the time. Here he was also Chief Solution Architect, Customer Success Manager, and Senior Software Engineer. Softgreat is an IT company that provides valuable solutions using AI and other state-of-the-art technologies. Working for important sectors like medicine, financial services, corporate management, IoT and education, this company was a great place for Anton to use all his knowledge and experience.
During this stage, Anton got the chance to develop his people skills, establishing successful communications with huge companies like MUFG, Hayes, and Grenzebach Group. He managed to join these firms into the company and turned them into clients.
It was around this time that he took the initiative of participating in a 4-hour challenge along with his colleague (both were the fastest and best developers in the company). The goal was to prove the efficiency of the team by preparing software to help waitresses in a coffee shop automate processes. All in all, the challenge was so successful that their staff grew to have 15 people.
Creating his own project: EasyChamp
EasyChamp brings an innovative solution for sports fans and sports event organizers. Let’s say that you want to host a competition in whatever sport you like. With Easy Champ you can organize events and keep track of the results, store them and come back to them at any time.
The app brings a unique combination of features making it a powerful tracking solution and an effective organization tool. Besides keeping track of the scores, you can track every aspect of each game including scorers, yellow cards and injured players. But the best part is that everything is simplified in a single web app with a quite friendly interface.
The possibility to play anywhere is a big plus, allowing users to play at school, the university, in a country yard, or in virtual reality. Whatever works for you, EasyChamp has it.
The importance of having your own project
One may wonder why a CTO, who is already quite successful in his career, would want to start his own application. For Anton, this idea was always dormant, at least since his student years. When he played futsal with his dorm mates, often they faced challenges and had arguments about who scored in the previous years, and keeping track of results was challenging. He soon understood that this was an area that needed solutions.
Therefore, throughout his career, he was dedicated to learning and acquiring knowledge to make this dream come true. Once he considered having gained enough experience and technical skills, he felt it was time. This is how EasyChamp was born.
Now, thanks to Anton, any sports fan can organize competitions and enjoy their favorite games with their friends. All in all, it seems that the secret to Anton’s success is simple, yet priceless: good and old persistence and hard work.
What users are saying about EasyChamp
Ruslan Nigmatullin – world-class soccer ex-goalkeeper
“I use EasyChamp to organize FIFA e-Sports championships and I love how it makes my life much easier. The web app is so flexible that I can also use it to organize the tournaments in my football school for amateurs. Thanks to Anton and EasyChamp, I can forget about complicated Excel sheets and Google docs because all the data is stored on the website. Love it!”
Pavel Pudau – Founder & CEO of a renowned mobile software development company
“When Anton told me about his project, I didn’t doubt that it would be a success. I organize tournaments for football amateur fans in Dubai and EasyChamp is just perfect for the job. Everything a sports fan needs and also very easy to use!”
