What do you think made the biggest differ- ence for your success?
A key factor on Rumen’s whirlwind journey was his participation in international infor- matics competitions, supported by the Asso- ciation of Olympic Teams in Natural Sciences. The three gold and two silver medals he won from the International Informatics Olympiad opened the door to the world’s leading uni- versities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Rumen completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and met his future business partners. Nowadays, the company Rumen co-founded, Emerald Innovations, has a team of 20 and works with leading pharmaceutical companies in the US. For his contribution to healthcare, Rumen was in Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 class of 2020.
R.H.: It all starts with a good teacher who is patient and really wants to teach kids, wants them to achieve their goals. Without a doubt, the most important thing for me was Biserka Yovcheva’s A & B academy. The other factor was that I was good at programming. I won my first major tournament in 2005, and this made me feel like I was good at it. When you are doing well at something, you have the motivation to keep doing it.
What are the kinds of challenges that inter- ested you during your competitive career?
R.H.: Informatics problems are a very inter- esting combination between programming, writing code, where you actually have to im- plement something and the computer has to agree with you that you have given it the right information, and a theoretical part, where you have to create an algorithm. Like in math problems, you have to analyze the data you are given and come up with an algorithm, which you then have to implement on the computer. Finally, the computer has to agree with you that you have implemented it cor- rectly. The advantage of computer science compe- titions compared to other disciplines is that you have an infinite number of competitions online. You can compete more or less daily against other people and see who can come up with a better algorithm faster and imple- ment it more quickly. In the end, your work is evaluated in an objective way. You can do all this from your desk at home, as long as you have a computer and an internet connection.
Here Rumen talks about his journey from youth competitions to scientific innovation.
How did your interest in technology begin?
R.H.: I’ve always been fascinated by comput- ers. I remember when I was seven years old, I was amazed that you could press a key on a computer, and something would come up on the screen — that you could convince the machine to do something you wanted it to do. It turns on a switch in my brain. All my early training in informatics and pro- gramming took place at the A & B academy, founded by Biserka Yovcheva. Everything I learned in the first six or seven years... the foundation of my knowledge was built there. This experience allowed me to grow.
The academy was also a good place to spend time in and make friends.
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