MARGARITA NAUMOVA: PASSION FOR DATA

In Bulgaria, being a woman and having a stellar career in IT is not unheard of – the country leads the EU in terms of female professionals working at all levels of the industry. But even in this environment, Margarita Naumova's story is impressive.

A renowned data platform expert, she holds the highest SQL Server technical certification in the field – Microsoft Certified Master, which means she is one of the best SQL Server experts in the world and among the top 1% of IT professionals worldwide. With over 25 years of experience in SQL Server and BI technologies consulting and training, she is a trusted advisor in Microsoft Data Platform for many companies in Bulgaria and abroad. Her professional interests include SQL Server and BI platform solutions design and architecture, SQL Server performance tuning and optimisation, SQL Server high availability and disaster recovery solutions, SQL Server security, Azure Data Platform solutions design and implementation.

Margarita Naumova is also keen to share her knowledge and experience with the next generation of experts. She is the leader and founder of the Bulgarian SQL & BI User Group Let's SQL Together!, Azure Analytics User Group BG and is a regular presenter at the world's largest IT events.

In 2010, she took a bold step forward that required her to step up her leadership game. She founded Inspirit, a consultancy and support services company, where she became CEO and Chief SQL Architect. Nine years later, the company moved abroad and opened an office in Norway.

Do you remember when and how you discovered that working with data was your passion – a field in which you could be one of the best?

When I was in my third year at university, I was fascinated by the Databases course. I immediately understood that this was where I wanted to pursue a career. It had structure, clarity, a model and a connection to reality. After completing my Masters in Business Informatics, I stayed on to teach Databases at the University of Economics in Varna. My practical interest deepened when I started giving professional SQL Server training as one of the first Microsoft Certified Trainers in Bulgaria. The direct interaction with technology as a trainer for professionals and experts made me reconsider my career path and from that moment on I dedicated myself to this field.

When did you realise that you had the potential to be a leader? What is your most important leadership quality?

I have never thought of myself as a leader. I am uncompromisingly demanding of myself and always strive to perfect everything I do down to the last detail. I suppose that this meticulousness and my vision for quality work manifests itself in my behaviour and inspires my colleagues to strive for the same. I believe that leadership is not a matter of character. It is an effect – the result of something in your behaviour, vision and beliefs that impresses those around you and inspires them to follow you. I put a lot of energy and passion into my work, presentations, training and consulting projects. This, combined with my attention to detail and strict discipline, helps me to be well prepared. This creates a sense of confidence, which in turn inspires trust – the most essential aspect of leadership.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced as an IT leader?

In my professional and personal journey, leadership has never been a goal. Therefore, I do not view challenges through the lens of leadership. My goals have always been to gain technical and life experience and knowledge, and to use it as best I can to help clients and partners who have chosen to trust me. When I founded Inspirit and understood what it meant to work with a team of colleagues willing to follow me, my goals did not change. Only my standards of self-discipline and responsibility have become even higher.

What inspired you to start your own business?

The desire to be independent in my work and to have the freedom to create and do things my way. I wanted to build a company that would allow me to do business in a way that was in line with my vision. The decision to start Inspirit was not an emotional impulse, but the result of many lessons learned throughout my career. During my six years at Microsoft, I found great satisfaction in my work as a consultant in the Microsoft Consulting Services team. I gained extensive experience in international teams and large projects. It was there that I realised what I would do differently and how I could add value to consulting services. The idea of setting up my own consultancy began to take shape.

Why did you choose Norway as the first country outside Bulgaria to open an Inspirit office?

I did not choose Norway – it was more the other way round. By coincidence, many of my engagements as a presenter and technical instructor were in the Nordic countries, starting in Sweden, then Denmark and Finland. Norway was the last of these countries I visited, but it was the one that really captivated me. To my surprise, I found that I had a strong connection with the intelligent, reserved and highly critical Norwegian audience. I felt a natural chemistry working with them.

One day I was invited to set up a start-up company in Norway. By that time, I had already begun to appreciate this rugged yet stunning part of Europe and my perspective had changed. I said yes and the rest is history.

What are the differences between working with teams in Bulgaria and Norway?

There are so many of them. They stem from the different environments in which the teams operate, different market dynamics, cultural differences, national psychology and many other factors. However, the common denominator is always the delivery of high quality and valuable consulting services – a goal that ensures that these differences do not become insurmountable challenges. In Scandinavia, quality service is practically a cultural standard – it is delivered naturally, with a smile, without stress or pressure. I am still learning this approach, but I have great examples to follow and I am bringing this mindset to our work with Bulgarian clients.

Is there a place for women leaders in IT?

There is always a place for good leadership. Female leadership brings a touch of empathy, collaboration and innovation. As women leaders, we often create supportive work environments, encourage innovation and develop long-term strategies. Our leadership style blends analytical and intuitive approaches, often leading to better decision-making and greater team engagement.

In today's world, discussing gender segregation in IT leadership is simply a matter of stereotypes – stereotypes that still exist, but should not become barriers. Women have access to every career path, and the decision to pursue a particular path depends solely on their personal choice and ambition. The key is to believe in yourself, maintain your vision and pursue it with focus, perseverance, empathy and discipline.

In the Bulgarian IT sector, women leaders are by no means an exception. The ones that I met during my career are outstanding professionals – people with vision and character. I am honoured to have worked with them.

How do you see the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence?

This is a revolutionary leap forward in the evolution of humanity. Artificial intelligence itself is not new. What is new is the way it is being distributed – by becoming easily accessible to everyone and creating new opportunities for business. This is a revolution similar to the rise of the Internet and the dot-com era, but it will go much further. Eventually, "natural" and "artificial" intelligence will become the two sides of the same coin.

Each such revolution stretches the "rubber band of consequences" to its limits, bringing with it many creative opportunities but also the potential for destructive use.

Thanks to LLMs (Large Language Models), artificial intelligence has become capable of communicating in "human language", changing the rules of the game. The way people interact with technology is evolving. It is exciting to be able to "talk" to AI, to express what we want and to be properly understood. For almost a century, we have done this through specialised programming languages, writing code that is compiled and translated into ones and zeros. Now we can simply "ask" or give a specific task in the form of a prompt and wait for the result.

Today, we can use AI's "knowledge" to answer questions, solve problems, generate programming code and create content (text, video, audio, etc.). More recently, with the advent of AI agents, we are able to design automated workflows using instructions in natural human language. And this is only the beginning.

Inspirit is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. How do you see the company in another 15 years?

Fifteen years is an incredibly long time to make any predictions. In today's world, it is equivalent to 50 years of transformation in the 20th century. Changes in our way of life are extremely dynamic and unpredictable. Visions rarely extend beyond a five-year horizon. However, I will allow myself to play the futurist.

In 15 years' time, Inspirit will be a high-tech company providing impeccable quality services in the markets in which it operates. It will be uncompromisingly efficient in its use of resources and a benchmark employer.

Which project or client from Inspirit's portfolio has made the strongest impression on you?

The Inspirit team has had the honour of providing services to some of the largest companies in the Bulgarian market. These were not just projects, but years of cooperation, where Inspirit helped to solve problems while  gaining invaluable knowledge and experience.

We have always strived to be at the forefront of technology. Years ago, we were the first company to successfully migrate SQL Server infrastructures to the latest product version. This is a complex process full of unknowns, but we led the way anyways.

Five years ago, when Azure Cloud was still gaining traction globally and cloud solutions in Bulgaria were mostly experimental, we successfully implemented a solution based on Medallion architecture using Delta tables – a little-known technology at the time – at one of the largest logistics companies in the country.

Today, Inspirit is once again "blazing a trail" by working to build a cloud-based data analytics platform using Microsoft Fabric – a technology that is still in its infancy in Bulgaria.

It is this kind of cutting-edge work that leaves the deepest impact on our journey, because it is the lessons learned along the way that are the hardest and most challenging.

Why did you choose to train the next generation of SQL specialists?

Teaching is a calling. Even after leaving academia, I have never strayed from teaching. In fact, this is my 26th year renewing my Microsoft Certified Trainer certification.

I have been fortunate to learn a great deal from the very people who created the technologies that are now widely used around the world. I had the opportunity to go through the Microsoft Master Training Programme, where the instructors were members of the product development teams at Microsoft.

I was keen to pass on this wealth of knowledge to others, which led me to create the SQL Master Academy training programme. The recognition it has received and the thousands of professionals it has trained over the years tell me that I made the right choice.

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