Today we’d like to introduce you to Igor Golubchik.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Igor. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My family had moved to Chicago from Odessa, Ukraine in 1992, I was just about to turn 15. Our story is very similar to so many other families who immigrated to US with literally nothing, no money, no help. No Internet or smartphones back then either. I remember being shocked seeing someone on the street dropping some change on the ground while getting a wallet out of their pocket. The person saw the coins drop but was too lazy to reach down and pick it up. I gladly picked them up, and soon realized I could find lots of pennies, nickels and dimes if I focused on the ground while walking the streets in Rogers Park. I’d find couple of bucks in an hour. It was better than nothing. We found our first furniture in a garbage alley, I was ashamed but it was better than sleeping on a floor. I went to high school and later to college (loyola) had lots of random jobs over the years. In 1999, I’ve been working as web developer at a company called 3COM which was a major player back than on a telecom arena, and around that time I hired a couple of other web developers in Russia and started freelancing, building websites for small clients. I did not plan for the web development business to take off much (big mistake) and while working on it focused more on starting up several media businesses such as print and broadcasting for the Russian-speaking community in Chicago. That took off faster and evolved over the years into well-established small businesses in the Russian community including publishing, broadcasting and concert/event business that I still lead. Web development business was expanding as well and our team grew little by little to over 30 people across three offices, we’ve rebranded and are now Devvela Inc (devvela.com). Devvela currently takes more than 50% of my time. We build web and mobile software, websites, apps for clients from various fields and industries.
Has it been a smooth road?
It was never a smooth road for me. Lots of trial and error type of situations. I’ve had to learn everything from scratch, I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way, business decisions, trusting people I should not have trusted, organizational, timing and balancing work and family, self-discipline, listening to people who did not believe in me, and so many other things that make up successful people. I am still learning.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Devvela story. Tell us more about the business.
Devevla is a team of talented web and mobile developers, engineers, designers and managers. We build websites, apps, software, API’s, bots, from rapid prototyping and MVPs to complete solutions. We are focusing on ai, machine learning, big data. Our clients rely on us to be their technology partners, providing most feasible and optimal technology solutions to solve their business needs. We are dedicated, dependable and reliable – this is one of the things that sets us apart. I’m proud of our people who are so talented, loyal and dedicated and of our clients who achieve success, be it winning Google Demo Day Awards or disrupting an industry, as a company we are proud to be a part of it.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Nowadays as technology is evolving faster than ever before, I’d say it’s harder than ever to predict. Even the biggest voices and experts in the field are very careful in their predictions. I’d say in the next 5 years there will be more integrations and IOT will become a common thing, AI and Machine Learning will advance in an unimaginable way. I’m not necessarily talking about droids living and walking among us in 5 years, but AI handling lots and lots of services and transforming the way we work, communicate, shop, and travel.
Contact Info:
- Address: 222 W Ontario, Suite 501
Chicago, IL 60654 - Website: devvela.com
- Phone: 8476122000
- Email: igor@devvela.com
- Instagram: @golubchik
- Facebook: /golubchik
- Twitter: @golubchik
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