This piece won the grand prize in the “True Stories” category of the prestigious Web Report 2024 awards. More on that here.
It is my pleasure to introduce Isus Kostov! To his colleagues he is simply “Jesus,” and to me he is a powerful example of how a person can defeat his surroundings, prejudice, even himself, to reach what he dreams of. However distant, even impossible, it may seem.
His road begins in a Roma ghetto, and today he is a software engineer at a respected company. He taught himself online and never gave up, starting from a school he often attended hungry, in shoes with no soles. By now he has built up serious experience in the profession.
“The most valuable thing programming has given me is, without a doubt, freedom,” Isus says. “It gave me the chance to get out of the difficult situation I was in and to build a life in which I’m independent and can help my family.”
His next goal is to inspire more kids to chase their dreams. Not to give up when they are held down by their surroundings and their circumstances.
And what might happen if stories like this changed the attitude of both our society and the IT sector toward these children?
Gavroche’s Little Brothers
You may have heard people call Lozenets—the upscale district of Sofia, and the seaside resort of the same name—“Luxozenets.” Well, the not particularly witty joke does not apply to the neighborhood of that name in Stara Zagora. The third-largest Roma neighborhood in the country has around 10,000 residents and is not all that different from Fakulteta in Sofia or Stolipinovo in Plovdiv, the best-known Roma ghettos in Bulgaria. There are some better-kept streets, but a good part of it is the “classic” ghetto, run-down and abandoned by the world and the state. This is where Isus Kostov grew up.
His family was no different from the rest. For a long time they lived on nothing but his grandmother’s pension, and often had no money for food or electricity. Not infrequently the four of them lived by candlelight, and at one point even the candles ran out. For almost the entire year, the “bathroom” was just jugs of water left out in the sun.
For a long time Isus went to school in boots with no soles, and, as his own “invention,” he pulled bread bags over them so they would stay at least relatively dry.
Romance
“I didn’t like the good nights or the good mornings. And thoughts started to come—how do I make my life better? What do I have to change so that tomorrow I can buy food? For me and my family, because family means everything…,” Isus recalls.
I met my present-day fellow programmer online, and I was immediately struck by how correctly he writes—his commas certainly land in better places than in most of what turns up in my feed. It turns out that, although he had not read a single book in his life so far, at school he was lucky enough to have a teacher who taught him to write properly. Her name was Mariyana Hristova, and she and some of her colleagues chipped in for new shoes when they saw his wretched boots.
“Roma face many obstacles, including discrimination, poverty, and poor access to education and health care,” Isus says. “As a result, many young Roma face hardships that limit their opportunities. The other reason is that we’re a rather spineless people—we always leave the hard things for later.”
John the Baptist
At first, that is how his progress with programming went, too. At 17, Isus was doing track and field, and through the sport he met a friend who was studying to be a software engineer. He and Yoan grew close, started visiting each other’s homes, and Isus became curious about what programming actually was.
He began watching courses online, quickly got hooked, but… almost immediately gave up.
His family had spent two years in Italy, so he had fallen behind in school. So, while still in ninth grade, he started working at McDonald’s—studying in the mornings, then working 8- or 12-hour shifts.
By twelfth grade he was at a factory making rubber seals. He worked hard, trained hard, studied programming languages… And in the end it simply became too much. Right around then he got his driver’s license, started working as a van driver, and decided he didn’t need to learn the difficult material.
“Okay, I got it—it’s hard, I can’t be like Yoan. I’m dumb, and that’s that. I accepted that this was as far as my capacity went,” Isus says. Fortunately, he quickly gathered the courage to try again.
“I’m driving my van, but I’m thinking…, maybe I have more potential than turning some steering wheel? I’ll go back to programming. I sank my teeth into it, and a few months later I could make basic websites.”
Golgotha
At that point Isus decided that the right way forward was a university degree. He enrolled in software engineering in Gabrovo, but… quickly became convinced it wasn’t going to work. “Within three months I realized that place wasn’t for me. I’d already lost two years because of Italy, and now another four years at a university where it didn’t look like you could actually gain knowledge, especially about programming… I couldn’t afford that.” So he carried on through his own efforts…
As many people in this profession know, the hardest thing is landing your first job. The young man decided to walk into a company in Stara Zagora in person and ask about an internship. He was lucky: the boss saw him and began asking him basic questions. Isus did quite decently, but… not well enough. Disheartened, he gave up for the second time.
A few months passed, the van grew more and more boring, and he decided to try again. But this time he would apply only after building a portfolio. He wrote to various companies offering to build them a website for free and… surprisingly many of them agreed. One satisfied client even sent him a sweatshirt with the company logo by courier, along with 200 leva (about $110) as a gift.
Now that he had something to show, Isus managed to find his first job. He spent six months learning the trade, then worked for a while at another company. Although he already knew quite a lot, he found it hard to settle anywhere for long, mainly because his English wasn’t good enough.
Jesus Kostov Superstar
That is how he ended up interviewing at a French company whose owner was not exactly best friends with the language of Shakespeare either. But he appreciated what the young man could do and gave him a chance. And Isus repaid him. It turned out they got along just fine in less-than-perfect English on both sides.
On his first day at work he showed up nervous, and the boss asked him: “Isus? And what do people call you for short? Aysus?” “Jesus is better!” he replied, and the ice was broken.
Today he is 23 and already has a fair amount of experience behind him. He is even developing his own project, a text-messaging platform, with a former colleague.
He says he advanced in the profession without spending a single lev on lessons or courses—only with the help of more experienced colleagues, of friends, and… of videos uploaded to YouTube by Indian programmers.
“A lot of people can learn to program if they have the desire and the determination,” says Isus (and I completely agree). “You don’t have to be a genius or have a university degree. What matters is being persistent and never stopping learning. Besides, I don’t think everyone should become a programmer. It’s a field that requires a certain kind of thinking and an interest in technology. Every person has their own unique talents and passions; the most important thing is to discover them and follow them.”
A Tale of Two Cities
That is exactly what Isus has never stopped doing, and today he is his family’s pride and earns enough to help them.
What was the hardest thing for him at the start? “Taking the essence of the two worlds I live in and combining them into one. It takes a lot of emotional energy and a great deal of empathy. I’ve been rejected by Bulgarians because I’m a Gypsy, and by Gypsies because I’m ‘pretending’ to be Bulgarian. You fight to be respected on opposite fronts.”
In Isus’s view, prejudice is one of the big problems that keep many Roma from succeeding.
“I used to be ashamed to leave the mahala, the Roma quarter, and talk to Bulgarians because of the reputation that had already been built. However decent and educated you are, along with the color of your skin you carry that reputation, and people almost always have prejudices. But it’s a double-edged sword—either you sink into the ghetto under the pressure, or you build a strong character.”
That is why he believes the road to integration has to run from both sides. “Most likely, whatever the state does won’t help as much as the Roma themselves starting to believe in themselves a little, having some self-confidence, however hard that is. To stop suffering and holding themselves back because of others.”
In 2019, Isus had the idea of becoming a vlogger and recorded a video of a typical day of his—from classes at school to work at the factory—shortly before he turned to programming for good. He is thinking of making a sequel soon: how has his daily life changed since then?
Taking Up His Cross
So change is more likely to come from Roma children themselves. “But the key moment that decides which way a child will go isn’t tied to any specific event. It’s more of a process with a number of factors. The love and support they get from their family. What hardships they’ll face and how they’ll deal with them. Their education, classmates, friends, the crowds they’ll end up in.”
Isus puts it quite clearly what qualities he thinks a kid needs to head toward programming. In his view, the career suits people who feel fulfilled after solving a problem—whether in the everyday world or the virtual one. People who can adapt, who are patient, and who like teamwork.
“Don’t try to learn everything at once,” Isus advises the next kids who set out on this road. “Start with the basics by choosing one programming language, and then gradually expand your knowledge. Practice makes perfect. Work on small projects and tasks to reinforce what you’ve learned. There are countless free learning materials online that can help you. Don’t neglect this valuable resource.
Mistakes are part of the learning process. Don’t lose heart—analyze them and learn from them. Join programmers’ forums, groups and meetups. Share experience and knowledge. Be persistent. Keep a balance in your life. Stay curious.”
Thy Neighbor as Thyself
As you can tell, he thinks in a rather algorithmic and structured way, and it is not at all hard to see how, given that, he succeeded in the software world. Isus thinks about his future the same way. “Ever since I managed to overcome the many obstacles, I see the world of technology as a field of endless possibilities. The things I’m striving for are: developing my skills, helping the community, creating my own projects, and a balance between life and work.”
More than sensible goals for a 23-year-old young man, wouldn’t you say?
Isus and I say goodbye, and I keep thinking how good it would be if stories like this reached more kids, in the ghettos or in the palaces, in Lozenets or in Fakulteta. And more enterprising people, who would recognize that in both places we can find plenty of hidden talent—in programming or elsewhere. That every child deserves a chance and a right to happiness. That the decades of Roma inclusion go by, and the inclusion is nowhere to be seen. While the road to it runs through stories, through talking and understanding, through the human, which is greater than anything else…
This piece was prepared with the assistance of the PeterBest YouTube channel and Georgi Petrov.
