My name is Vaios Kolofotias and I am a PMP-certified Product Manager and a strong Team Leader with excellent organisational and communication skills (7+ years of experience) who have managed successfully (using Agile practices) more than 15 software products.
I am a Senior Software Engineer with a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Information Systems. I have been working in the software industry for the last 13 years on non-profit and for-profit projects. I have been a co-founder in 3 start-ups and a CTO in another 2 located in Berlin.
I have offered the below services at the 47th and 48th film festivals:
Set up of the festival’s computers and network and conservation of their good functionality.
Press Room support to international joornalists that covered the event.
Technical Support Agent
Nov 2011 – April 2012
Provide remote support to all of the Otes products and services(adsl,internet tv)
Web Developer / Co-Founder
Jan 2008 – Aug 2012
I have managed through full life cycle the development of websites and electronic shops for business or personal use.
Some of them are:
Upgrade of the existing university news platform(based on wordpress CMS) without breaking the customized calendar functionality of the major 6 categories of articles
Patching of campus interactivemap interfaceto allow dynamic update of buildings drawn
from local databases in XML formatand extension of the above with incorporation of a search form to look up points of interest and highlight sites on the map
Investigation of form based submission APIs in different content management systems(Joomla,Drupal) and presentation to the rest of the development team
Project Manager, Lecturer, Member
Apr 2014 – Sep 2014
The Centers of Excellence, are groups in Universities and Research Centers conducting the project “Electronic Services for the Development and Dissemination of Open Source ‘actions diffusion and promotion through conferences and events in ten thematic areas. At the same time, annually conduct two rounds of seminars and a summer school code development (Summer Code Camp), in which will be trained at least fifty (50) developers.
The Center of Excellence of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, focuses on two areas: Health Information Systems and Public Administration.
Research associate / Software Engineer
Sep 2010 – Sep 2015
During my collaboration with Software Engineering Lab led by Professor Ioannis Stamelos, I have been involved in several projects and initiatives wearing the hats of Web Developer, Project Manager and Teacher.
Team Lead / Senior Activate Software Developer
Aug 2015 – Sep 2016
I have been involved in two Activate (ATM Software solution) projects fot the banks of Mashreq (Dubai) and QNB (Qatar) with the second one being involved from scratch until the version 1 delivery! I have developed all kinds of usual transactions(Withdrawals, Deposits, Payments etc.) using C#, SOAP and other technologies and innovated by creating “Receipt by email” extension and implementing IRIS eye-scanning extension.
I have been assigned as an unofficial team leader for the office of Thessaloniki where I have set up the required hardware for the rest of the team, set up the hardware and network connections of the Local ATMs destined for testing and strengthen ties between team members.
Code Reviewer
Jun 2016 – Sep 2016
During my collaboration with Try Catch, I have reviewed the code of 10 job applicants in projects using JAVA, PHP and Javascript. I have interviewed 3 applicants for senior developer positions in companies around Europe. I have been selected as an expert reviewer based on my skills and previous experience in developer and leading positions.
Senior Full Stack Developer
Feb 2018 – Aug 2019
I have been managing 90+ websites in all aspects. I started by setting up the devops (as the websites were under constant DDoS attacks) and moving to the cloud. I have developed APIs for communication with the in-house mobile apps and Sugar CRM. I developed several new features in frontend and backend (JS, PHP, CSS, bootstrap, WordPress) and offered support to my 140+ colleagues.
Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder
Nov 2020 – Jun 2021
Socialbookers is a marketplace that focuses on creating the ideal communities for coliving spaces and we took part as a start-up in the program “The Berliner Startup Stipendium (BSS) @ CODE” which is a pre-seed startup program funded by the European Social Fund and the State of Berlin.
As a CTO, I have planned and developed the MVP, worked closely with UI/UX and Marketing, interviewed interns, and transformed brainstorming ideas into an actual product.
Chief Technology Officer
Aug 2021 – Dec 2021
I have participated in the initial product brainstorming, have designed the tech roadmap and technical management process applying Scrum, have managed and pair-coded with 3 freelance developers, collaborated with the design and marketing departments. I have kept the original planning and timeline and successfully delivered the MVP.
Skills
Javascript
React
Node
MongoDB
AWS
PHP
Symfony5
Wordpress
Java
Rest/GraphQL APIs
Project Management
References
I strongly recommend Vaios for his professionalism, and great results he succeeded while working under pressure. Respected Professional and Friend.
Dimitri (Jim) Evangelopoulos -Founder & COO at Augmenta Holding
Working with Vaios was a good experience. He is an experienced and dedicated professional, knows how to get the job done well and very easy to get along with. Very good guy, and an asset to any team.
Paul Nelligan UI Engineer | Data Engineer | Fullstack Web & Mobile
Vaios is a member of a relatively new development team, writing code and scripts for client applications mainly directed to the international banking industry. For the time he has worked together with my team, he has demonstrated professionalism and sense of urgency, balancing nicely between intelligence and emotion [Εmotional Ιnteligence]. Vaios is also a hardworking, creative character, carrying exceptional organizational and communication skills. He is a great team player, highly cooperative with his colleagues, partners and managers, targeting to achieve tangible results. Having a positive personality and a natural talent for creative concepts, he will be the model profile of the desired employee in any technology company, and the “wish to have” colleague for an organization, he is chosen to work for.
Nicholas Hatzihristides - Professional Services Manager at NCR Corporation (Greece)
Vaios has been working within my development team for an ATM software project in Qatar during the last 8 months; I thank him personally for his dedication and commitment, working extended hours, numerous weekends and holidays. Definitely looking forward to have him again in my team!
Jad Georges Salameh, MBA, PMP - Project Manager, Professional Services PMO at NCR, PMP, MBA
Committed, team player, reliable, will take the extra mile(s) to meet a target. He can pick up knowledge very easily and wins the respect of his peers and managers
Andreas Theodosiou - Director - Advisory Services, Information Technology at PwC Cyprus
I have worked with Vaios from his first day in our organization. At that time, we started a major transition program from our old CMS to a new one, which Vaios was working on. Due to his efforts, the organization, and especially our department, was soon provided with a better and faster system. In the course of this period, Vaios was constantly improving the system, taking into consideration all of our feedback as end-users, thus progressing the business as well. He was always helpful, giving me useful advice, and proving to be not only a highly skillful IT professional but also a good colleague, widely appreciated throughout the organization.
Dr. Đorđe Tomić - Portfolio Director IT & Digital Transformation Events bei we.CONECT Global Leaders GmbH
I have known Vaios for quite a while, but I have been working with him closely for the last two years, on the European Union funded research and educational project InnoEntre (Framework for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support in Open Higher Education), which has been coordinated by me. Since the beginning of the project, Vaios has been very enthusiastic, easy to reach, and professional, at all times. He participated in meetings and online discussions about the course of the project and came up with interesting, innovative ideas which have been adopted by the team or implemented by himself.
As a developer, he is very skilled, dedicated, and motivated, being able to deliver working results on time under stressful conditions. He is an expert of web technologies such as PHP and Javascript and he could use his deep knowledge to innovate by creating new tools. Within the scope of the InnoEntre project, he has created an online community platform with profiles, groups, and a delicate searching tool of innovation related material.
As a person, he is trustworthy, has great communication and presentation skills, and is a great team player. It has been rewarding to work him in tough/stressful circumstances (such as long meetings) and I am looking forward to brainstorm, work, and spend time with him again soon.
Pantelis M. Papadopoulos - Associate Professor at Aarhus University
Vaios is a very good developer and a great team player. He joined a newly-created team of developers based in Thessaloniki and quickly adapted to the NCR culture. He learns fast, likes challenges and he takes leadership given the opportunity. He is not afraid to make changes. He was required to travel quite a bit and work on diverse projects in the Middle East. He was successful in his role and he showes that he can handle the pressure of being onsite on the customer site. Vaios has also managed to gain the respect and friendship of the other team members. I, strongly, believe he is a great asset for a corporation.
Lila Skoufaki - Senior Manager at EY Advisory Services
I had the pleasure of working with Vaios from 2009 to 2012 on the occasion of two European Union funded research and educational projects, OpenSE and OpenED, both of which have been led by me. Within the context of those projects, Vaios has been responsible for the development, continuous enhancement and support of two open educational platforms.
During that period, he has been very enthusiastic, professional and successfully delivered the requested results. Working alongside the team, he has shown excellent team and communicational skills in the office as well as in cases of online meetings. As a person, he is very motivated and capable to work under stressful conditions. He is talented and genuinely interested in creative working. He has innovative ideas and is able to master new concepts and transform them into working results. His responsiveness is always quick and he is trustworthy with making decisions and being on scedule. It is, therefore, for these reasons that I vouch for his character, dependability and abilities and recommend him without hesitation for any future endeavour he wishes to pursue. I am looking forward to working again with Vaios in the future as opportunities will arise!
Andreas Meiszner - Co-Founder, Scientist, Trainer, Mentor, and Coach, amongst others...
IT Staff 
Technical Support Agent 
Web Developer / Co-Founder 
Trainee student 
Project Manager, Lecturer, Member 
Research associate / Software Engineer 
Team Lead / Senior Activate Software Developer 
Code Reviewer 
Senior Full Stack Developer 
Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder 
Chief Technology Officer 
