Coding for Millions: David Grigoryan's Rise to International Recognition and Revolutionizing Mobile Banking in Europe

Entrepreneur had the opportunity to interview David Grigoryan, a mobile app development expert who has achieved remarkable success on a global scale. He is a regular member of the jury of international hackathons in software development. In addition, he is an author of scientific and academic articles, an author of several patents, a prize winner of the national NovPro 2020 award, and he is the one who introduced groundbreaking ideas into mobile banking in Europe. We will discuss modern mobile devices and apps with David today, and he'll tell us how to attract world-renowned clients while working in the United States.

David, could you please describe your journey to becoming a technical leader at VCV Inc. in the United States?

While working at Sberbank, one of the largest conglomerates in Eastern Europe, and Ozon, the largest marketplace in the CIS, I managed to recreate a whole range of unique engineering solutions. Some of these solutions were patented, received national awards, were published in scientific articles, and presented at conferences. Some of my developments exceeded the scope of Sberbank and were implemented in virtually all existing mobile banking apps. Winning a high-level engineering position in these companies is among the most difficult challenges in the region, because you need to work on global projects of such a scale where your software code runs on hundreds of millions of mobile devices.

My achievements did not go unnoticed by many well-known US companies. I received several job offers from world-renowned tech giants, but I chose VCV over all of them. VCV's activities not only had a positive impact on the US unemployment rate but also boosted the economy by creating new jobs in world-famous companies. I wanted my solutions to influence millions of people, not only in the post-Soviet space but all over the world. I faced challenges with complex and ambitious technical tasks, and I succeeded in overcoming them.

Citibank, Deloitte, Garmin, and Polar are far from the complete list of companies that your projects have managed to attract due to your revolutionary innovations. In addition, your contribution to the field of smartwatches has completely changed the approach to assessing the athletes' performance and training as well. Can you tell us more about your development that attracted these companies?

While working in top IT companies in the CIS, I managed to achieve tremendous success, which allowed me to move to the next level of solving new engineering problems.

I had hit a ceiling in my region, so I decided that I could realize my ambitious ideas in the United States. And that's what happened indeed. My experience gained at the most prestigious tech companies has enabled me to implement cutting-edge technology based on concurrent processing of distributed graphs at VCV. It allowed us to achieve incredible results not only in productivity, but also in the accuracy of calculations and data composition, thereby reducing and improving the candidate selection process by 70%! This helped significantly save the HR budget, which consequently attracted world-famous clients. This technology is not tied to any specific product, and therefore, it was easily implemented in the Zihi project as well, improving the training quality and the athletes' performance by 30%! This same development allowed not only to improve the quality of data, but also to make forecasts and training plans in advance!

Don't you think that the market for mobile devices and apps is currently in stagnation?

Indeed, the market for mobile devices and apps is at the oversaturated and overcompetitive point right now. This may look like stagnation, because new technological breakthroughs become less noticeable and welcome than before. However, I think that the industry is constantly evolving. Software and hardware developers continue their work on improving the features, performance, security, and usability of mobile devices and apps. For instance, the development of 5G, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality can open up new opportunities and impressions to mobile users. Overall, the mobile device and app industry has the potential for constant development and innovation, and hopefully, new technologies and improvements will continue to emerge to perfect the user experience and expand the features of mobile devices and apps.

David, you used to work in the top tech companies in the CIS space, and now you work in the US. How do IT companies differ in these countries?

In general, the processes and methods are quite similar, but I would say that post-Soviet companies are less risky and do their best to secure their product features with technical methods. Due to this, many engineers feel constrained and unable to implement their technical innovations because of red tape restrictions. This is not common in the US companies; they are more eager to take risks and try innovative ideas. US tech companies are the pioneers of new technologies, constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible and revolutionizing entire industries. Their emphasis on fostering a culture of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking allows them to consistently pioneer cutting-edge solutions that shape the future of technology globally. If you're an expert in your field and aspire to achieve the highest goals, the United States is the perfect place for you. This is the best country for such ambitious people and projects that can stand on par with international corporations and make the most daring ideas come true.

As an expert with numerous significant and truly revolutionary global achievements, please share with us your current professional development and ongoing projects.

I am doing my best to continue to contribute to information technology in various areas: from supporting promising projects I spot at hackathons to writing professional academic articles. I am working on my own fintech project in my free time at the moment. While working in the United States, I spotted a very interesting challenge in banking with no solution currently available on the market. I believe that this project holds great potential and will have a profoundly positive impact on the financial well-being of millions of Americans once it becomes accessible to a wider audience. In addition to my ongoing endeavors, I'm also actively seeking collaborations with fellow experts and innovators in the field. I'm committed to staying at the forefront of technological advancements and knowledge sharing. The journey to harness the full potential of my fintech project continues to be a source of inspiration, and I look forward to sharing its success with the world in the near future.