Meet Toni Milushev, Director of Product Engineering
Perficient is committed to Growth for Everyone, and colleague Toni Milushev is a great example of how we’re helping our people grow professionally. He takes the initiative to go above and beyond his role and is quick to lend a helping hand to assist those around him in their personal career growth. We recently had the chance to speak with Toni to learn more about how he’s grown his career at Perficient, and his overall outlook on professional development.
As a director based in Chicago, Toni focuses on customer engagement solutions for Amazon, Microsoft, and Twilio. He oversees product practice, customer product development, and product starter packs. In his five years of working at Perficient, Toni has earned three promotions.
With roughly eight years of experience in the industry, he has advanced at an incredible rate, and his achievements can be tied to his work ethic and desire to grow.
Toni’s Career Journey
Before joining Perficient, Toni worked for a consulting company that was acquired by Perficient and was promoted three times prior to the acquisition.
“I stand out because I’m not afraid of additional work or projects, regardless of expertise. If I don’t have experience with a specific platform, saying ‘yes’ to new opportunities has expanded my skills and benefited my career. It shows I can learn on the go, be thrown into the fire, and figure it out.”
In 2005, his family migrated to the United States from Bulgaria to give him better opportunities, and they are the true motivation behind his success. Toni has never taken this for granted, and now lives by the philosophy that hard work pays off.
“I aim to keep growing, set big goals, and strive to achieve them so that my parents know that their decision to migrate here has positively impacted my career.”
Toni’s Experience at Perficient
Working at a global company in the U.S. has presented Toni with plenty of international work experiences as he regularly collaborates with colleagues around the world. In 2019, he spent three weeks in India working with one of our teams on site. He’s also had additional travel opportunities to help launch international Perficient offices.
“Perficient being such a large organization opens the doors to communication between offices throughout the world, and that is very unique. Having a global team and working with different cultures to deliver expectations for our clients inspires me to give my best every day.”
With the support of his colleagues and Perficient’s growth-oriented culture, Toni has achieved many professional milestones. One of his proudest moments was launching a product in the cloud: PACE, Perficient’s Amazon Connect Experience solution. Many customers have since used this product, and Toni regularly shares his thought leadership in Perficient’s Amazon Connect space.
READ MORE: Perficient’s Amazon Connect Thought Leadership
Key Takeaways from Toni’s Career Growth
Toni’s admirable career journey has seen amazing growth in a short amount of time. Some key takeaways from Toni’s experience include implementing a lifelong learning approach, embracing mentors and mentees, and leading with a growth mindset. He dives deeper into each of these topics below.
Implementing Lifelong Learning
“Staying curious and wanting to learn have personal benefits and have played a significant role in my career development. It shows initiative to grow professionally and build your skillset.”
Toni continually seeks out opportunities to expand his expertise. Earning certifications has been one major way he’s shown his ambition to continue learning. His drive truly stands out. Toni took a SCRUM training course that was based out of China and provided by Perficient. This required late hours and putting in extra time and energy. He also completed numerous other certifications and training courses through Perficient Academy to help accelerate his career potential.
“It’s rewarding to take courses and earn certifications because I get recognition for them, and I’m able to market the fact that I’ve successfully passed the course. In my BU, it’s free to take certain certification exams, so it’s a way for me to build my skill set and market myself across my network. The knowledge I gain from earning certifications is beneficial because I can better communicate about numerous services.”
LEARN MORE: Perficient Academy Career Growth Tool
Embracing Mentorship
Connecting with mentors has been a huge launching point for Toni’s career growth. To find a mentor, he identifies peers and colleagues that think and solve problems differently than he does, and through discovering new perspectives, he expands his toolkit.
“From the get-go, I’ve been focused on finding mentors internally and externally to help with my career growth. I can learn something new from everyone, and I find it valuable to connect with new mentors to see what different people have to offer. For example, one of my current mentors is very analytical and thinks differently than I do, and this has helped expand how I approach certain scenarios.”
Toni is also focused on giving back and helping other people grow their careers to the next level. He talks with his mentees about different methodologies, and depending on where a person is in their career, discovering where they want to go. Identifying whether they want to specialize or generalize in certain areas and setting goals to track progress are highly valuable in fostering growth. He also recommends that his mentees participate in online trainings and certification courses, something he does to excel personally.
“Being on both sides of mentorship enables me to learn and give back to others by teaching what I’ve gained from my mentors. I can explain the learning experiences I’ve had throughout my career as a lesson for others to grow from.”
Leading with a Growth Mindset
According to Toni, it’s not just about mentors, but also, about work ethic and having the desire to grow. The right combination of skills and knowledge, paired with curiosity and a growth mindset has set Toni up for all the success he’s experienced.
“Personality and naturally having a growth mindset are both important aspects to be considered for promotions. These show initiative and that you want to make a difference, and this alone can set you apart from people.”
Toni builds a growth mindset by staying curious. He asks “why,” conducts research online, and tries to dig below the surface to avoid making assumptions, no matter the topic. His intrinsic drive and passion encourage him to continually progress and has allowed him to recognize that the sky is the limit. He is highly motivated, goal driven, and uses the resources available to him at every opportunity to succeed. His growth story shows that upward mobility is within reach for everyone at Perficient.
Perficient continually looks for ways to champion and challenge our workforce, encourage personal and professional growth, and celebrate the unique culture created by the ambitious, brilliant, people-oriented team we have cultivated. These are their stories.
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