SoftServe's mission is to help talented people change the world. In harmony with it, the company operates SoftServe University, which has had a presence in Bulgaria since 2016. The active growth of SSU is aimed at the sustainable development of local professional communities in SoftServe and within the country. At SoftServe, we believe that the best way to build our future as a community is to help our current and future employees build their own. SSU creates, promotes, and distributes a wide range of training services to provide the best support, education and professional development for employees. Our goal is to ensure that our colleagues could acquire additional qualifications during their career in the company, but also to contribute to the development of others.

SSU's target audience is, first and foremost, our current employees and their professional development. In Bulgaria, these are 350+ employees, whose training needs are addressed by many training services and initiatives. Secondly, SSU's focus is on external audiences / potential employees, for whom we offer IT academies and a variety of lectures on technical and leadership topics.

The regional development of SSU, as well as the establishment of a sustainable learning culture, are priorities for SoftServe. At the heart of our work are the principles of lifelong learning. Among our long-term initiatives are the mentoring program, the local library with recordings of virtual lectures and trainings, the delivery of specialized technical and soft skills trainings, the development of technical communities, the improvement of language skills, the training of young professional.

Mentoring program: employees support the professional growth of their colleagues in a structured way. In Bulgaria it has grown three times since 2019. Bulgaria Recordings Library: a library with recordings of virtual training events held since the beginning of the pandemic. It is constantly updated. The Talk: a format for developing public speaking skills. Tech Hub & Sofia Projects InsideOut: formats aimed at enriching the technical knowledge of colleagues; provide an opportunity to share experiences and build communities. Mental Wellness Practices: a series of sessions on the critical topic of mental health. Coaching program: widespread in the company; from 2021 in Bulgaria there are three certified coaches. People Managers Refreshment Corner: aims to refresh and enrich the knowledge and skills of managers in relation to basic processes and practices in the company. IT Academy: specialized academies that train future SoftServe employees in the necessary technical skills. Language courses: our employees can use various programs to increase their language literacy; we have in-house certified teachers.

• 1532 employees participated in training sessions, 270 of them - unique learners • 42 internal training events • 18 training events for external audiences • 4 IT academies for external audiences • 6 new local training initiatives; 2 of them were recognized as good practices and scaled globally • Over 90 videos available in the virtual library • 54 active mentors, over 100 active mentoring connections • 35 lecturers in external and internal events In SoftServe BG we have been actively working to create a learning culture since 2016th. For this period, our results in employee engagement and contribution to the various initiatives, communities building, and awareness about the available services, have been highly evaluated by both the colleagues who use them, and the global organizat