VJ Alexander Brayanov, Manchester: Bulgaria's integration with the rest of the world will make young people come back

published on 1/23/23 1:56 PM

Photo: anniefengphotography.com

What does it take for a person to be happy? To have a favourite activity to devote oneself to; to see that what one is doing has meaning; to be surrounded by people with whom one shares the same worldview. The rest is just falls into place on its own. This is how 26-year-old Alexander Brayanov from Sofia, who has been living in Manchester, UK, for seven years how, discovered his happiness. Sasho, as people close to him call him, left for the city of the "Red Devils" for enroll for university studies. After completing his higher education, he decided to stay. He feels that it is there that he will find fertile ground for development in the areas that excite him the most, blurring the boundaries between work, hobby and pleasure - IT and art.

But why not in Bulgaria, where the IT sector is famous for some of the most appetizing salaries in the country?

"In the IT field, I certainly cannot say that there is no scope for action. Simply, let's say, the reasons are similar to why people from New Zealand work in Australia. The standard is one idea higher and that allows for more freedom in the long run," Sasho explains.

For just over a year, he has been working in Manchester as a blockchain software engineer for a New Zealand startup. He is part of a team working on creating a decentralized metaverse-as-a-service platform. In addition, he actively performs as a VJ in the biggest club in Europe - The Warehouse Project in Manchester, as well as at various music festivals in the north of England. Recently he also creates animation, visual effects for music videos of bands and electronic artists. And, of course, hedoesn't stop evolving. With friends and colleagues, he goes to events and conferences both in Great Britain and in nearby countries, so that he is always up to date with what is new.

With the now non-existent Europia Art Collective

I ask him what he thinks should change in Bulgaria to make it the place where young people would like to live and develop.

"I guess the economic integration with the rest of the world, which right now, excluding the IT sector, is at a much slower pace, so to speak, and that's actually preventing a lot of people from developing. But the other thing is that we are in the 21st century and I might be one of those people who like to change their place of residence. But this, according to my impressions, is an international phenomenon", Alexander notes, taking us out of the cliché about young people leaving their homeland only in search of a better life. It's good to try everything to find your own thing. In addition, in practice today's existing technologies shorten enormously and even eliminate the distances between countries and continents.

Before the Covid pandemic, the young man often came to Bulgaria to see his parents and sister, as well as his friends. And now, after the drop of the restrictions, he is renewing the tradition. Apart from meeting with relatives, what draws him here is the magnificent Bulgarian nature, the wonderful mountains. Therefore, I am not surprised that to my request to describe Bulgaria in one word, Alexander Brayanov answers without hesitation: "Diversity", and explains:

“I would say diversity in terms of nature. The fact that there is a lot of biodiversity within a small territory, which is a prerequisite for a more peaceful life."

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VJ Alexander Brayanov, Manchester: Bulgaria's integration with the rest of the world will make young people come back

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