What we already knew about him is that he goes to sleep at 11 pm, wakes up at 7 am, likes all sorts of outdoor activities – camping, trail running, skiing, touring, mountain biking. He is a father of three, leader of Azure Data team in Serbia, director of Microsoft Development Center Serbia (MDCS), but here’s brand-new information about Dragan Tomic: he has been promoted to the role of Vice President of Engineering!
Sixteen years ago, Microsoft Development Center Serbia was established in Belgrade as a team of a couple of employees. However, MDCS has grown into a center that hires over 450 people under the leadership of Dragan Tomic. Over the years, Dragan and his team have put a lot of dedication and hard work into creating technologies used by millions of people worldwide.
“While this is a pretty big honor for me, it is huge news for our team and great news for all R&D places in this part of the world. I’m super happy about our journey this far and excited about our future. The best MDCS days are ahead of us”, says the new Vice President.
Not only does he act upon his MDCS leadership role, but Dragan is also the Data leader for Azure SQL Managed Instance, Synapse SQL Serverless, and SQL Service Fabric. He has also created a unique culture and diverse and high-performing teams.
At the beginning of 2021, Microsoft Development Center received a significant investment to expand the team working on the Azure Data service development. More than 100 new positions were added to Azure Data team only in FY21, and overall, more than 155 for the entire MDCS. This is a very positive story for the future of the country because each of the new team members brings a lot of positive complementary effects.
The unique value of MDCS should not be ascribed to the number of people only, but to the business impact the team creates for Microsoft. The team is on the leading edge of several fronts for the company (Azure SQL, Synapse, Service Fabric, Office Canvas/Media, Maps, Mixed Reality, and others). Therefore, we believe that the best years for MDCS are in the near future.
Digital transformation of the most strategic worldwide companies is in the hands of engineers in Belgrade. And while they improve the lives of every single individual, they also come from different nations demonstrating full diversity and inclusion as one of the core Microsoft values. Some of the innovations that the team is producing are leading innovations presented at all top conferences, and their work is mainly applied research which is pushing boundaries of every product line they are involved in.
For the first time, MDCS is actively looking for engineering talent not only in Serbia but also across Europe. There is a devised plan to recruit regionally so that they can continue to grow their mission, but also grow the overall local ecosystem. They strongly believe in diversity, and one of the best ways to develop quality ideas is to include people with different backgrounds and thinking processes.
