In Galina Nikolova’s small Bulgarian hometown, tech wasn’t a common path for women. But when her family got their first computer and a family friend demonstrated a few DOS commands, she was hooked.
“I saw that screen and thought, ‘This is amazing. I want to do something like this,’” she recalled.
When she began formally studying telecommunications, she was immediately drawn to its challenges and complexities. The constant learning and problem-solving kept her engaged and drove her to pursue a full-time career in the field, one she’s now been in for over a decade. Today, that same passion fuels her work as a Services Solutions Architect at Broadcom with the VMware World Wide Consulting Center, a part of VMware Cloud Foundation Services and Lifecycle Support. Where she helps customers harness technology to achieve their VMware Cloud Foundation goals and maximize their success.
Finding her way in tech
Galina’s early passion for technology led to a pivotal moment years later.
As she and her parents toured university options, she spotted the Technical University of Sofia and something immediately clicked. “It was love at first sight. I told myself, ‘I would be so happy if I could study anything here,’” she said.
She decided to attend the university and quickly gravitated toward the most challenging subjects. Computer systems, one of the toughest classes, became a favorite.
“I wanted to be a little bit rebellious,” she laughed. “I wanted to choose the hardest thing possible.”
Beginning university during the telecommunications boom, she chose to pursue the field, immersing herself in infrastructure, programming, and problem-solving.
After earning her degree in telecommunications, she gained hands-on experience working in systems operations, infrastructure administration, and engineering, laying the foundation for a successful career in tech.
Building the future of VCF Professional Services
Galina joined VMware in 2020 as a VCF Adoption Engineer, a role that deepened her understanding of customer needs and the importance of strategic support.
Initially, she provided services to help customers deploy VCF, offering guidance on architecture and best practices. Beyond implementation, her and her team gathered crucial data to help product management make informed decisions.
“We wanted to know, what do our customers need? What will make them happy? What could cause them to leave the product?” she explained. “It took a lot of manual effort, interviews with customers and customer-facing teams.”
Galina believes empathy was key to the project’s success. Empathy allowed the team to fully understand customer pain points and support their recommendations with data. By raising awareness of these issues with leadership, she and her team helped shape strategic decisions for the VCF division, ensuring the product not only met implementation goals but evolved to address real customer needs.
As Galina’s role expanded, she took on program management responsibilities, a milestone that allowed her to drive an even greater impact. Seeing an opportunity to improve efficiency, she focused on reducing wait times and simplifying customer onboarding.
Galina is now part of the VCF Services team at Broadcom, helping customers deploy and optimize VCF. She’s also a Custom Professional Services Support Program Manager, supporting customers’ automation and integration needs. Her work touches every stage of the process, from pre-sales support to long-term customer success.
She explained that drawing on years of expertise, her team provides more than just implementation services. They help customers adopt, optimize, and scale solutions tailored to their needs, ensuring they get long-term value from their VCF technology investments.
Empowering women in tech to lead and influence
Though Galina has built a rewarding career, she recognizes that challenges remain for women in the field. Women are still underrepresented in leadership roles, but she believes it is essential for women in tech to influence their teams regardless of title.
How can someone lead without holding a leadership position? According to Galina, the key lies in knowledge, persistence, and collaboration.
“It’s going back to having the data and helping people make educated decisions. Then you can inspire change,” she said. She encourages women to stay open if their ideas aren’t accepted, keep learning, explore new ideas, connect with colleagues across teams, and continue finding ways to contribute.
When asked what advice she would give to aspiring women in tech, Galina didn’t hesitate.
“Invest in knowledge,” she emphasized. “Surround yourself with people who want to learn. Be the smartest in the room, or learn from the smartest in the room. Keep growing. Have integrity.”
Finding balance
When she’s not working with customers to solve complex problems, Galina finds balance through snowboarding, gaming, and spending time with her British tabby cat.
“Snowboarding is amazing. Even when I was a beginner, nobody is laughing at you,” she said. “It was totally acceptable to not be able to do something and be on the learning path.”
She also enjoys Bang!, a strategy board game that challenges players to bluff and read their opponents.
Celebrating women in tech
Galina’s Broadcom journey reflects her aptitude for tackling challenges, solving complex problems, and reshaping how customers adopt technology.
This International Women’s Month, we’re proud to share the stories of women like Galina who are influencing the future of tech. Read more about the women making their mark at Broadcom, including Liana Scarratt and Rocio Oswald.
