11 wonderful years have passed since I joined Accesa, during which I’ve met colleagues who’ve been an inspiration to me, who believed in me and made me feel valued, and most importantly, they gave me the freedom to develop professionally and enjoy a rewarding career. I’ve built my entire career here, being continuously challenged to grow by taking various roles from intern, software developer, consultant, architect, to competence area lead and team lead.

I started my career in Accesa as an intern, and even though I was just finishing my second university year and had to work harder than the rest to convince my manager to take a chance on me, I succeeded and joined the team as a software developer. From day one, I knew I was in the right place, as I felt connected with my colleagues, loved the atmosphere and the company’s commitment to people, solutions and their impact.

After more than 11 years building my career, step by step, and going through different experiences in the many roles I took over, I still stand by that decision. I’ve recently joined the Software Architecture Chapter, where I look forward to improving my technical skills and growing even more as a professional.

Throughout my journey, my greatest challenge, which later became my career's defining moment, was in the fourth year of my software developer experience, when I was given the opportunity to hold a presentation in front of a board made of our customer's C-level suite and project managers, whom I'd met for the first time in my life.

During my presentation, I focused on technical solutions, describing the best approaches and best practices to work better as a team and communicate efficiently. My presentation was the starting point for a great relationship with our customer, which grew even stronger with every milestone celebrated together.

Going through this experience made me realise that from this day forward, I could do anything. I became more confident in myself and certain that by developing a close and trust-based relationship with our customers, we can overcome and turn any challenging situation into a success. One year later, I was promoted and entrusted to lead the entire delivery team of our customer.

As I saw that I liked taking care of people and empowering them to become better professionals, in the sixth year of my career, I took over the responsibility of helping the entire Digital Workplace Competence Area team of 30+ people to build up their skills. I carried on with this position until I went on maternity leave.

Upon my return, I continued to lead my dear team of people from the customer side, with whom we’re building intranet platforms using Microsoft 365. Our solutions enhance collaboration and increase engagement between employees working both on-site and in a hybrid setup.

I like our team spirit and ability to come together through thick and thin. We rely on each other to find solutions, but at the same time, we have the space and freedom to try things out by ourselves and ask for help only when we need it.

As I like to work closely with my team and enjoy coding and rolling up my sleeves, I usually take a task from our sprint board and start working on it. This is one way I act as a role model to empower people and motivate them always to strive to improve themselves. Staying relevant in this industry is challenging; we all have our own strengths, and I believe that each of us, no matter the experience we have, can learn from each other.