The Story of People behind the House of Brands. Harman Bucharest. Part II

8 Questions answered by Sofia, Gabi and Vlad – the eyes behind the #JoinHarmanBucharest campaign

Part II

Harman has been in Romania since 2012, and in July 2017, over 200 employees moved to a modern A-class headquarter located opposite Pipera Metro Station, which makes it extremely accessible. Globally, the company has over 30,000 employees, half of which are engineers, operating in 30 countries across Europe, Asia and the United States. Harman has great development plans in 2018, especially regarding the people who will join the company. In particular, they are looking for developer positions, C/C ++, Linux, but we have many areas of activity. Join us for part II of the Stories of People behind the House of Brands. 

4. What was the most awesome/complex project you worked on? Can you tell us more about the project and how did you managed to work it out? 

Sofia – “Together with my team – we implemented all the software integration and system integration processes, continuous integration, continuous deployment for the project from scratch. We had the freedom to pick our own instruments and strategies, and of course, we took responsibility of the outcome. Piece by piece, we have built this complex system, which worked out well.”

Gabriel – “The most complex and awesome project I`ve worked on is NTG6 for Daimler.
The technology and features developed are amazing and now we can see them out on the streets. Our project is now available in the latest fancy cars from Mercedes.
It was tough work and there were moments when the deadlines were supposed to be “yesterday” but our managers were supportive and also our colleagues were very receptive to all the requirements. As for now, we can all see an impressive result that everybody enjoys.
To work in an Automotive company requires passion. Automotive is one of the most ascending industries in the last few years and Harman is one of the biggest players in this industry.
I am very happy to be part of this community, and I am very excited to see what comes next. Perhaps the autonomous cars will be a very nice challenge.”
 

Vlad –“ One of the most complex, demanding and rewarding projects that I have worked on so far is the BMW Infotainment for 2018.
BMW is a very demanding customer and this can be clearly seen by the quality of the cars they sell. We managed to live up to the expectations and successfully delivered on time the initial version of the Infotainment system, which will come out on the 2018 models.
Over the 3 years in which the project unfolded we faced many challenges that we managed to turn into opportunities by strong cross-cultural collaborations. One of the biggest challenges was to deliver the required level of quality while being under pressure from tight deadlines imposed by the BMW factories. This could only be achieved by working together as a one team.
It was an amazing experience which came with a lot of satisfaction at the end and most importantly it gave us the opportunity to grow individually and also as a team.”

5.  What is the most important lesson that you’ve learned so far? 
 

Sofia – “You never know how to do better, before you try. And nobody knows. “

Gabriel – “The most important lessons I`ve learned so far in my career are: the importance of networking and communication.
Without these two you cannot succeed neither in life nor in your career.
It is very important to be able to work in a team, to listen and to appreciate everybody`s role and in the meantime to be able to find solutions together. “

Vlad – “People always come first.”

6.   What is the biggest challenge you encountered in your career?
 

Sofia – “I’d rather implement evolution than revolution. I believe in smooth growing, the only way to keep progress is to progress without pushing, but continuously. So I can say that each new day and each new task I have is a new challenge for me.”

Gabriel –“My biggest challenge was taking over a role which didn`t have a background history. This was a big opportunity for me to collaborate and learn from scratch all that this job implies. What was satisfying was that after 1 year the things that I`ve learned I had to teach to my other colleagues.”

Vlad – “Convincing stakeholders to give more work packages to the teams in Romania. It was the most challenging but also the most rewarding.”
 

7.  Who inspires you? Can you give us some examples from the local or international IT community how drives you to push your limits?
 

Sofia – “My team inspires me. People in my team like to have things in order and done precisely. These people have the feeling of the beauty in engineering solutions. You always try to do better in such a team.“

Gabriel - “The person who inspires me is Dinesh Paliwal - the CEO of Harman International. I think his career evolution is very impressive. He was in Romania once and his personality made me feel proud to have him as a CEO.
As my goal is to become a manager, I think he is the greatest example as he held management positions in five countries and was instrumental in the company’s dramatic turnaround during the period 2002–2007.”

Vlad – “As a manager and leader I take great inspiration from Toto Wolff, the executive director of the Mercedes Formula 1 Team. His passion for the sport and technology, his drive for innovation and managing capabilities are the things which inspire me.”

8. Do you have a message for the IT community in Romania?
 

Sofia – “Collaborating, we are strong. Let’s be strong.”

Gabriel – “Stay open minded, focused and determined to be a part of one of the most important industries in the whole world!”

Vlad –“ The IT community in Romania is growing at a formidable pace. The demand for new technologies which enhance and make our life better is growing rapidly.
Having this in mind, a risk is that we focus too much on delivering and often tend to put less focus on quality because of time constraints and high pressure. My message for the IT community is this: Keep quality in focus. This is the only way that we will be able to establish ourselves as leaders in the global IT market and attract more opportunities in Romania.”

Check Part I here.