What did you do before you joined IXTENT?
I started my career as a computer technician at a hospital and later at a gas plant, where I focused on web technologies and became the administrator and programmer of most of the holding company’s websites.
What was your career path to IXTENT?
I discovered IXTENT as a customer. I was selecting a platform for a new intranet and website and was looking for the right tool. I heard from my supervisor about the platform that IXTENT was offering at the time, and since it was a product originally backed by a large Swiss bank, I became more interested and went to speak directly to the Sales Director about it. I was so thoroughly convinced by the product, which was already under the OpenText flag, that I managed to secure its implementation in the group on two more occasions.
However, after a change of management and eight years in the same chair, I took up an offer which I received from a former colleague, who happened to be working for IXTENT at the time. And one thing led to another.
I have never had to look for a job in my life, work has always found me. Thanks to the amateur computer network in the days before the internet, I established friendly ties with quite a few professionals in the business at that time.
How has your position at IXTENT changed since your first day?
I have been in the position of my choosing, as a technical consultant, from the outset. So I am progressing along the same lines, but with experience gained. From junior to senior employee. I’m aging along with the customers I’m in charge of. These long-term partnerships mean a lot to me. I appreciate it when I can enter a business twenty years later, and see that it is not just something seasonal.
What do you like about IXTENT?
For me, IXTENT has always been about the people, the relationships, but also about they products, which are quite interesting to explore. I like to explore new things. There is no shortage of opportunities here.
Where do you see IXTENT’s greatest benefits and where do you see your own mission here?
IXTENT is on its way to having the best know-how in the field of enterprise information management through its people, at least on the European market. I am happy to support the teamwork with my years of experience from delivered projects. I often act as a communication hub among departments or between newcomers and senior employees.
What do you enjoy most about your current position?
Apart from the technical customer care, I also have the opportunity to point out something new every now and then, take the time to do it, and then demonstrate it to my colleagues. I like to follow trends. But when I walk away from a happy customer, or hear a happy voice on the phone, that’s probably the best thing. I used to travel to see customers a lot, but nowadays the trend is to work remotely.
If you had to pick 1 or 2 projects that you/your team are really proud of, which ones would they be and why?
The projects I remember most are the ones where I learned a lot. As part of implementing invoice digitization for a telco company, I was able to learn how to script a scanning application in a way that hadn’t been fully documented before, all because I was able to get in touch with its developers. I still benefit from it to this day. The best information is always at the source, but it’s not easy to get it through support staff. Communication with my partner, who was in charge of the follow-up product area, also helped me a lot. We were well matched.
The second project I would mention was a product upgrade and customer data migration for a Romanian energy operator from Hungary to England. This involved coordination with the entire foreign team of the client and its ICT guarantor – daily communication regarding export, encrypted transfer, and data restoration at the destination. It took all summer. I was about to become a father at the time, so it was more mentally challenging for me. But I managed everything successfully with support from the company management. Then I quite easily pushed forward an extension of the project in Romania the following year.
What is your biggest achievement at IXTENT?
As I become farsighted with age, I look back first to my beginnings. The turning point was when I was able to use reverse analysis to describe the data of a historical product that needed to be migrated. Nobody knew it, I found only the smallest mension of its origin and the time of its creation on the internet.
Or when I discovered an unpublished bug in something I deal with almost every day and the manufacturer couldn’t refute it.
I am always pleased when I can give good advice to my colleagues or inspire them.
I was involved in the early adoption of the GTD method for managing personal tasks and priorities at the company.
Now I am paving the way to operating micro services as a native platform for running OpenText products in a private and hybrid cloud.
If you were to recruit a newcomer to your team, how would you introduce the team and IXTENT as whole?
After luring them to the tastefully decorated facility, I would try to describe how we function as a team and watch their body language. Our main benefits are the intangible ones. A candidate can have astounding knowledge or be a blank sheet of paper and grow up here, but if we don’t fit together, one or the other party will back out of the relationship sooner or later. Then it’s a wasted investment.
From the IT perspective, where do you see the future?
In terms of our mission to operate without paper, I’m still waiting for the ubiquitous scrolling displays and holographic projectors. And also for voice control, or rather tasking technology for ordinary people. Users don’t care how advanced the chips and programs behind it are.
What makes you happy in life?
I’m currently enjoying spending time with our little ones. One finds pleasure in what comes back in response to a joyful deed. Whether it’s helping others with something or just paying attention to them. Of course I love a good beer or glass of wine with someone, but ultimately it’s about being here for more than just ourselves and sharing something.
How do you relax?
On my recent vacation, I spent two hours whittling a piece of board with a knife just to give it a shape that felt good to touch. Or sticks for the children. It was new to me. I didn’t have to think about it –kind of a meditation with wood.
But otherwise I like to listen, read or watch something nice and informative. I also ride a folding bicycle, but that’s just to get from place to place. It’s mainly a means of transport for me.
What is your life motto?
As a member of an antique family, I would have “In Defense!” embroided on the bannerol. As a member of a knightly order, I would carry a banner in a similar vein with the text “To ancestors and to arms!” – in Latin, of course. Both reflect the historical experience of my ancestors, which is non-transferable. But as far as I can tell, the best defense against everything bad is to live in joy, so as a patriot of Radotín I would say to the reader: “Live every day as though you were playing lacrosse!” For the purpose of lacrosse – the game of the original North American inhabitants of the Great Lakes – is to play for the pleasure of the Creator.
