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Loading...Sebastian is this easy-going & friendly guy who traveled the world looking to surround himself with beautiful people, love and adventure. From his house in Orléans, between calls with clients, he tells me how his professional journey started almost in the same time as Pentalog’s, 20 years ago. To this day he has been an important player in the organization’s development, sharing incredible moments with his colleagues, some who he met during university period.
Since the first time Sebastian set foot in Pentalog, his life has been an array of many insightful experiences as a developer and then as a Project Manager and Project Director.
Recently, Sebastian has taken a new challenge and became Project Directors Manager which means that his role is to gather almost 20 Project Directors together as a team and then support them to move forward with their projects.
Godspeed, Sebastian!
Discover this amazing career story and if you feel inspired by it, contact us, we’re always on the lookout for bright and motivated colleagues!
One thing is for sure! It’s an ever-changing world, and so is the IT field!
Starting with the way we learn, work and keep up with technology, we’re always on a constant move, striving to adapt. Add a crisis on top of that and the image of a multi-tasking tech employee becomes even more eloquent.
Some people look for challenges constantly: it’s in their nature to keep on learning, meet new people, go to different places, etc. Sebastian is one of those people who seized all the opportunities coming his way.
Lead by Passion. Destination Unknown.
Sebastian was born in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains, in Rasnov, a small town near Brasov, Romania. Some would say that mountain people look for adventure in their lives: those feet can’t stop climbing, those eyes keep on scrolling for hidden treasures, while the heart and the mind run free, fueled by an untamed desire to gain knowledge.
At the age of 23, Sebastian gets a job at Pentalog Brasov as a Java Developer. Shortly, he leaves for Orléans, France, Pentalog’s place of birth, to see what it’s like to live and work in another country, while giving a hand to the on-going projects.
The young developer stays in Orléans for 3 months, likes it, but decides to return to his family, in Romania. Three years later, the opportunity of moving to France arises. Without really settling in just one place for his job, driven by his desire to learn more about people, Sebastian discovers the cities of Tours, Bordeaux, Paris, and Limoges.
Bordeaux remains in his memory as the perfect setting for a love story: it’s the city where he meets his future wife. The couple decide to move to Lyon and get a place of their own in the city.
To keep Sebastian on-board, Pentalog begins the quest of finding a project for him there. Yes, I know, you expected to be the other way around, but that’s just another proof that we treasure awesome people and we take the extra-mile to provide them with the challenges they’re looking for.
Speaking of which: Sebastian soon realized that he’s ready for yet another challenge, so he moves to Ha Noi, Vietnam, to take the lead of some new projects. He stays there for more than one year, together with his wife, then returns to Paris to manage a project for which he has to make a three-day monthly trip to Madrid, Spain. Loves the experience but returns in 2012 to the romantic city of Orléans to Pentalog HQ so he can help multiple clients as a Project Director.
“Pentalog – veni, vidi, loving it ever since!”
20 years is a long time, enough to rotate from one project to the other spanning quite a range of industries: E-commerce, software publishers, M2M embedded development, dating, logistics, innovation, prototyping, embedded electronics, etc. In a nutshell, that’s around 35 clients and over 70 projects.
Moments in time from Sebastian’s professional & personal life.
Before changing his position in the organization again, Sebastian was in charge of embedded development projects in various sectors including: energy, telecom, e-health, home automation, and defense. He also led Pentalog’s technical experts and up to 150 engineers at each R&D stage from drafting of specifications, conception and design to embedded development, testing and maintenance.
A Project Director has many interlocutors both internally and externally, from the clients. “The person holding this position is calm, empathic and loves to help people develop”, says Sebastian. “In fact, this is the part I like most – providing coaching, guidance, direction, and leadership to the project team.”
Beyond the leadership responsibilities that come with experience, any Project Director manages project approach, timing, and impact in relation to various issues, risks, activities, etc. It’s a role suited for the experienced and proven project leaders that have project implementation experience.
For Sebastian, his PentaStory is long and fruitful: “Pentalog – veni, vidi, loving it ever since!”
“What’s next?”, I ask him. “No idea”, he says, “I like to live one moment at a time”. This is exactly how his Pentajourney started and look at the awesome outcome. “Who would have dreamt this in the beginning of my journey?”, he wonders.
Well, life can be really surprising!
The Power of Words – Learn to Use Them Wisely
In the end of this story, I’ll share Sebastian advice to us all.
- “One word is all that it takes to start a conversation, and another word is enough to end a relationship. Use them at ease, but not that easy.”
- “I’ve become the person I am today due to all the people I’ve met in my life. They all have helped me grow. “
- Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide how long you’re going to stay in the same position and how you’re going to make your exit to the next career opportunity.
Check out some of Sebastian’s articles:
- How to fail the deployment of agile practices in 5 steps
- Is .NET an outdated technology?
- Project Director clients team management
(To be continued. Keep an eye on us for the following episode of the series!)
