Scientists have calculated using different math and probabilistic models that the chances for a human being to be born is 1 in 400 trillion, taking into consideration genetics, ancestral events and environmental & historical events. ONE IN FOUR HUNDRED TRILLION. Now you do the math, what are the odds that you are here today?

While this number is debatable and it’s more a philosophical topic rather than pure science, it is still a miracle that you, as individual, were born years ago. If this miracle though happened, wouldn’t be a pity not to take advantage of it? And do the most with it, living it at its full potential, building stories and leaving something behind for the miracles to follow?

When I was young(er) life was all about me, developing myself, having more, proving myself to people around me. The older I’ve got, wisdom seems to have reached me from behind. Today I am more settled, not being always on the run, not looking for validation anymore, but more importantly more thankful to who I am as an individual, what I have and people around me.

If I would highlight something that changed over years is the way I approach people growth. In the last 10+ years I’ve been building teams and organizations, from start-ups to large scale businesses. While growing people around me. And it’s so rewarding to see people progressing, developing, no matter if they stick to your team or just fly to new horizons. I’ve always believed that no matter how good of a leader you are, some people have grown so much around you that they need their own thing and need to move on in another team, another business but still keeping a strong personal connection.

With age and experience I’ve learned to give back more while keeping both eyes open to new perspectives, knowledge and lessons I could learn from human interactions.

The chance you are here today is 1 in 400 trillion. ONE IN FOUR HUNDRED TRILLION. What are the odds that you are reading this today? What will you do different tomorrow?

I’m a firm believer that Romania has a great tech potential with strong engineering skills, very good tech universities and very good tech infrastructure. While the premises are here, the broader ecosystem (political included and being the main driver) is not helping, though IT is contributing 6% to the Romanian GDP with more than 200,000 engaged people in the ecosystem.

Romania has roughly 24,000 software companies (in comparison Poland has 50,000 software development firms matching this to a population which is double to Romania’s) out of which 20% are product companies but with significantly lower headcount compared to outsourcing companies.

If we’re to mention, Romania is home for UIPath and Bitdefender product companies but also supporting broader international product companies through their delivery centers (outsourcing): Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, EA, SAP, Thales or other smaller players like Stripe.

If we look at the salaries, yes – software engineers are on the top of the pyramid and they’re creating the upper middle class of current Romania. They have the financial means to afford decent housing, child education, cars, holidays … you name it. But the value they produce is just executing good quality code which is envision by product managers or architects from western world.

What if? What if Romania would be sponsoring and supporting local ideas and transforming the way we do software development – more initiation vs execution? Use the brain rather than outsource it for the money? What if we solution our problems and use our local talent pool to solve our challenges? What if we imagine the future digital landscape and use our talent pool to achieve it? What if we partner with local authorities and digitalize the public sector using the generous amazing talent we have? What if … and you can add in here…

I’ve been experimenting the textile outsourcing in the early 90’s first hand (we called it lohn) – my parents have worked their entire life in a textile factory and have become unemployed due to redundancies and offshoring because the Romanian textile industry was not able to re-invent itself.

I don’t want to live the same in today’s IT Romanian industry.

I used to be a hard-working software developer and a very “by the book” team leader at the beginning of my career. Not taking risks, playing by the rules and doing my job as per the corporate job description. I could not express my personality nor my creative part due to a fear related to financial constraints (mortgage, a missing financial safety net in case “something happens” …). Just focusing on my personal development to become better and irreplaceable…

Once I passed over the financial constraints, I’ve got the courage to have a voice, to take more risks, to have a more disruptive approach to businesses and processes, to always look for continuous improvement for the ones around me and for the businesses I was working for. Because I believed in them and because I had a financial safety net in case I could be totally wrong and eventually be laid off. Never happened, but it’s better to be safe than sorry 😀

Far from me to say I’m at the top of Maslow’s Pyramid, but for sure I’m aiming for more each day, to become a better version of myself while always looking to give something back to those around me and businesses I interact with.

Prologue: In 1915, American writer Elbert Hubbard wrote “He picked up the lemons that fate had sent him and started a lemonade stand” in his obituary for the vaudeville performer Marshall Pinckney Wilder. This was highlighting the actor’s achievements despite the challenges of being born with dwarfism. In time, the phrase was refined to what we know it today: “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade” urging us to look for the bright side when something bad happens. I personally don’t think lemons are bad, I love them in many combinations and dishes, I am very creative in the kitchen 🙂

—

Early June, while running in the park alongside my doggo, I broke my leg so badly that I had to undergo surgery, not being able to walk for at least 3 months. Being an active person, sports in the morning and surrounded by people across the day, I felt trapped like in a cage initially in the hospital and after that at home, having no doctor’s indication nor possibility to go outside the house.

One week after surgery, I resumed work, connecting from home, but I mentally suffered for a while because of missing social interactions, lack of physical activity and not being able to do most of the usual stuff. It was the first time after the Covid lock-down that I was working from home for such a long period. While I could properly do my job being effective, something was still missing.

I always wanted to do something else alongside my main job, especially something where I would share from my own experiences and help people not repeat my professional mistakes (and there were a few). Mainly focused on people growth.

Therefore, I put it out publicly on LinkedIn that I’m offering few hours of my personal time for people who think would benefit from some 1:1 mentoring sessions, or just some meeting where they would brainstorm ideas or look to pick up my brain. And that was a blast! I did not see this coming. I could not believe to abundance of private messages asking for this type of sessions. I eventually had to delete the post from LinkedIn after a very short time so that I could accommodate the first requests.

Few hours turned into 40, one-time sessions turned into recurring ones. I’ve met brilliant people who are either in a transition in their career or they feel stuck at their current jobs. Such amazing stories and it feels so rewarding when after a few days after our sessions, I kept receiving thank you notes and nice feedback.

This kept me going on and thinking how I could scale this initiative given the amount of people needing this.

To support me better in my endeavor, I have soft-launched Bridging Gaps which will act as an umbrella for several well-seasoned, well-known leaders in the tech industry (where I believe there’s a lot of need) willing to share from their experiences in their mentoring and career coaching sessions.

I’m currently working with them to better understand how we complement each other, and better support the IT community.

I was very fortunate to have good managers and leaders at the right time of my career in my different jobs and organizations. I often received the right level of guidance, mentoring, coaching and support. And when I didn’t, I either challenged the status quo, either looking for outside perspectives to allow me to move on (be it in the same company or elsewhere).

I believe in human potential and in continuous growth. And I hope this initiative will provide a platform for many people who feel stuck in their careers, who don’t feel they get the right level of support, mentoring or coaching and feel the need of a different perspective coming with experience, empathy and, of course, full confidentiality.

—-

PS: Another good thing which happened since walking in crutches is that my upper body is fitter than ever 🙂