Career growth to manager in just 7 months. How can you do it?

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CANCOM Slovakia: Ondrej, try to introduce yourself briefly. How did you get into IT?

I started working in the IT sector around 2014 when I was still a student at university. At that time I was studying at TUKE, majoring in telecommunications and I started as a part-timer in an unnamed magento company in the UC (Unified Communications) team. After a few months I moved to a full-time technical position where I worked directly on tickets. I then took on the role of Operations Manager and had the opportunity to work on various projects for different customers. In 2021, I moved to another company where I was Operations Manager for a retail customer for just under 2 years. And in December 2022, I came here to CANCOM.

CANCOM Slovakia: What were your beginnings in CANCOM.

I came to CANCOM thanks to the recommendation of a friend. Since I know a lot of people here, also from previous companies, I got a lot of positive feedbacks about this company. I joined as Operations Manager in the existing Delivery Operations Management team. Since July this year, I have taken a management position and have taken on the role of Manager Unified Communications & Collaboration.

CANCOM Slovakia: So in just half a year you have managed to work your way up to a managerial position and now you are in charge of your own team of people.

So for about 7 months I was OPM. Actually, already in my position as Operations Manager, I was mainly dealing with UC and network topics, since that’s the area I have the most experience in. This made the move to the UCC team much smoother for me.

For me personally, at the moment, it’s a bit of a return to the technology that I know and actually started with in IT. On the other hand, there’s the management part where I’m responsible for a team of people. That’s quite a new experience for me and I have to say that there is still a lot I can learn. It’s a big challenge for me, but also a big opportunity.

CANCOM Slovakia: How do you like the role of manager so far?

I was lucky that this particular team is very good. The people in this team are very smart, they know what they are doing and they work well together That’s a big advantage for me to start with. In the last few months, even before I moved to the UCC team, I was in contact with them very often, so we managed to get to know each other before. But every day is different in some way and I’m always encountering new challenges. On the one hand it’s challenging, but at the same time it’s very satisfying to do something new.

CANCOM Slovakia: How many people currently make up your team?

There are currently 10 of them and most of them are in Germany. Only 2 people are here in Košice.

This team is also special because it is very multicultural. I actually have two Slovaks, one Hungarian and colleagues who live in Germany but are from different countries like Turkey, Nigeria or Serbia. Maybe it’s because the team is so diverse that they all work very well together. But for me as a manager, it’s again something special that I have to get to know, as it’s completely different from managing a team of, for example, 10 Slovaks who live here in Košice and I get to see them face to face every day.

CANCOM Slovakia: What does a normal day look like for you?

I would probably break it down into several parts. The first one is the managerial role, where I help people, for example, to solve problems that they come to me with. We have various team meetings or face to face meetings with everybody. Another part of the job is service meetings with customers. And the last part is technical management, where I can help because of my experience in this area.

The most challenging part of it all is knowing how to allocate my time properly. As a manager, I mainly try not to cover every topic completely in depth, because then I wouldn’t really be able to manage the time. That’s also the hardest thing for me sometimes, to keep a little bit of distance and leave it to other people.

CANCOM Slovakia: It’s quite a leap from a technical role to become a manager. Do you have any recommendations for those who would also like to follow this path?

So first of all you have to want to do it and besides that I have done various management trainings, especially online ones. I’ve read several books on the subject and have often served as a deputy teamleader in my previous work experience. Plus even as an Operations Manager, one must already have some communication experience on how to interact with people. Even if they’re not people who fall under him and he’s responsible for them.

CANCOM Slovakia: Did CANCOM also offer you any management training to help you improve?

Yes, I already have a few training sessions planned. One of them is the Manager Days that CANCOM offers.

CANCOM Slovakia: Did you feel any other support from CANCOM as an employer, apart from allowing you to attend training?

I feel that just about everyone with whom this issue has been raised has supported me. Whether it was my previous manager, Tomáš Karchutňák, who then communicated it to the senior management, but also other people I know here recommended me, spoke up and helped me to get to this position.

CANCOM Slovakia: Do you have any advice at the end, for people who are also new to a management position?

There is certainly no shame in asking and consulting people who have much more experience in this role. For example, I also often go to the Senior Managers at CANCOM, who can very easily advise me on different situations.