Taking Vladimirs to coffee
Meet Vladimirs, our Senior Solution Architect. He believes you need the ability and willingness to wear different hats every day to be a great solution architect. Also, if you were about to come and visit his team in Latvia, he’d take you to the beautiful Old Riga to meet amazing local people, try some delicious food and see the beautiful architecture.
What’s your role at Emergn, and how long have you been with the company?
I’m a Senior Solution Architect and have been here for about 4 months now. My role encompasses different aspects – from providing technical and solution leadership, mentoring, and being a subject matter expert to helping build products by using VFQ and Agile. This is why this position is interesting and challenging. You never know what the next day is going to bring, but you are sure it is going to be interesting and challenging enough.
When you were offered a job at Emergn, why did you say “yes”?
Before I came to Emergn, I was working in one company for 12 years. I started my career there after graduating from university and eventually stepped into the manager’s shoes in the company for the last couple of years. Even though I enjoyed managing a small group of people, I felt like I would prefer to focus more on Technology and Architecture thus I had to make a shift in my career, and luckily at that point, I found the opportunity at Emergn. From the very first conversations with the practice lead, I felt like all the dots were connected – the people, the culture, and the ways of working seemed just right for me. I also felt like the size of the company was what I was looking for – it’s big enough to work on transformational digital products for the world’s most respected brands, still small and flat enough to be close to the business and management, to have senior leadership only one call away.
What would you say or recommend to someone preparing for an interview at Emergn?
Sorry, but this will sound a bit cheesy. Just don’t be afraid! Ask questions, be confident, and believe in yourself and you will succeed. For Latvians, it’s quite typical not to believe in yourself enough, but I’m sure it doesn’t help anyone.
Another thing – the whole interview and onboarding process happened very smoothly here at Emergn. It took only a week or two until the working agreement was signed. Onboarding was as personal as it could be during the remote work conditions, as I got the full attention from my direct manager and HR lead.
Outside of work, what’s one thing people should know about you?
I love everything about “boards” – snowboarding, kiting, wakeboarding, and surfing. I have one for each season. I’ve snowboarded since I was 16 years old. I’ve visited a lot of skiing resorts across Europe, but my favorite one is Åre (Sweden) – nature and views are fabulous. Recently, I started learning how to kite. Kiting on water is still a challenge, but it is a different story if we talk about snow. Two years ago, we rented a minivan and went with friends to Haugastøl, Norway. It is quite a popular place for snow kiters since it is a place where the biggest snow kite race is happening – Red Bull Ragnarok. The views are breathtaking, it’s almost like a huge dessert, only with snow all over. We kited, snowboarded, and spent a great time over there.
What’s the most exciting challenge in the work you do now?
Any solution architect deals with the complexity of challenges every day, to connect the dots and also challenge the status quo, which is essential for any company to keep the system healthy and future-proof. Now we are working to create and improve the blueprint for specific engagement to deliver the product to the customer in the most effective way. This is a huge and very exciting challenge to face. You need to have very wide knowledge in various areas, and also an ability and willingness to wear different hats every day, to do your work great.
What’s the one way you live out The Emergn Way? What does it mean to you?
I came to Emergn from a different environment, therefore The Emergn Way principle “we care for and invest in people” is the one thing that speaks out to me the most. I have already experienced this principle coming alive in the company and I recognize that I need to learn more about how I can live this principle out. It can be even seemingly small things, for example how you talk to others. Do you listen and actually hear what’s being said, do you pause to make the space for others to express their thoughts?
Emergn is a global company with employees all over the world! If someone were to visit Latvia, what’s the #1 thing you’d recommend they do or see?
I would bring them to Old Riga and enjoy the guided tour there. I have done it sometime in the past and it was an eye-opening experience for me. We usually stroll through the streets of Old Riga not rising our heads up, but you can experience the magic of Art Nouveau, Renaissance, and other architectural pearls there, as well as meet local people.
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