Business Magazin, 2017: many hats, final interviews and Romania's engineers

Profile of Tremend and its two co-founders, Ioan Cocan and me, January 2017. I was then co-founder and managing partner of Tremend and a member of the executive board of ANIS, the Romanian software industry association. Tremend in Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Central Europe with 399% growth between 2012 and 2016, revenue of 3.57 million euros in 2016, just over 100 employees and an estimated 140 by the end of 2017. Topics: the many roles of running a company, culture and hiring, Romania against Western Europe, IoT and AI as the next investments, more Romanian start-ups and products.

§Many hats

“In running a company, though, you have to wear several hats: manager, entrepreneur.” („Or în managementul unei companii trebuie să ai mai multe pălării: de manager, de antreprenor.”)

The founders’ background is software. These roles were learned along the way, while still learning and looking for people better prepared than them for various positions. With a small budget, “you sometimes have to manage to do HR, sales, marketing and much more” („Cu buget mic uneori trebuie să reuşeşti să faci HR, sales, marketing şi multe altele”). And: “The ability to solve problems is, I think, essential in any consulting business.” („Abilitatea de a rezolva probleme cred că este esenţială în orice business de consultanţă.”)

Elsewhere. Recorder, 2018: “In the beginning we stayed focused only on programming. After all, that is what we are good at. But at some point we realised that, to be able to grow, you also have to be a good manager.” („La început, am rămas concentraţi doar în zona de programare. Până la urmă, la asta ne pricepem. Dar, la un moment dat, ne-am dat seama că, pentru a putea creşte, trebuie să fii şi un manager bun.”)

§In the final interviews, juniors included

“Management is very involved in the recruitment process; personally, I aim to be in as many final interviews as possible, including with more junior prospective colleagues.” („Managementul este foarte implicat în procesul de recrutare; personal îmi propun să ajung în cât mai multe interviuri finale, inclusiv cu potenţialii colegi mai juniori.”)

Steady growth over the previous four or five years, faster since Tremend has had specialised departments for HR, marketing and sales. Culture first: “We put great emphasis on our culture and want to build an environment that challenges the development of the talents who join us.” („Punem mare accent pe cultura noastră şi dorim să construim un mediu care să provoace dezvoltarea talentelor care ni se alătură.”) The result: access to larger and more complex projects, which motivate senior colleagues.

Elsewhere. Ziarul Financiar, 2017: “The focus, from the recruitment stage, on very well trained engineers was one of the main factors in this growth.” („Accentul încă din faza de recrutare pe ingineri foarte bine pregătiţi a fost unul din factorii principali pentru această creştere”)

§Quality and productivity

A more competitive Romanian IT market, with more companies able to deliver software at high standards. Against Western Europe, Romania stands out through a good ratio between the quality and the productivity of its programmers, their adaptability, their interest in new technologies and their versatility across programming languages, also visible at Tremend. Public policy:

“In addition, the measures taken by the authorities, such as the tax exemption for programmers, made possible the accelerated development of the IT sector in Romania and the direction of a significant budget into their training and certification.” („În plus, măsurile luate de autorităţi, cum ar fi scutirea unor taxe pentru programatori, au făcut posibilă dezvoltarea accelerată a sectorului IT în România şi direcţionarea unui buget semnificativ în pregătirea şi certificarea acestora”)

The Brainspotting IT Report 2016 places Romania in the global top 10 by number of certified IT specialists. About 98% of them speak English, “a fact we can confirm from our direct experience” („fapt pe care îl putem confirma din experienţa noastră directă”).

Elsewhere. 20 Minute Leaders, 2021, on why buyers choose Romania: “this cultural factor is a pretty strong one in favor of Romania.”

§IoT since 2007, AI and machine learning next

“We have been developing IoT solutions since 2007 and we want to use this advantage.” („Dezvoltăm soluţii IoT încă din 2007 şi vrem să folosim acest avantaj.”)

The founders’ plans for 2017: investment in IoT, artificial intelligence and machine learning, for autonomous cars, banking and telecom. An embedded software division keeps Tremend close to the hardware and able to program everyday devices. On AI and machine learning: “In AI and machine learning we see the future and the opportunity to innovate.” („În AI (inteligenţă artificială) şi machine learning vedem viitorul şi ocazia de a inova.”) Adopting them takes certifications, partnerships and prototypes, built for potential partners or inside Tremend Labs, the company’s incubator for ideas proposed from within.

Elsewhere. Moldova Invest, 2023: “We don’t only make apps, we also make physical devices.” („Noi nu facem doar aplicații ci și device-uri fizice.”)

§Start-ups and products

“What will matter is that, in the coming years, we have our say in innovation, by growing the number of start-ups and products.” („Important va fi ca, în următorii ani, să ne spunem cuvântul în ceea ce priveşte inovaţia, prin creşterea numărului de start-up-uri şi produse.”)

The outlook: Romania keeps growing as an IT hub, with a labour market competitive enough to require more investment in training and retraining. The market is mature enough to deliver solutions internationally, so “more Romanian successes in products or solutions will probably follow, maybe even one of those we are working on now at Tremend” („probabil vor urma şi mai multe reuşite româneşti în zona de produse sau soluţii, poate chiar una dintre cele la care lucrăm în prezent la Tremend”).

Elsewhere.

• Ziarul Financiar, 2016: “We need concept people. Things will surely settle in time and we will see in Romania not only very good engineers, but also product people.” („Avem nevoie de oameni de concept. Cu siguranţă lucrurile se vor aşeza în timp şi vom vedea în România nu doar ingineri foarte buni, ci şi oameni de produs.”)
• Ziarul Financiar, 2018: “You need to come with examples that push the imagination further.” („Este nevoie să vii cu exemple care să împingă imaginaţia mai departe.”)