Meet our Harvester — Cristina
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do in Blue Harvest.
Born in Romania, in the amazing year of ’95 (when Windows 95 was Launched), and living in the countryside, I was not, in all honesty so close to technology when I was a child. But my path slowly started defining when I joined a Systems Engineering college and found out that I may love… IT. Now I work as a Technical Lead Consultant for one of the biggest banks in NL (also, in the world). That is mainly because I decided to join Blue Harvest more than 3 years ago when I had the chance to meet my colleagues outside of the professional environment and quickly decided they are the best people I want to work with and learn from (surprise!).
- What’s your favorite part about working here?
Our Mentorship Model
First things first, although hard to choose, I am extremely proud of the mentorship community we built over the years. Every Harvester has, from their first day of joining us, a mentor to follow up on their personal & professional development and guide them on their journey. I am the most fortunate to have Rodrigo, not only as my mentor and role model but as an inspiration to becoming an extremely passionate leader, engineer, and mentor myself. I learned from him what patience and understanding mean and how to develop a certain resilience mindset when encountering challenges in my career.
Our Growth Opportunities
I like to think that “If there’s a reason, there’s a way” applies to everything we do in Blue Harvest. We are quite a self-sustaining group within Capgemini Financial Services and our model, where one day per week we work for ourselves, gives us the space to grow outside of our standard engineering roles. We manage our own marketing, sales, recruitment and not only. We are passionate about creating business opportunities & communities that drive themselves. An amazing example is our Green Harvest Community where we proactively involve ourselves with sustainability initiatives, participate in hackathons, advocate against climate change and learn from each other.
2. How did you change in the last years?
At the beginning of my career, I need to admit I had been told I was quite shy and unspoken. My self-critic (you know, that voice in your head that says you are not enough) was loud and was given too much importance. Everything changed when I made it a challenge for myself to take on tasks and roles that are out of my comfort zone. I have been offered a leadership position and told myself I need to do anything in my capabilities to make it work for at least one year. That year was transformative for my career and my self-confidence as I was proven that hard work pays off and not only, but you can train your mind to see opportunities in your path instead of obstacles. I re-invented myself and started being very passionate about people, growth, sustainability and social issues, most of them within the software industry. I now believe that it’s my responsibility to also share those passions with the community and support people in their journeys as I’ve been and continue to be supported in mine.
3. What’s your favorite office tradition?
I can’t choose one, for sure. Some of my core memories were created on Fridays, at the office (and outside of it). I must say though, I like winning a game, so anything that happens after work from playing board games to bowling, I’m always up for it.
4. What do you think makes Blue Harvest different than other companies?
Our Passionate People
Teamwork makes the dream work, but passionate people drive it. And we quickly realized that a recipe for passion is to give people the space to be authentic, real, and transparent. And because our company has such a diverse cultural environment in which all of us have different backgrounds, we are constantly learning from each other. With more than 27+ nationalities, we embrace our differences, experiences, and views, which makes it easy for us to bring diverse solutions to the table, not only when it comes to our engineering challenges, but also when it comes to developing our business.
So, if you want to join our team or you are intrigued by how we can help your company, let me know if you are coming to visit, you can find me every Friday in our Amsterdam office.
