Adrian Barna: How to become a VP after only one year in CGM

He dreamed of becoming a football player and his mind was only at football all the time. Until he entered high school, and he met the girls. Joking aside, he entered high school and he met the IT world. After the Informatics profile at the high school in Bacău, his hometown, he graduated The Mathematics Faculty in Iași and a Master on Scientific Calculus and Programming Engineering.  

After years from that moment, he is still kicking the ball, but this time as a VP. How he become a VP within CGM only after one year in the company and what he has to say about it, you can read it in the interview below.

How did you start working in It and what was your career path until you became VP?  

I remember that I was a student and I was applying for all kind of IT jobs. At some point, someone called me at 8 AM and asked me if I could come to a job interview in a few moments. I was a student, so I went. I was sleepy and hungry. After 4 hours of talking, I told them that I must leave, because I had to eat something. I came back much later, but I still got the job. It was a PHP developer role.  

After that, I switched to some other companies as Java Developer and Team Lead, but at some point, I felt like moving to a bigger company. I was in my vacation when someone from HR within CGM called me and offered me a Developer position. I wasn`t convinced, because I wanted to be more than a Developer, I wanted to be a Team Lead. But I came to an interview and I really liked what I saw, so I accepted the offer, thinking that I will be the Team Lead that I wanted pretty soon. Six months later, I became a Team Lead. And another six months later, I became a VP.  

It`s been a year since you are a VP. How was this year for you and what did you learn from it?  

Usually, I am a night bird and I like to stay up in the night. In my first nights as a VP, I was going to sleep at 8 PM. It was extremely challenging and tiring, but I learned, with time, what should I do differently and how to manage my time and my tasks. I understood that it couldn`t be the same anymore and that I should leave the Team Leads to do their job, while I was doing my VP responsibilities.  

I was used to work with a small cool team and, all of the sudden, I had 60 people. Before, we used to talk a lot and to do everything together, but now I feel like there is a wall between us, due to my new position, even if I am still open to them.  

We have two brand new VPs – Loredana Armanu and Adrian Cristea. What recommendations do you have for them?  

• To go to sleep early and to make sure that they get enough sleep;  
• To not take it personally when a person is leaving, because it is a dynamic field and people migrate;  
• To ask many questions and to learn from the other VPs;  
• To be open to communication, transparency and brainstorming.

„I met Adi when he was introduced as our new back-end colleague. Nothing special at first glance, however, after a while, he started shaping into the person that I now see him as: one of the best colleagues that I have. He takes his role seriously and solves everything with a cool head and an objective view. If you’ve got any problem, he’ll certainly help you, but not before saying his iconic words “wait, let me see”.” - Cătălina Gavril, FrontEnd Developer, speaking about her colleague, Adrian Bana 

What is the most important life lesson that you have learned?  

I strongly believe in Karma and I`ve learned that if you do good, you will receive good. Also, if you really want something in your life and you fight for it, it will come. You must work for it and prioritize it, of course, but it will come. Nothing falls from the sky, and nothing is impossible.  

And one more thing: I`ve learned the lesson of trust, something extremely important for me, so people around me should know that I am honest and that they should be honest with me. 

What do you like most about CGM?  

By far the community. The people and the atmosphere around the people. I don`t feel like I come to my job to work, because it is a real pleasure to be a CGMer.  

I love the encouragement for free ideas and the empowerment of the people to speak out.  

Working in eHealth is also something that I love about being a CGMer. Even if you only write code, you feel like you are a little god that is creating objects from nothing in a virtual world, in order to help the humanity to get healthier.  

What can you tell us about your team and the projects that you work at together?  

Well, as I said, at the beginning, I had only one small group. Now, I have 9 teams on 6 different projects, so I have around 60 people that I work with directly. The projects are: Pharmacy, Customer world, License Management, Smart Update, Ifap project, Eos.  

You told me you found here the best team since you started working in IT. What does a successful team mean to you?  

It depends on how you define success. In my opinion, success is when you are good with yourself, when you feel complete on your personal level. When you get that personal goal, the professional ones will come quickly by themselves. For me, family comes first, and I know that I reached my personal goals, that is why it is so easy right now to reach my professional ones.  

A successful team is a team where you see the results and the impact, and you feel that satisfaction when the client is happy. For example, CGM succeeded to implement the video consultation during the pandemic, which changed a lot people's lives. So, we felt a successful team together, because it was rewarding knowing that we did this together and that we contributed to the humanity`s wellbeing. 

„Adrian Barna is a very friendly person that always brings joy to those around him.I first met him during my interview with the company where he lightened the atmosphere with a few friendly jokes.He was my mentor during the first few months, and he helped me learn a lot, being a very skilled and knowledgeable java developer. I find it very easy to talk with him and ask for guidance because he is very sociable and knows how to create a friendly working environment. It feels great working in this open and collaborative working environment which is also a reflection of his personality.” - Carmen Ioniță, Software Developer, talking about her colleague, Adrian Barna

What are the things that inspire you and motivates you to go on?  

I feel extremely inspired by the people who are practicing public speaking and deliver motivational speeches. I live for those moments when I listen to a good speech, and I have those „a-ha” and „what if” experiences. And the next step for me is to become a public speaker.  

Speaking of next steps, how do you see the future of eHealth and IT? Do you think your son will work in these areas?  

Oh, there will be different times, I`m sure of that. I see eHealth way more digitalized, because right now there are a lot of processes on paper, doctors who are not up to date and a lack of collaboration between the medical institutions and the IT professionals. I would like to participate in an event where the IT professionals can discuss directly with the doctors and find out what are their needs, because we can implement so many things that they actually need. 

Regarding IT, the future is so unforeseeable. I don`t know if in a good or bad way, but it surely depends on us.  

Let`s move to the near future and talk a little, at the end of our interview, about your plans for 2023.  

Before becoming a VP, I thought I was so good at working with people. But I`ve realized that I have a lot of work to do on this area. That is why I registered for the Psychology Faculty this Autumn, and I am really planning in learning how to better work with people.  

You surely liked what you saw here and we`re also pretty sure that you want to found out more about Adi Barna and what is like to be a CGMer. All you have to do is follow Adi on his LinkedIn account and, of course, our LinkedIn page for more cool people and great activities that we do here.