Leaders of CGM: Cătălin Feidi – How a High School Rebel Became a BackEnd Visionary

Cătălin Feidi wasn’t your typical straight-A student. Back in his high school days at Emil Racoviță in Iași, he only cared about the subjects he liked: history, geography, and math. 

“𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠. 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑟𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓,” Cătălin recalls with a laugh. 

It wasn’t until halfway through senior year that he started to feel 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. His classmates were planning their futures, and his parents were nudging him towards 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 - after all, that’s what many of the top students were doing. But medicine didn’t feel right for him. 

So, he did what many don’t: he started eliminating options until he was left with the core real-profile subjects - math, physics, and computer science. Thanks to some great teachers, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞. “𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑔,” he says. 

After finishing university, Cătălin felt 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 - 80% of his classmates were already working. So, he jumped at the first opportunity that came his way. 

“𝐼 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 8 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡,” he admits. After the three-month trial period, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐨. 

“𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠,” he laughs. 

That experience taught him a lesson he carries to this day: 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. 

During his master’s program, he found a job at a tiny software company - a little apartment operation, where he got paid in cash. But he was lucky: he had a 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫 who truly cared. “𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑢𝑠, 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑢𝑠, 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠,” Cătălin remembers. 

That environment helped him grow so fast that within a year, he moved to a large corporation. There, 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟑 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, working with great people and teams. But after more than a decade, he began to feel stagnant. The pandemic accelerated that feeling. 

Cătălin started attending interviews - not out of desperation, but to explore new ideas on the market. “𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠: 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝐶𝐺𝑀, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 - 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑑,” he says. 

He officially joined CGM on May 1, 2020, and from the start, 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 

Just a year after joining CGM, Cătălin became a 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝. “𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦, 𝑠𝑜 𝐼 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟.” 

He did so well that within another year, he was promoted to 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. 

“𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 - 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 3-4 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑛-𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒, 𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 ‘𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡?’ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜” he says. 

He embraced the role wholeheartedly listening, understanding people’s needs, and helping them set goals. “𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦. 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦,” he says. 

Under Cătălin’s leadership, the BackEnd community flourished. Events, training sessions, workshops, quizzes, conference participation - all contributed to building 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦. 

Outside of work, Cătălin is a self-proclaimed stereotype: 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. More recently, he’s been focusing on 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤-𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 

“𝐴𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝐼 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓: 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆? 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑,” he says. 

He’s an avid listener of podcasts about leadership, wellbeing, and health. “𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦,” he shares. 

Since August 2024, Cătălin has been the Team Lead for Jupiter, the project powering CGM Clinical - an integrated, easy-to-use solution for managing medical documentation, patient records, reports, billing, and scheduling. 

CGM Clinical brings together: 

• Robust documentation management
• Tools for claims and billing success
• Easy, filterable access to patient and encounter details
• Advanced reporting for medications, allergies, orders, and more

“𝐽𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔-𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠,” Cătălin explains. “𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡? 𝑊𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠! 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡𝐸𝑛𝑑, 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘𝐸𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑄𝐴 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠 - 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 10 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒. 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ.” 

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From a rebellious teenager with no clear plan to a dedicated leader inspiring growth, Cătălin’s story is proof that 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 

“𝐷𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡. 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡. 𝐿𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛, 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔,” he says. 

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲? 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐚̆𝐭𝐚̆𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.