As a part of our special Klika Service Awards program, Klika decided to devote this blog space to our colleagues who reached five or more years of working at Klika during this quarter of the year. By sharing their experience and stories of their career path, members of our team celebrating the 5 year milestone encourage and motivate young engineers at Klika, but also in the IT industry in general.
Today we are presenting you Slađana Čuljić, our Client Delivery Manager and a member of Klika for almost 6 years.
Enjoy your read!
Dear Slađana, we are happy to celebrate this milestone with you!
You’ve been growing with Klika for six years, and we are looking forward to your future milestones and achievements!
Let’s start with a simple question! Which project are you working on and what is your current role?
Yes, I have been around for almost six years! I came as the 29th employee, and now when I realize we are almost 170-employees strong, it makes me so proud thinking I was also part of this growth by sticking around and showing with my example that Klika is the “place to be”. I am currently working on an IoT project as a Client Delivery Manager.
Tell us more about your career path at Klika. Have your roles and projects changed during the time?
I have been a part of our most successful project all these years from the very start. It is an IoT project on smart beds. I did step out for a short while though to work on another project that was very dear to me as it was linked to my personal goal in Klika, which is to continue being a leader in working/thinking Agile in the software industry. Conveniently for me, the project focused on building an agile assessment tool. However, I remained truly faithful to the IoT project and have been obtaining roles from Scrum Master, Business Analyst, to Project Manager, and today, I am the Client Delivery Manager for the IoT project.
What do you like the most about Klika? What makes Klika special and motivates you to keep riding the waves?
Klika today is a great company full of perspective people that drive the company, and not only the company, but society as well. That’s what makes Klika so special – the people, my colleagues, and many of them, my friends.
Klika tailors society by allowing its employees to be more than just employees, and that has been done through many actions that are best represented by Klika values. And that is important to me!
As the oldest employee in Klika, I am always joking that I will be the first Klika retiree :) Isn’t that great?!
What do you consider your biggest accomplishment during the period you spent at Klika?
I think I changed a lot during my years at Klika. I grow with the projects and with the company. I see the people around me, my colleagues, growing in their professional careers and become the people that tailor our society, and that is the greatest accomplishment! I have been around for 147 sprints (two weeks length for each sprint), which is also a huge accomplishment. To have the client’s trust for many weeks/months/years isn’t a small thing, isn’t it? And I humbly consider that I had a part in it.
What’s your favorite memory from the time you spent at Klika so far?
There are so many! Each phase in Klika’s growth has many memories, but one of my favourites is our Bosnian coffee rituals. We had all the equipment, the traditional pot for making Bosnian coffee – dzezva and the traditional cups as well – fildzani.
When the office was in the GRAWE building, I loved our huge kitchen and the afternoon Bosnian coffee ritual introduced by one team that I seldomly meet nowadays. It was a highlight for us to spend some time together and chit chat and laugh loud in the open space office :) Maybe some of the colleagues didn't enjoy hearing us all the way from the kitchen in the beginning, but eventually, one by one, they joined us and we grew into a big bunch. That way, we got to know each other better and build relationships and friendships.
How do you see yourself at Klika in the next five years? What’s your future vision of Klika?
I want to be the first person that will retire from Klika, that is my future vision :) For the shorter five-years goal, I would like to help Klika stay in the leadership position practicing Agile. I want to make sure the people at Klika understand and use the agile mindset in their projects. I would like to help onboard new clients and prove myself with new clients. I would like…. There are so many things, you see? Stay tuned.
What is a piece of advice that you would like to share with people who are just getting started their career at Klika?
Get engaged! Do not stand aside. Everybody has something to offer and let us know what your capabilities are!
Thank you!
