Łukasz Prudlik joined Stefanini nearly four years ago as a Senior Support Engineer, excited by the opportunity of progressing as one of the first employees to work from a new office in Opole in southern Poland.
Having joined just before the office was officially ready to open, Łukasz began the first six weeks of his Stefanini career in Germany, working at a Stefanini client’s offices, before moving to the newly launched Opole office and being promoted multiple times, including to Team Leader and his current Service Manager position.
We caught up with Łukasz to discuss his experience at Stefanini, including the importance of showing initiative, the value of collaborating with colleagues internationally and why few things are as satisfying as becoming the office table football champion!
This is the tenth interview in our series involving our Digital Workplace Services (DWS) colleagues. DWS spans multiple roles and skillsets, with team members able to meet customers’ changing needs. These range from traditional Service Desk and Field Service to modern infrastructure capabilities, including cloud, virtualization, platforms and applications. This series explores the career journeys, best practices and learnings of DWS colleagues across EMEA and showcases what life at Stefanini involves.
Why did you choose to join Stefanini?
I had already gained three years’ experience working on an IT service desk elsewhere before I joined Stefanini, but was motivated to join by the opportunity to progress and develop myself further. At the time I joined, Stefanini was launching a new office in Opole so I was excited by the chance to create something new and play a key role from the beginning.
How have you evolved professionally within the company so far?
I first started as a Senior Support Engineer on the German/English Service Desk, before the office in Opole had officially opened.
Because the office wasn’t quite ready, I actually began working in Knowledge Transition directly at the client’s office in Germany. I spent six weeks here and it was a really valuable experience, where I learned a lot directly from our customers. It was also a great opportunity to meet the people we support in person and to get a great working relationship in place from the beginning.
After nine months as a Support Engineer, I applied for a Knowledge / Trainer Specialist position on a new project and was selected for this role. I was responsible for training new employees, creating and updating the knowledge base and was also in the direct contact with the Client Operation team.
I proved myself as a key player on the project and after one year I was promoted to lead the team. As a Team Leader, I was responsible for two Stefanini projects and managed around 20 support engineers, who reported directly to me. Since then, I’ve very recently been promoted, in May, to the role of Service Manager.
I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to work in a global environment, collaborating with EMEA, LATAM, and APAC colleagues. The role challenges me and helps me develop myself and prepare for the next step in my career.
What are the most important things that you have learned here?
I would say that it’s important to show some initiative and take the lead. You will nearly always have to proactively develop solutions to challenges rather than waiting for these to come together.
What are some best practices learned and applied in your current role?
It’s important to remember that you represent your team, project and company. That means being clear on your expectations and being constantly prepared to offer support. A leadership role means leading by example, modeling the work rate and commitment you’d expect your team to demonstrate.
What do you like most about working at Stefanini?
The opportunity to work with so many interesting people is one of the main perks of working at Stefanini.
That’s partly because our offices are global, but even within our team in Opole, we have Polish, German, Spanish, and Silesian team members. We benefit from a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds and collaborating is a really interesting process.
I also particularly like winning a table football match against my colleagues. 🙂
What advice would you give to a new Stefanini employee?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, or to sometimes make mistakes. Every new challenge is a development opportunity and your colleagues will always be on hand to offer support when needed.
What advice would you give to other Stefanini colleagues when it comes to building a success story here?
I’d say it’s important to be fully engaged. When new projects or opportunities arise, speak up and get involved. Likewise, if you have any ideas on how we can improve the way we work, be prepared to share them with others and take the lead on making things happen.
Want to be our next success story? At Stefanini, we’re always interested in hearing from talented candidates across all levels of experience. You can browse our current EMEA vacancies, here.
