Insider Story - Monika Oblonczek

We, as tecRacer, thrive on our individual and unique employees. In our new series “Insider Stories” Monika will tell you how she found her way to the company as well as how she experiences working for tecRacer.

Who am I and where do I come from?

I was born in Germany and experienced a polish culture which brought me to my passion for languages, a passion that accompanied me throughout school and university. In Cologne I was studying a subject that binds the complexity of language with the complexity of law – “European Legal Linguistics”. After my studies I decided to move to Vienna not really knowing where this would lead to but full of enthusiasm for the adventure ahead. Still, for me it was clear which path to take - using my knowledge of language and law and apply the acquired expertise, in best case scenario, in an international organization.

However, I always enjoyed the learning-process and was keen to learn a new language apart from work. On the other side, I am also convinced that learning a language can be best achieved with the approach “Learning by Doing”. So being in Vienna, where I am in the comfort of using my mother tongue would maybe not be the best place to develop my Italian language skills.

How did I get to tecRacer?

Then I met tecRacer - a company that saw some kind of potential in me. After getting to know the company, the things they do and the opportunities they offer I was convinced that this is the new language I wanted to learn. A language of Technology, one that enables me to create things and enable processes, one that I have never spoken before and get to learn hands on – learning by doing.

My experience with tecRacer

Entering Tech life without really knowing anything about it, was on the first glimpse probably the boldest move I’ve ever made in my 25 year. Reflecting on over one year working for this Company, I would now say it was the best decision. I’ve never thought that the opportunities I now have, could be ever so diverse.

The beginning of my learning process was harsh. My greatest challenge was probably not just to learn how to enable Cloud Infrastructure for a customers but also the mechanism behind all the Resources. Working through all the work that was waiting for me, I got a lot of support from my colleagues. They shared all their knowledge with me, held small training sessions for me and were always supportive when I struggled with questions around any topic. My first three month consisted of a deep dive learning experience into the main topics of AWS. My aim was to pass the Certificate as a Solutions Architect. This didn’t succeed in the first try but yet when I started working with AWS and building infrastructure for a customer, things became a lot clearer and made it easier for me to pass the exam. I never thought I could come so far in such a pace and with that, having such opportunities in my personal career.

Here is a listing of Opportunities, I never thought of after graduating:

1. Being a part of something big
   As the importance of Cloud-Computing continuously grows, so does tecRacer too. As one of the Leading Consulting Partner of AWS, tecRacer expands with bringing more and more Know-How from a variety of people into the company. Seeing the company thrive and being a part of that growth keeps us all going. Being part of tecRacer also means being part of a diverse workforce that creates collectively larger value than the mere sum of the individual contributions. I always seek Coworkers with whom I can expand my knowledge with… I definitely found these Coworkers in tecRacer.

2. Build something that brings value for the customer
   In the IT Sector I realized there are so many ways to bring value to one’s own life but also to the lives of others. It makes fun to see a company shift into the Cloud as it brings ease and flexibility to the working environment. For most of the customers the most important key target considered when migrating into the Cloud is to be independent from physical environment. We realize the AWS Cloud Infrastructure by using infrastructure as code, which means that the Infrastructure we build for customer is written into code. That makes it a lot easier to provision and manage all the resources. This also helps to understand the dependencies between the Services in AWS better.

3. Do something that brings value for the tecRacer company and yourself
   In our modern society, people expect more from their profession than to just receive a paycheck by the end of the month. At tecRacer one is not only able but also encouraged to expand one’s own horizon at the benefit of oneself and the company we are working for. That being said tecRacer Members have the opportunity share their idea, challenge these with their colleagues and ultimately create an ever-improving work environment.

4. Learn something new everyday
   For me and my colleagues almost no day is like the other. There are always new challenges we have to face such as a new AWS Service we have to get hands on experience with or simply new questions we are faced with. This might be challenging at times but allows you to benefit from a steep learning curve, where now two days will be alike.

Bottom line

When I now look back at the Person I’ve been at the beginning - so impressed but also afraid of the huge amount of knowledge that I was not sure how to handle - I am really happy seeing how far this path brought me. This was only possible through the potential tecRacer saw in me and the subsequent opportunity to embrace my personal development. I did not lose any of my interest in learning “human-related” languages. However, this is what I know practice when travelling the world – Learning by doing!

If you are interested in learning more about us, take a look here: www.tecracer.de/jobs/