International expansion of operations is a substantial endeavor. Each country presents its own list of unique challenges—operational, legal, or other.
Perhaps the biggest challenge of all is building a team from scratch in a new market. It’s important not to waste time and start growing a team before all the operational matters are in place.
This creates a transitional state before the operations kick into full gear. In this stage, without tangible references such as a physical office space or an established track record in the market, new team members join the organization on the strength of factors such as mutual trust, individual reputation, our track record in other countries, and the vision of what’s to come.
Asked recently about the most important milestone on his journey in the company, HTEC’s Director, Engineering & Delivery, and the first employee in HTEC’s expansion to Bosnia & Herzegovina Bojan Šukalo has stated that the single most important moment for him was the hiring of the second employee. It meant that it was becoming a team, and it made every subsequent hire easier.
HTEC’s expansion in Romania has had the added challenge of a highly developed industry with many high-profile companies vying for the attention of tech talents. This has meant that anyone joining the team in the early stage has most likely chosen HTEC over an already established option elsewhere. It’s a degree of trust and faith in our vision that fills us with gratitude and inspires us to not only bring that vision to life quickly but dream even bigger.
Daniel Buleu, HTEC’s Associate Director of Engineering & Delivery, is one of our colleagues to join our growing team in Romania at this early stage. We recently had the pleasure of hosting Daniel at our Belgrade and Niš offices. We were eager to hear his impressions from the visit, as well as find out more about what convinced him to join HTEC.
“I knew nothing about HTEC 4 months ago. Then I saw on LinkedIn that a friend joined HTEC, and I became curious to learn more about this company with Serbian origins that aims to become an industry leader in Southeastern Europe and beyond.
Top-quality people? Fast growth? Amazing, interesting projects? “People first” policies? Ok, let’s hear more. So, I got into the recruitment process for a management position in the Engineering and Delivery team.“
“The people I met during the process shared more about how great it is to work at HTEC, and what I found particularly appealing was the level of empowerment and engagement everybody has. I knew right away this was the best opportunity I could dream of—being in the right company at the right time.“
Daniel Buleu in the company of HTEC colleagues during his visit to the Niš office. Left to right: Slaviša Đokić (Engineering & Delivery Manager), Stefan Mršić (Senior Engineering & Delivery Manager), Nikola Stanković (Senior Engineering & Delivery Manager), Daniel Buleu, Marko Zdravkovski (Engineering & Delivery Manager)
“I started in late June by visiting two of the offices in Serbia, Belgrade and Niš. They are different in many ways, but I had the opportunity to meet the same enthusiastic, motivated, and friendly people in both. I heard more about HTEC, the quality of our people, the challenging and impactful projects, the deep and strong client partnerships, and the ambitious growth targets we’ve set for every team.
I learned a lot about HTEC during my trip, but I know it’s only the beginning of an exciting journey. I am really looking forward to contributing to HTEC’s growth in Romania and worldwide while building the next generation of world-changing products and helping our partners accelerate product and engineering delivery.”
Just like Daniel, we’re looking forward to this exciting journey and strengthening our teams across Romania. HTEC is actively hiring in Romania, so we invite all those who would like to join our team to explore our careers page.
