Tell me more about yourself. What is your background? Where are you located?
My name is Mihai Blajut, and I’m the Service Design & Transition Manager for Halian at the moment. I've been working and living in Luxembourg since 2012. I'm here with my family - my wife and two kids. My background is deep in the service management area. I’ve worked as a Service Delivery Manager in the past, and my experience is based in this industry. I started working with Halian in 2019 for one of the customers in Luxembourg, and in the meantime, with the company’s transformation, there was a need to get closer to the people working in our contracts. That is how a Brand Ambassador position was proposed to me, and I happily accepted it. This gave me a chance to get closer to the people I’ve been working with and deal with all types of issues they might experience, not necessarily with the customer but also with the company itself. I operate as a bridge between the teams that are working on the customer side and Halian.
What do you like most about your current position?
What I like most about my job is the fact that I’m in the middle of everything. I’m the social provider for the customer - I’m the primary point of contact for them to bring a new service onboard or improve an existing one. This gives me the opportunity to be involved from the beginning as I build my own team of project managers, architects and developers that work on a project. I must say that the best part of it is interacting with people from different cultures and getting to understand new technologies and architectures. Overall, It’s an exciting position where you need to challenge yourself every day, which keeps me on my toes.
How has COVID19 affected the sector you’re in? What changes do you think it has accelerated or introduced?
In the beginning, it was a bit tough. I think that the changes were too disrupting for everyone. Our team was used to going to the office, interacting with each other. Still, after some time, when we started accepting the situation, we found different ways of communicating, probably better in terms of saving time. It was indeed a challenge because words are just words, and the message is not complete without analysing the body language of the people you’re interacting with, but it became easier. Now it’s accepted to be a norm. Especially for us working more or less in the IT department, except for some particular positions that physically need to be on set (like data centres), I don’t think it’s mandatory for people to be in an office. However, normal physical interaction with people is healthy. It’s not only important on a professional level, but also on a personal one - you miss going out with friends or sitting down with your colleagues and discussing different topics, not necessarily work-related. When I say that it’s become a norm, I mean that this pandemic proved that successful remote work could be done, but I don’t think that we’ll continue to work from home. It’s all about balance - I’ve seen people working in the office for three days and then from home or any other location. It depends on the industry you work in, but remote work may remain a norm in the IT world, as it’s also cost-effective for the company.
Was the relocation process challenging for you?
The relocation happened in 2012 when I was eager to go out of Romania and find opportunities elsewhere in Europe. In Romania, I was working with a product that wasn’t very much known there, but it was somehow implemented in Luxembourg, and this is how I ended up here. The relocation itself wasn’t easy, nor hard. It was a bit difficult for someone who never got out of Romania, but in time, all things fell in place. Relocating from another country is difficult, especially when you have a family and kids and you need to consider so many things. It all comes down to the level of determination you have to make this change.
How did you end up working with Halian?
It’s an interesting story because the contract that I’m currently working on was a contract I knew from my wife, she used to work for Halian. Back at the time, I was looking for another company because I wanted change. I had an interest in Halian before and had the contacts of some people from there. Later on, the Service Design & Transition Manager position was introduced to me, we had initial discussions with Halian and the customer, and I was offered the job.
In your opinion, what makes Halian stand out?
I don’t have personal experience with any of Halian’s competitors, and I wouldn’t be able to compare. However, looking at the company’s profile, what I love about it is that it’s neither big nor small. That way, you have a chance to get to know the people you’re working with, meet the company’s high management, everybody from the administration, and have a professional relationship with them. And it’s not that small in the sense that it has enough contracts of customers for you to choose from and have the possibility to experience working within different industries. It gives you this flexibility, and it creates comfort because you get to know people personally.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to go after a professional career like yours?
A service delivery manager is a bit parts and pieces from the lifecycle of a Service Manager. One piece of advice I would give is for people to be curious about what the other teams are doing and try to have a more holistic view of the entire service. For example, if someone’s working in Operations as an Engineer, he should be curious about what’s going on the other side of the design, where you have Architects, Project Managers and Developers building the solution. Give voice to your curiosity, try to learn as much as possible and try to see everything holistically.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to relocate to Luxembourg? Were there any language barriers?
When I came in 2012, English was accepted for my position, so I was never forced to take any French, German or Luxembourgish courses. Of course, it’s good to know at least one of those languages, but even if they don’t, there are many courses they can take. The government and the businesses are focusing their efforts on this to be achieved. And even if it looks a bit difficult to relocate, it’s not. Things are pretty straightforward here - if you have various inquiries about anything, there are one-stop places where you can get all your information from, and they can help you address every aspect of your relocation.
