Say hi to Katerina!
This month we are getting to know Katerina, our second employee when starting our office in Skopje 6 years ago.
You grew up in Skopje, Macedonia right? First person from Macedonia at Polar Cape here in Sweden.
Yes, I started out as employee number 1 at Pole Cape in Macedonia 6 years ago. Previously I worked with Swedes at a major Telecom company towards billing systems and I really wanted to work with Swedes again. When I saw that Polar Cape were hiring for employees in Skopje with the possibility to go abroad I applied right away.
Why did you started to work in IT?
Back in the days there were two choices of profession in Macedonia; medicine or IT. IT seemed to be the right choice, however I was still a bit doubtful which way to take so the last decision was with the help of spinning a coin. And looking back where I am today, it was without doubt the right choice.
Tell us about your journey in PC.
When I started Polar Cape did not had an office in Skopje yet so initially my work was done from home. Things moved quick though, I had 2 interviews organized in the first day and I landed an assignment as a test leader at Scania. Since then I have been at ECDC; taking care of the network and deployment, working with our managed services projects at Polar Cape and I am now at Telenor and at the moment I am working on a large branding project with testing.
How come you wanted to work with Swedes again?
I fell in love with Sweden. I have always liked to travel but never thought I would be living abroad, until I came here. I like the people and the mentality.
And as I understand you are now a Swedish citizen, how was it to get there?
Well, it has been a journey, I had to set up small targets down the road. When I first arrived I couldn’t sign in at any gym because I didn’t have a personal number. Exercising has always been important to me and I quickly decided that the personal number should be my first goal. When I received it I kept moving to my next goal which was to buy my own an apartment. Which I did a couple of years ago. Third goal was to become a Swedish Citizen and one year ago I sent the documents to the Migration board and became a Swedish citizen. It makes the circle complete.
What have you experienced to be the biggest differences working in Skopje, in comparison to Sweden?
For the first it’s my opinion that Swedes are the best in planning, which makes your life extremely easy. Due to good planning Swedes are able to have a good working life balance that creates value in life and make it easier to fulfill. Here are opportunities to exercise and spend time on activities that are important outside work.
Another difference is that summer holidays are many times scheduled in January /early in the year, this for me is a positive thing since we’re able to have a good planning and many times avoid a lot of pressure. Also rules are respected here and I appreciate that.
Favourite quote / motto in life? Don´t stop dreaming because there will always be new things to achieve. Everything is possible.
