Valentino Poljak: Calm-minded troubleshooter with a flair for football and chocolate

To the question “Who is Valentino Poljak?”, he will answer that he is an avid football player who started to build a professional career, but decided to switch to computer science in high school. - I’d say I was quite talented, he recalls. At the age of five, I started training with older boys. My parents were supportive. At the same time I was interested in computers, the way they were made and how they worked. I liked to put things together and take them apart, he said. 

He chose technical high school because he already knew that he wanted to study at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) in Varaždin. He also continued with football and finished the school of football. The intensity of training and matches increased. It got difficult to combine it with high school, but he persisted. It wasn’t until his third year in high school that he decided to continue with football recreationally, somehow knowing that he was better at IT. 🙂

When talking about his origins, he likes to explain a bit of his family tree. Born in Bjelovar, his roots are in Zagorje and the Czech Republic.

“My grandfather came to Croatia from the Czech Republic a long time ago, so I have Czech roots on my mother's side. I find it funny, because my last name is Polish :D“

The road to Emil Frey Digital

He got a job at EFD as a fifth-year student, doing the internship at the same time. In the following months he completed his internship and graduated from FOI. - When I started here, the company was already quite big. It had an organizational structure and processes, which was new to me. I had some experience at a smaller company. There were about 10 of us and everyone did everything that needed to be done, without plans or processes. I was surprised by how well everything was arranged here, he said.

Valentino applied on the recommendation of a friend who already worked here. He sought to change jobs, find something “more serious”.

- At that time, IT support was handled by Martin Špernjak, the only person on the team and my mentor from the first day until today. I started with real tasks quickly. After two weeks of onboarding they "threw me into the fire" and I found myself solving real customer problems. Onboarding continued for me through real work, on real tasks. That suited me because Martin was always at my disposal. No matter how busy he was, he always found time to help me and answer all my questions, recalls Valentino. 

“Martin was always at my disposal. No matter how busy he was, he always found time to help me and answer all my questions.”

With team coffee, work gets done more easily

Valentino has been on the IT Support team right from the start. He is working as a Support specialist and is onboarding to the complementary role of Release coordinator. This is how he describes his typical working day. He says that with two team coffees, the work is done more easily.

- We start the day with team coffee. It is what we do first thing in the morning, every morning. Everyone on the floor knows that :) After that, we start reviewing support tickets. We set priorities and allocate tasks. Although the five of us on the team should know all EFD products equally well, each one knows that one product better than others. We spend some time in meetings, too. After lunch, always at 1 PM sharp, we get together for another cup of coffee. I started this team coffee recently because we are full of work and there is pressure coming from the fact that we handle real-time user problems. That 10-minute coffee break helps us clear our heads a little and gives us an energy boost, he said. 

In the role of Release coordinator, Valentino will coordinate the monthly deliveries of applications updates in Central Europe and Germany. He will be the go-to person for any issues that may occur following the delivery. He will decide on priorities and delegate urgent stuff. 

- Users contact us daily with questions and issues they cannot solve through Help Desk in their country (first-level support, intended for basic requests). Our team provides second-level support, which means handling more complex stuff. We do our best to solve issues on our own, and we only delegate them to developers if we cannot solve them, or when something needs to be coded. When we resolve an issue, we make sure to describe the solution in writing, so by now we have built a considerable knowledge base. It is of great help for recurring issues, Valentino explained.

I guess you have to be a little quirky to be good at tech support

Martin taught him all about tech support and was a mentor the whole time. 

- Martin is a great perfectionist, and he taught me that as soon as I get an inquiry, I should go and research it in the system. If you make an effort and find out everything there is to know about an issue, you might sport the problem right away. It took me half a year to become independent in my work. We provide support to thousands of users in Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. 

In addition to knowing how all EFD systems work, you need some other skills, to be able to provide quality tech support.

- I guess you have to be a little quirky to be good at tech support (laughs). People will write things like “the program does not work, please help.” You need to ask questions, and develop an understanding of where the problem could be. So patience, understanding and communication are very important skills here. I'm easy-going by nature, I don't get wound up about things, which turned out to be a useful trait in this job. I approach users with calm, and I try to instill such an approach in the team. I don't get too upset because I know everything will be sorted out, he said.

"I'm easy going by nature, I don't get wound up about things, which turned out to be a useful trait in this job. I approach users with calm, and I try to instill such an approach in the team."

I like to be asked a lot of questions, even if it’s every 5 minutes

He is often in the role of a mentor and he is getting fond of it. 

- In the beginning, I didn't know how it would be, but now that I have more mentees, now it's actually great for me. I like it to be relaxed and casual, to make it easier for them. Now I have two new mentees. I mentor them both simultaneously, which requires more time to go through all the systems, bases, problems, principles of how we handle things, etc. When we're done with onboarding, they will try to solve simpler tasks by themselves. Getting into communication with end users is a great and ultimate exercise in our line of work. We try to get new people to start handling as many complex tasks as possible as soon as possible. This way they try everything they have learned and ask for help if they get stuck with something.

What are the most important qualities of a good mentor and does he consider himself a good mentor? As a mentor, I am the same as in work - quite calm and I like to be asked a lot of questions, even if it's every 5 minutes. It is important to me that they have a good understanding of what they are learning, so that they can work better later.

Company values are born on the top

In Valentino’s view, company values ​​are a reflection of organizational culture, and Emil Frey Digital is no different. He points to openness, accessibility and good people in every team, always ready to help. Whenever a problem or a mistake happens, nobody will yell at you. Instead of that, everyone will look for a solution. - I think that these values and behaviours ​​have been around since the very beginnings of the company and that they mostly stem from the leadership. Attitudes and values are then transferred to individuals working in such an environment, he believes.

And of course, we have a paid gablec (brunch). 🙂

Now, after several years of working experience, Valentino came to recognise that the business side of things is more up his alley and that he would like to grow more in that direction. 

- As a student, I was first interested in programming, so I enrolled in the program at FOI, which boils down to programming. I expected to be a developer. When I was about to graduate, my conviction was shaken. I mentioned to Marina Biro of human resources that I was interested in the organisation and business aspects of technology, so she referred me to tech support. This is where I found a good place for myself, and my understanding of the business deepened. For sure I would like to develop further in that direction. There are opportunities for growth here, we will see where the journey will take me.

About fashion sneakers and 100+ muffins

Valentino does not stand still. He is interested in all kinds of things and has many hobbies.

- In my free time, I play football, mini and regular. Even though I live in Varaždin, I still play for the football club from Bjelovar. You will find me there almost every weekend. It is interesting how that club shut down for a while, but a group of us former players reunited and restarted it. I relax with FIFA Playstation and enjoy online shopping for fashion sneakers. If you need a tip or two, I know the best online shopping places in Germany.

Cakes are a different story and love since childhood. 

- When I was little, my mom would always ask what kind of cakes we wanted. I remember telling her that for me a cake without chocolate is like a house without a roof. Chocolate is my favorite thing, Hungarian cake is my favorite. I can’t say that I am a pastry expert, but still last year for my birthday I baked more than 100 muffins for the office. Of course, all chocolate flavoured, some with extra chocolate and hazelnut filling. It took me 5 hours.

"For me a cake without chocolate is like a house without a roof."