Ligia Corduneanu has a broad background in academic and market research. A few years ago, she discovered her passion for business analysis and decided to make a career change. She started from scratch, but her ambition, motivation, and desire to learn led her to rapid career growth.
Get a glimpse #BehindTheCode and get inspired by Ligia’s story.
Tell us a bit about yourself and why you chose the IT industry?
I was born and raised in Iasi. My background is in social sciences: I have a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in European studies. So, there was nothing related to technology at that point. I worked in market research for a couple of years, thus being exposed to other fields.
In 2018, I decided to move to Cluj-Napoca. I was curious about the IT industry and eager to discover its professional opportunities. I browsed various sources of information, and, besides the technical roles, I found out about the Business Analyst (BA) role. During college, I was focused on academic research – I attended conferences and wrote articles, being good at translating the essence of a subject in a concise way. That’s why the description of the BA role sounded very attractive to me.
I attended a Business Analysis course and started applying for jobs. At that moment, I had two job offers: on the one hand, an experienced role at a non-IT company with a good salary, and on the other hand – an internship opportunity at an IT company. I chose the IT company, embracing the risk associated with this decision, as I needed to pay rent and all the bills. But I’ve never regretted the decision. After this internship, I was promoted to Associate Product Owner and made the most out of this role.
How did you join our company?
As I previously mentioned, I worked as a Product Owner at an IT product company in Cluj. After working for a year and a half on a product, I felt the need to grow and have access to more information. I wanted to be exposed to more technologies, business areas, clients, stakeholders, and project teams. That’s how I decided to change my job. Of course, it was a hard decision, but I managed to close my activity and started to look for job opportunities on LinkedIn.
I had interviews with around four companies, including Fortech, before it was acquired by GlobalLogic. I liked the recruitment and selection process here, starting from the HR Interview. That professional discussion gave me all the details I needed about the company, collaboration types, and open vacancies. After the technical interview, I was informed that they decided to hire another candidate for the role I applied for. But they offered me a Product Owner role on another project. I highly appreciated this flexibility and that they offered me another job opportunity.
How did your career evolve in our team?
I joined our company as a Product Owner, but I was also involved in business analysis and team leading. I really enjoy working alongside a dedicated and motivated team.
Last year, starting on 1 January, I moved to a Project Management (PM) role. The transition was smooth, as I had discussed it with my direct manager the previous summer. He saw my potential and proposed this career opportunity to me. After a detailed discussion on the subject, I accepted the offer when I knew exactly what this role meant and what it meant in our company. We’ve set this objective and made a detailed development plan as part of our professional growth discussions.
As a project manager, I am more focused on team leading and organizational strategy. I think the interaction with the team is a little different from this role, as besides product, business, and delivery, I am also responsible for the team’s well-being. Additionally, a new thing for me is resource management – offering your team the things they need to maintain team satisfaction and motivation.
Ligia and Alex during recording of the podcast.
Describe one of the projects you’ve worked on.
A project I previously worked on is a Cloud-Based Assembly Management System from the manufacturing industry. It allows optimizing the costs of complex assemblies across all processes and the entire lifetime. This cloud-based application helps users compare prices for every key step involved in the product’s creation, assembly, and transportation. For the tech stack, we use .NET and AngularJS.
As you can figure out, this project uses a lot of algorithms and calculus. It was a challenge for me, as I’m definitely not a math person. 😊 However, it was a great experience working on it, as the project team is wonderful. For me, the team will always be my favorite thing on a project.
Tell us something you like most about your team. What makes it different from other teams?
My team is great. Even if the project was demanding, my colleagues were committed and always eager to help one another when the deadlines were tight. I must confess I had a strong bond with them from my very first days here. It’s known that sometimes a Business Analyst or Product Owner is seen as the client’s ally, as they represent the client’s needs. But my colleagues saw that I was there to help them. We’ve always found a common language and constantly helped each other. That’s what makes them special.
Besides your daily responsibilities, what other activities on our team are you involved in?
I have been a member of the internal Business Analysis Community, and I am currently a member of Project Management. Within the BA community, I was involved in preparing an onboarding document for a new Business Analyst or Product Owner. The target was to help colleagues from within the company to transition into one of these roles or someone from outside the company who wants to make a professional reconversion. As I was once in their shoes, I enjoyed this task and was highly motivated to prepare a useful guide.
In the PM community, I was involved in defining the project management processes within the organization.
Besides community involvement, I help with organizing social and technical events for our colleagues within our department.
What do you do in your spare time?
I’m passionate about photography, trying to surpass the hobby level. I like to write, but lately, it is mostly job-related. I also enjoy sketching, and I have a personal project of a satirical sketch.
Further, I’ve been a volunteer for the last two years at the “Ajungem Mari” Program of the “Lindenfeld” NGO. I have been working with children who are in the care of the state, from doing homework together and playing to discovering experiences. The “Ajungem Mari” program supports the education of children from foster care centers and disadvantaged environments. Through volunteering and professional orientation projects, creative workshops, and social-recreational activities, the program seeks to build the children’s trust in themselves and develop the abilities they need to become responsible and independent adults. I’m currently attending some training programs for volunteers, and I’m looking forward to the allocation to meet the person I will work with. “Ajungem Mari” is doing an incredible job. The core organizing team has only a few members, who take care of thousands of volunteers. If you want to give a helping hand, here‘s how you get involved by donating or registering as a volunteer.
Unfortunately, this year I decided to stop this wonderful experience due to lack of time, but I am grateful for being able to have a positive impact on the lives of all the beautiful children that have let me connect with them. Make sure you consider both the time investment and the emotional commitment before joining a volunteering project.
Now that Fortech joined GlobalLogic Romania, how do you foresee your career growth?
This is the puzzling question I have been thinking about this during the last year. What I am sure I want to happen, and it has already started, is to focus on a particular stream of work and to excel. My professional path since 2019, when I started in IT, has been to gather as much information as I can and work on as many diverse projects as I could. This year, after a project change, I made the decision to “settle down” and give all my focus to a particular role. The opportunity came by itself, and today I am a Program Manager. It was an exciting offer to take on, full of opportunity and big stakes. Cheers to the years to come!
How can GlobalLogic Romania help with my career growth? Provide relevant learning experiences, seamless processes, and strong communities.