Atos Consulting Hungary

Please tell us bit about yourself, your feelings about your first days at Atos Consulting Hungary.

I came to Hungary 1 year and 4 months ago from Macedonia. Before coming over here, I was working for 5 years in other IT companies in Macedonia. I worked as a Software Developer on .NET and PHP applications.

My first days at Atos were really nice. This is my first time working abroad, first time in Hungary. So it’s obvious that I was kind of confused, but people were very supportive, helping me to get familiar with the language, culture and habits of the locals, as well as the way of working in the company.

What is your area of responsibility?

I work in SW development area, where I am responsible for daily contacts with customers from different markets. I also manage software development team and ensure quality of deliverables. What I really like about my job is that I get to work in international environment – being in daily contact with Atos colleagues and customers from different countries and cultures. It is great opportunity for me to improve my language and professional skills.

And how do you find Hungary?

Oh I really enjoy it here – I recommend to anybody who has not been to Hungary to come over, especially to Budapest and Lake Balaton. It’s really beautiful. People are really nice, friendly and helpful. Of course language is bit challenging I even have my own challenge: when I am surrounded by Hungarians, I try to find at least one word that I could understand, guess what the conversation is about and if I get it right I celebrate my small victory with a smile. Another peculiar thing about Hungarian is pronouncing of “S” – it is actually pronounced “SH” and if word contains “SZ” it is pronounced “S”. I find it still sometimes confusing. And one more thing which I have noticed about Hungarians – green eyes seem to be quite common.

Thank you very much for sharing your story with us and all the best.

Thank you, pleasure is all mine.

When did you come to Hungary?

I first came to Hungary in 1997 in the US Army as a soldier in support of Operation Joint Guard. There I met my wife Antia (Léka) who I drug back to the states with me and married on a fiance visa. We have vacationed several times in Hungary since then, but decided to move home last year after trying to raise our twin girls without any other family.

When did you started working at Atos?

I started working at ATOS around the 22nd of September, 2016.

Is it your first job in IT? What did you do before?

No, I have been working in the IT field since 2003. I started in Tech support and then got my Computer Science degree from the University of Montana. I have worked for several technical areas including telecommunications, GIS, Accounting and Insurance.

How do you like your first days at Atos? What was the challenge?

So far it has been a very positive experience. There are a lot of challenges, learning a large code base, tools, Azure, and of course Hungarian.

What are your professional duties?

I’m a consultant so I am expected to represent the company at all times. I interact with the client, investigate problems with existing code, develop new code, and try to mentor less experienced developers.

What is the most interesting aspect of this job for you?

I really enjoy all the languages. It’s very common to hear French and Hungarian in the office, which is not very common in the States, at least in my experience.

How do you like Hungary? Do you like people here?

I’m quite fond of Hungary. I’ve been able to travel around and see a lot of castles and churches, it has a very rich history! The people are great, down to earth and very hospitable.

What was the most surprising for you when you arrived to Hungary?

The first thing I remember getting off of the plane is the difference in the humidity. Montana is very dry and so the air here felt very heavy.

What are the biggest advantages of working at Atos? Why would you like to recommend Atos as employer?

Atos provides a great working environment with real world technical problems and tackles them with the consultant mindset and a focus on end user experience. Atos is big enough to provide a secure working environment, have a variety of clientele, and still small enough to do agile development with quick iterations.

When did you started working at Atos and how was your first day here?
I joined Atos more than 2 years, on the first day I felt like I’m a stranger but everyone was friendly and helpful so at the kitchen it changed very quickly.

Is it your first job in IT? What did you do before?
It’s not my first IT job, I have been working in IT since 6 and a half years. Before ATOS I was working on various systems like HR, recruitment, global data synchronization, code generators.
I was mainly working on the back-end and sometimes on the front-end.

What do you like to do after or before work?
Before work I go to swim, and after work I really like to do something creative like playing guitar, gaming or working on my hobby project.

Please describe it.

My hobby project is about a little smart garden (with mainly chili), the goal is to make the watering automated as a first milestone. The next step is the artificial light and way later to tell the police it’s totally legal. At the moment I collect information regarding the moisture, temperature of the plants and the watering part.

How and when it started?
It’s started with the idea of “why not create something useful?” and then I was like, there is a lot of sensor on eBay and Aliexpress, I have a plant, I have developer background, lets connect these and see what happens… it sounded fun so I started to create my project.

How do you feel with that, what does it give you?
I feel that I create something useful while having fun, gain new experiences and this feeling is awesome.
When you put stuff together and you see that its works!
Even if it doesn’t work, when you look back later remembering the mistakes (and the water everywhere), the wasted parts died in smoke and sparks (no plants hurt!) it’s like a small adventure.