Women in technology - Interview with Dagmara

Dagmara Kurpiewska-Dunal: I was invited to collaborate by managers from my previous company: Krzysztof Stumpf and Piotr Cywiński. Besides the good company, I was convinced by the prospect of an interesting project: we were developing a platform for currency exchange in the international market using the latest technologies, embedded in the AWS cloud. I realized that R-Tech was a good fit for me.

The deciding factors for me when choosing a place of work are opportunities for development, striving for improved efficiency, utilizing the latest technologies, and the support of specialists in experimentation. I need to do interesting things that provide great satisfaction. Additionally, openness and respect are crucial to me; I'm a typical team player. We spend so much time at
work. It must be a place conducive to building valuable relationships. I also need to mention organizational matters: I value flexible working hours and the possibility of remote task execution. I find all of this in R-Tech on a daily basis, hence my choice.

I'm working on the R-Flex project, which is a platform for currency exchange for Raiffeisen Bank customers in Central and Eastern Europe. On a daily basis, we cooperate with clients from Romania, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and others. Currently, I can highlight several leading threads in my daily tasks, namely: developing data management automation using event streaming concepts - our system is notified by events of any changes, for example, in client data, and automatically propagates them in our system. This minimizes the need for manual work and thus allows scalability for our clients. I also participate in many initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency of the software we produce through architectural changes to the system.

I value the team's pursuit of excellence, commitment, and openness, the shared desire to create better solutions. I find satisfaction in observing how our platform grows, how it achieves its business goals. Also, the fact that I can meet many amazing, inspiring people along the way. Additionally, I take great pleasure in observing the development of colleagues whom I have had the opportunity to recruit and train, for example, as part of internship programs. I strongly support them. The fact that they choose to stay with us for longer is the greatest reward.

After three years of work, there's quite a bit accumulated. I smile when I think about the successfully implemented functionalities. I also have very fond memories of the R-Stars award, which I received last year. It was a huge honor for me and gave me even more motivation to continue working.

Yes, that's true. My work is continuous learning and improvement. We rarely do the same thing twice, and even if we do, we usually draw conclusions from the previous implementation and strive for a better solution. And indeed, sometimes it's hard to close the laptop when I encounter an interesting problem or need to address a non-trivial issue. Rest for me is spending time with my family, especially with my son Filip. I love to travel. Music is an integral part of my life, providing me with a sense of freedom and allowing me to detach from all difficulties. I also greatly appreciate the opportunity to perform tasks during flexible working hours; I find that I solve problems requiring the most concentration best late at night.

Yes, it actually happens spontaneously due to several factors. On the one hand, it's continuous internal development, but it's also related to the need to meet new challenges and produce better solutions. Learning is integrated into my work. I also have the pleasure of working with very good specialists not only from Poland but also from many other countries, from whom I can learn a lot. Cooperation constantly stimulates our mutual development. I draw additional learning opportunities from everyday life. Becoming a mother was one of the breakthrough moments for me.

I would advise them to believe in themselves. Gender doesn't determine our ability to work in the technology industry, but completely different characteristics do. Certainly, determination and focus on the goal are necessary, but in other industries, these are also useful or even required traits. Personally, I believe there's no need to be afraid - you have to try! Women support each other a lot. But I must admit that I also feel great support from men. As I mentioned earlier, gender doesn't determine anything. What matters are skills, personality, approach to professional duties, and to other people.

When it comes to recommending the IT industry, I would definitely recommend it to people who are not afraid of change, who want to continually improve themselves, and above all, who have a knack for technology issues. It seems to me that it's very important to like what you do. That's how it is for me, and as Confucius summed it up: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."