Discovering the life of Project Manager Valentina

Meet our Project Manager Valentina Bermanec. She joined our growing team after graduating from the Faculty of Economics in Osijek where she studied Marketing. Her first role was Marketing Manager, and now 1 year later, she is our Project Manager. In her free time, when she is not planning and organizing our projects, she loves to hit the gym or bake some new desserts.

Valentina checking on the status of our projects

What are your primary responsibilities and what does your day-to-day look like?

Planning projects, planning content, and organizing all of it. I like to say that my role is 2 in 1 since I’m a Project Manager and responsible for our marketing. Most of my time goes on organization and communication with the clients and the team regarding the projects.

So the rest of my time goes on our marketing activities, such as planning blog posts and social media posts. I enjoy doing a combination of marketing & project management since both require creative and analytical skills. This allows me to balance with the activities that I love the most and practice those skills.

Every workday is different with new challenges. The first thing I do is check my email inbox and check on my team to see their progress with ongoing projects to help them if I can. This is followed by daily/weekly meetings and catching up on everything that’s going on.

Oh, and let’s not forget the - planning, writing tasks, and making sure that we are on time and within the budget. Some days I dedicate more of my time to our marketing activities, preparing our blog post for publishing, and managing our social networks.

What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of PROTOTYP?

The most exciting aspect is our team. We nourish a culture where we are all eager to help each other and learn from each other. It’s the only way we can be even better and accomplish great results.

As a team, we are building a strong company culture that is recognized in the IT community and by clients. We are very motivated to achieve extraordinary results and create great products. Also, our dedication to work is always recognized and rewarded which is one of the exciting aspects as well.

Another exciting aspect is attending conferences and having the ability to bond as a team and to meet new people from our industry. We always have a fun time and create good memories that we retell later.

How did you first learn about PROTOTYP?

I first learned about PROTOTYP as a student, when I was in the Student Association for marketing and our company founders Andrej and Vlatko held a workshop at our conference. Back then, I thought they were smart and cool, but it wasn’t until later that I remembered them and sent an open application letter. The rest is history. :)

Part of our team at the Digitalab.in 2019 conference

How do you spend your time outside of the office?

I love going to the gym and doing various workouts because I feel great and relaxed after that. Also, I could say that I have a sweet tooth since I love to try and bake new desserts and cakes. Other than that, I enjoy reading books that help my professional and personal growth.

When the situation allows for it, I love to travel and discover new places and cultures. I have a lot of countries on my wish list, as well as their local desserts. :) One of the great opportunities for traveling are conferences that we often attend, and they are always a good combination of work & pleasure.

How do you define success in life?

I could define success with my favorite quote by Estée Lauder - “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” I truly believe that if you work hard to achieve success, you will achieve it, however big or small it is. If you are happy with some smaller achievement, you will be satisfied when you accomplish something great, the only thing important is to have the will and put in your maximum effort.

What is the next life milestone you want to achieve?

Since I’m at the beginning of my career, my goal is to develop professionally and become a great Project Manager and a Marketing Manager. Our industry is constantly changing, and we must adapt to it and learn. Also, I would like to share my knowledge with students and others interested in our industry and help them out.

Valentina shared her tips for how to stay organized with the students at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek.

What did you want to be when growing up?

When I was very little I loved playing doctor, but soon I realized that it was not for me. During high school, my leadership personality came up, along with planning and organization skills and I just knew that I will be a manager. While I was a student, I was always a team leader making sure that our projects are doing great.

I was very proactive and did a lot of internships in local companies where I got the chance to experience the work in the IT industry. I've organized many projects as a volunteer and as a member of the Student Association. All of this precious experience helped me a lot to get to this point in my career.

If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and why?

I would like to meet my grandma because she is no longer alive. She would be so proud of me and my achievements so far. Growing up, she was my role model and always taught me to be the best that I can be and to be persistent.

If you were an animal what would you be?

Oh, I would most definitely be a dog! :) I love dogs, they are my favourite animal and I plan to have a dog one day. Also, our office is pet friendly and I’m always excited when one of the coworkers brings their dogs.

Get to know Valentina and the rest of the team.

We’re extremely proud to have Valentina as a part of our team as she is a reflection of personalities we attract at our company and can be a role model for every current and future employee. If you’d like to know more about Valentia on her duties as a project manager, get in touch with us.