An Interview with Vesna Tertei Rudinski, CTPM

When it comes to the places that people think of as centers of technology innovation, most often Silicon Valley, California comes to mind.  It’s a surprise to learn that Serbia, a lesser known established technology hub, at the center of Eastern Europe, has many similarities to Silicon Valley.   

Glatco’s own Vesna Tertei Rudinski grew up, studied and began her career in high tech in Serbia before immigrating to the United States five years ago. Her journey illustrates the many similarities in culture, both societal and technical, that are shared between her home country and Silicon Valley and how she’s been able to leverage those similarities to create a better way to serve clients who are looking for the very best for their technical resources and projects.

Vesna’s Story

Q: Could you just tell us a little bit about where you’re from and what life is like?

A:  I am from a small town in Serbia called Subotica.  It’s in Northern Serbia on the border with Hungary. The culture was very similar to Western Europe and the United States.  We learned English in elementary school and were connected to American culture through movies, and music. That was the interesting part of growing up in Northern Serbia.

Q:  When you were deciding what to study in University, how did you make your choice?

A:  I was always good at math, and I enjoyed it, so that was the obvious choice.  Math was something that I knew I could use in many different areas.  

Q: So, what came next after you studied mathematics?

A: I realized that a great way to practically apply what I was learning in math was through Logistics. I got my degree in Logistics, where I learned how to manage things like transportation and factory processes most efficiently. I loved the way I was able to apply mathematics to practical business situations.

Q: It makes a lot of sense, that you would want to see the business impact that your math skills could be useful towards. So, how did that lead you to a career in tech and technical program management?

A:  I got an internship with an organization called Infora. I was able to come in and wear many hats and learned things including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP. With every project I was able to acquire more skills. It was a very entrepreneurial culture where if you wanted to work hard and learn, you could be successful.

Q:  What was your biggest challenge during your time at Infora?

A:  We had a big project to develop custom-made maps for agricultural companies to analyze transportation routes.  I started as a tester and then began coding and writing manuals for end users.  I was able to do everything across the development process.

Q: So, how did you move into technical program management?

A:  There were more and more projects, too many for the Technical Program Manager (TPM) to manage so I started to manage and lead my own projects at Infora.

Q:  After your experience at Infora, how did that lead you to become a Certified Technical Program Manager in the US?

A: When I moved to the Bay Area with my family, I wanted to find a way to use the development and TPM skills I had gained in Serbia and I found the CTPM program at UC Berkeley. That enabled me to become a Certified Technical Program Manager.

Q: What was it like working with your first few major clients here in the US?  What’s an example you can give us about their reaction to working with you and the Serbian Tech Talent?

A:  We had a client, who was trying to build a new application for a constituent benefits program.  The client wanted to be kept up to date and review the project progress on a weekly basis.  They didn’t want to meet directly with the developers so they relied on me as the Program Manager.  They were very satisfied with the project from a technical perspective as well as the communication and collaboration we had in our process.  

Science and Technology Park, Novi Sad, Serbia

Q: That sounds like a great client experience and something where your CTPM skills really helped the process go smoothly. Now that you’re a part of the founding team at Glatco, what do you think are the three most important things for a prospective client to know about working with you and Serbian Tech Talent?

A: First, we always strive for excellence because good is never good enough.  The Serbian standards for quality are high and we take the quality of work very seriously.  Second, it’s that there is a high degree of dedication to getting the job done to the client’s specifications and requirements.  It is Serbian nature to get the job done to the client’s complete satisfaction.  Third, and this is really the theme of my personal story, entrepreneurship is part of the tech culture in Serbia.  If we see a need or an untapped opportunity, we will fill it. That is how I became successful in my career early on and it is that same spirit of entrepreneurship that led me to be a founding member of Glatco.

Conclusion

The Serbian tech community, with its culture of excellence, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, helped Vesna Tertei Rudinski to become a leader in technical program management. Today, with Glatco, Vesna is connecting Silicon Valley with her home in Serbia to benefit businesses across the US with innovative technology solutions.