Project Manager Professional Services Austria at Fabasoft
My name is Dominik, and I’ve been with Fabasoft since 2014. In this career blog post, I’ll describe what a typical day is like for me as a project manager in Team Infrastructure – and of course, I’ll also tell you a bit about myself. Just to clarify, Team Infrastructure is part of the Professional Services division.
Mornings
To be perfectly honest, mornings are the worst time of the day for me. Being someone who’s more of a nocturnal creature, I must admit mornings are not really my thing. My alarm clock challenges me to a fresh duel for the snooze button every morning. Fortunately, I always win :-). At around 6:30 am, I get out of my warm, cozy bed. After my daily morning routine, I treat myself to my first cup of coffee at home. I ask “Alexa” to read me the latest news, give me a traffic report for the route to Linz, and get started with my workday, checking my e-mail and responding to urgent messages.
I leave the house between 7:30 and 8:00 and head off by car to the Fabasoft headquarters in Linz, which is 31 km away. During the commute, I like to use the 25-minute drive to make my first customer calls or speak with co-workers.
Mornings in the office
Once I arrive at the office, I switch on my work devices and start by opening Outlook and my calendar to get an idea about the day’s pending activities, appointments, and deadlines. After enjoying our daily breakfast in the Fabateria with my fellow co-workers, I dive straight into my work.
Here’s what Team Infrastructure is tasked with
As I already mentioned, Team Infrastructure is part of the Professional Services division. Our main responsibility is to implement and continue to develop the software products Fabasoft Folio and Fabasoft eGov-Suite, as well as Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise.
We support new customers with decisions regarding technology and are there for them from implementation to final acceptance, as well as for the launch of the systems. We also provide extensive support to our existing customers, such as during migrations or technology upgrades. In addition, we provide support for configuring various functionalities and for updates to newer software versions, as well as in the context of support projects for day-to-day tasks in system operation.
By the way: We often take on minor research tasks in our role as an interface between our customers and the different Fabasoft engineering teams. In most cases, the goal is to integrate various features of our software products seamlessly into the system landscapes of our clients.
My activities as project manager
As a project manager, I get to work on a very broad and as such, very interesting variety of tasks. They range from business activities like cost and resource estimates, calculations, and offer preparation to more complex technical tasks. These can include developing system architectures and creating backup and restore concepts, to name just a few examples. I’m also in charge of technical support, assisting with software updates or any technical updates, and developing various scripts in BASH, Powershell, or BATCH. Trips to our customers are also a part of my task – in non-COVID times, that is.
My workday is really quite varied and diverse since there are a lot of projects running at the same time. So as you can see, boredom doesn’t stand a chance here. And that’s one of the things I really appreciate about my job.
Lunchbreaks and the afternoon
Since our headquarters are very centrally located, we have a wide range of options when it comes to planning our lunch break. Most of the time, my co-workers and I enjoy the lunch special at a local restaurant. Sometimes in spring and summer we’ll grab a treat from a nearby grocery store and sit outside in the Danube Park. That’s a great place to clear your head. Or sometimes I’ll just grab a helping of muesli or a piece of fruit from the Fabateria.
With renewed energy, I set off into the afternoon right after lunch – no chance for that midday energy slump :-). Besides the latest customer appointments, I have plenty of e-mails and a variety of tasks in store for me. Of course, I also take the time to have a quick chat with my co-workers over a delicious cup of coffee, because here at Fabasoft, our coffee culture is legendary – and then it’s right back to business.
Evenings
On the way home, I often follow up on one or two calls as I sit in Linz’s evening rush hour – which not only makes the stop-and-go traffic easier to bear, it also shortens my to-do list ;-).
In the evening, I take time to meet friends for a beer or spend it relaxing comfortably on the couch watching some Netflix. I also enjoy devoting time to my work with the volunteer fire department. I’m not just a “normal” member there, I also have a role within the squad. In winter, I have ice-hockey training twice a week, which is another great way to unwind after work.
COVID – a departure from the norm: And what does that look like in the time of corona?
I find myself in the fortunate position of living in a house in the countryside. Since I like to describe myself as a bit of a tech geek, I set up an office at home a long time ago – before anyone even knew how to spell COVID.
That means that very little has changed about my workday and my routine as a result of the pandemic (except that I no longer commute to and from work). Since Fabasoft lets us take all our office equipment home to use in our home office setup, I’m perfectly equipped in terms of technology at home, too.
What I do miss is the personal interaction that I otherwise really enjoy in the office. I miss my business trips, which used to be pretty frequent, but I appreciate the advantages that come with being home every day and sleeping in my own bed.
All in all, working from home has worked out great thanks to the terrific support from Fabasoft. Nonetheless, I am already very much looking forward to returning to office life with my fellow colleagues!
