2017: year in review at Qubiz

If you stop to think about it, 365 days is a long time. At the same time, a year goes by in the blink of an eye. Often, we’re left wondering where did all that time go.

To put things into perspective, we sat down and made a list of everything we’ve accomplished this year. So, in 2017, we:

• Won National Public Champion for Romania in the 2016/2017 edition of the European Business Awards. It’s the largest cross-business competition in Europe, designed to recognize and promote business excellence and best practices. We even made the news, read more about it here and here :)
• Made it on Financial Times’ top 1000 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe list. There are only 5 Romanian companies on the list, all in the Technology sector. We ranked highest at #184. Learn more about the top.
• Started work for 8 new clients. Overall, we worked on projects for 20 clients this year. While that may not seem a lot, it was enough to keep our hands full as we cover a wide range of industries: logistics, media, healthcare, financial services and Fintech, professional services and industrial engineering.
• Participated for the first time at CeBIT, the largest international computer expos. CeBit is considered a barometer of current trends in technology, innovation and a display of state- of-art-technologies - here’s Tibor at the show.
• Added to our existing software development expertise by undertaking projects in machine learning/artificial intelligence, Big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Mixed reality (HoloLens). Read more about our experience with machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT)
• Attended both hard and soft skills training sessions, with internal and external trainers. Some of our colleagues were nice enough to share their experience in testing, project management, and design. We also attended industry events like IT Days in Cluj-Napoca this November.
• Had four internships: two in Cluj-Napoca and two in Oradea. One of the internships in Cluj-Napoca was focused on testing and the other one on development using C# and PHP. The internships in Oradea were similar: one focused on testing and the other on a real development project. The latter was organized in partnership with the University of Oradea in order to build a research management application - read about it here. Each internship lasted about 6 weeks and overall, we had 30 interns. 9 of them went on to become full-time colleagues.
• Helped bridge the gap between theory and practice for high-school students. We gave presentations about what it’s like to work in an IT company at local high-schools and at our headquarters in Oradea during Saptamana Altfel when students visited us. Also, some of our colleagues got busy mentoring younger kids at Coder Dojo!
• Gave three presentations at Oradea Tech Hub. At Reactive programming: benefits and pitfalls, we discussed a new approach to software architecture. A different approach to unit testing put forth a different perspective on testing, one that could bring value to both clients and developers. We also shared what we learned about machine learning in Challenges in developing neural networks for object detection.
• Kept fit by attending a lot of sports events: Digi Running Day, Oradea City Running Day, Wizz Marathon in Cluj-Napoca, Crosul Companiilor, Tesla Cup and many others. We also played football, basketball, and volley together on a weekly basis.
• Attended the Swimathon for the third year in a row. We love sports and we like to give a helping hand. When these two come together, it’s even better. Swimathon is a swimming competition that raises funds for various charitable causes. This year, we supported the Mihai Nesu Foundation. Don’t we look posh?
• Took our passion for bike riding one step further. In September, we organized the first Qubiz Bike Ride: a biking contest for both professionals and amateurs. Even if the weather wasn’t perfect (gross understatement), participants had a very good time - check out how Qubiz Bike Ride went.
• Had fun with Quiz@Qubiz nights, celebration outings, 8 team-building sessions, Winter Camp and Summer Camp.
• Overall, our team grew in 2017 by almost 20% - twice the 10% target we had set at the beginning of the year. Now we’re a team of 148, 106 in Oradea and 42 in Cluj-Napoca. What’s more, our turnover rate is currently below 5%, which means most our colleagues are pretty happy with us. This is one of the things we’re most proud of :)

Day to day, you don’t notice it that much, but looking back on it, 2017 has been a full year.While we can’t be sure what 2018 will bring, one thing’s certain: it’s bound to be an exciting year. That’s because in 2018 we’ll celebrate 10 years of Qubiz. Stay tuned!P.S. - Check out how much fun we had at the Christmas Party in Oradea and in Cluj-Napoca ;)