Meet Skirmantas Bakas, who heads up our Design Department. Skirmantas leads the charge on the battlefield of innovation, working on various R&D projects and thriving on the new challenges Staticus throws at him every day. And, having just joined Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, he is quite literally ready for battle.
What was it like when you first started at Staticus? And how do you take care of new colleagues that join your team?
I joined 5 years ago (and we have implemented a lot since then). My first impression was that it is a very friendly place. Façades were a new area for me, but even though the level of responsibility was high, everything went smoothly.
I believe it is still a very friendly team to join. We try to offer a lot of structure and guidance to new arrivals. We have just implemented a newcomers program, where we share a lot about how we work and give plenty of resources – I think this is helpful for our new team members and helps them join us smoothly. And we are now thinking about extending this program so we achieve even better results with our onboarding.
What is the single best thing about working at Staticus?
The best thing is the challenges and the responsibility you are given to tackle them. Because of the unique projects we work on, you get challenges every day. And what I really appreciate is that you are trusted to face those challenges, whether it’s an important task or a new role. Even if you’re new or not fully confident yet, you will still be given a lot of responsibilities. It is a culture that foresees the risks and allows for mistakes – as long as you learn from them.
What new perspectives have you gained while working at Staticus?
I would say client-centricity is something I wasn’t so familiar with before joining Staticus. I was aware that it is important to prioritise the client and look at the project from their point of view, but at Staticus this way of thinking is really visible and gives lots of emphasis.
Even though I work on internal projects a lot, I have learned to adopt this client-centric point of view too. For me, the different departments and project managers we work with are my clients, and I always keep their needs in mind.
What makes Staticus a unique place to work?
I always say that Staticus is an interesting and surprising place to work. We already have so many successful projects completed or underway, and we are growing into new markets all the time. Yet the attitude here is that there are so many things we can still do to improve. There is always potential to grow and develop. And internally, a lot of people see challenges and potential growth opportunities, whether it is implementing agile project management, optimizing processes, or R&D.
What do you find most interesting in your work at Staticus?
Again, I think it’s the challenges and being trusted to implement the solutions to these challenges. I get to work on internal projects, IoT, and product development. And we always see opportunities to improve, for example, software updates through coding.
Which project are you most proud of?
My project is people – the way we are working and the design. I’m proud of our client-centricity and the positive feedback that we receive from our clients. It’s always great to hear that they trust us, our skills, and our approach.
Tell us a bit about your life outside of work.
Well, one of the childhood dreams I fulfilled is joining the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, which I did sometime before the war in Ukraine started. When I was a boy I loved military stuff and always wanted to do this, but when I grew up I never had the time. So I’m happy that I can do it now, even though it takes up some of my weekends. I get to learn something new that I can’t learn in my day-to-day job. And it might sound surprising but some of those skills are helpful in my everyday work – like simplicity, creativity, and clarity of instruction. The work our team at Staticus does is a kind of battlefield too, but a different type where you don’t know what to expect and you have to be ready to match different skills and apply them in different situations. I have also recently increased the amount of professional content I read and listen to. I think it’s always important to know the insights and opinions of other professionals in your field. I would really encourage everyone to read articles, even if they have doubts as to whether they will learn anything or change their opinion – in the end, we should all keep trying to learn something new.