Post Craiova – Escaping your bubble in Craiova  

As many Post Craiova readers may be aware, or may have experienced, we receive visitors from the Netherlands in Craiova almost every week. These visits are incredibly valuable. Whether we’re onboarding a new client or welcoming customers who have previously visited: a trip to Romania is enlightening and provides a renewed focus. It almost always leads to a powerful increase in mutual understanding and consensus about what needs to be done. I see this as a kind of acceleration in the output of our development teams.

I think it is just as important that visits also contribute to a more realistic picture of Romania. Despite intensive cooperation and remote communication, people in the Netherlands generally tend to hugely underestimate the situation in Romania. 

One thing most visitors to our Craiova branch have in common is the fact that their idea of Romania changes thoroughly, in a positive way. Expectations are exceeded. This starts at the airport. When guests are picked up in a luxury van after their flight, and drive towards Craiova on well-made roads, it will often dawn on them that Romania is not, in fact, a third-world country. When they arrive at our location, many are surprised by the size and the scope of development going on here continuously. You really need to see this in person to understand it.

Every visit to our campus starts with a journey. Before arriving in Craiova, you will have already had quite a trip. The wait at Schiphol, a two-hour flight, a three-hour drive, and an hour’s time difference mean you could easily be spending some 10 hours on the road. Then, you’re in at the deep end almost immediately. Visitors spend most of their visit, which generally lasts two days, in our numerous beautiful conference rooms. Lunch in the company restaurant provides a good impression of the working atmosphere and results in a wide range of contacts.

As a customer, you’ll get to know an array of people involved in your project. We try to give an impression of the vast knowledge base of the 500 people who work at our Craiova branch. Together we develop a roadmap of project requirements and any missing expertise. In doing so, we challenge customers to look beyond their demands. For example, by offering a range of demos in various areas of knowledge, such as AI and machine learning, or quality assurance. A crossover to other disciplines contributes to deepening projects and innovation.

Experience supports the importance of getting out of the ‘bubble’ related to your sector, clients, and assignments. That can’t be done in the Netherlands, in a setting where the daily concerns are ongoing. In Romania, you are taken out of your routine entirely and can be completely focused. You are, as it were, immersed in collaboration around your project. Of course, that’s extremely intensive; Most people are completely exhausted after two days. However, the involvement and contacts always turn out to be very positive and desirable. Greater mutual understanding strengthens and intensifies the basis for cooperation. Without visits to Craiova, achieving this at such a high level would be unthinkable.

The fact that visitors leave with a much more realistic but also a much more positive image of Romania is a nice bonus.

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