%%2024 Rewind:%% People, Marketing, Progress

Mária Karaffová [People Partner]:

Jumping onto a moving train isn’t exactly easy. You have a certain respect for it, you're unsure of what to expect, and admittedly, there’s a bit of nervousness too. But with Labyrinth Labs, there's nothing to worry about. I joined the team in May, and honestly, it's been one of the best decisions I made this year :) Onboarding here is super smooth because our culture isn’t just some fancy slogan – we actually live it. Whether you’re remote or on-site, we’re a team, and that’s not just an HR cliché.

Our no-bullshit culture is something you can feel from day one. It’s about having people who’ve got your back when you’re trying something new, giving honest feedback (even when it's tough), and knowing your team will always support you when you step out of your comfort zone – like when you’re speaking in front of others 😊. You can feel the encouragement and confidence from your colleagues, which makes all the difference.

Hiring in the Clouds

Anyone who’s ever done hiring in the DevOps world knows it’s not exactly a walk in the park :) So, what’s our strategy, and how did we end up welcoming six amazing people to the team this year? If you peek behind the scenes, you’ll see that hiring is about finding the right balance – what the candidate is looking for and what the company needs. But at Labyrinth Labs, we do things a bit differently. It’s not about ticking boxes or hitting hiring targets just for the sake of it. For us, it’s about finding people who want to be part of a team built on openness, no fluff, and no pointless meetings for the sake of meetings. People who are eager to grow and improve, whether they're DevOps engineers or non-tech folks from marketing or sales.

This year, we brought on some amazing new teammates – Števo, Stano, Evka, Miro, and Tomáš are the kind of people you can count on 🧡

Internal Events

This Year, We Pushed Limits

Every year, we take some time to hang out as a team – whether it's grabbing a beer with the newbies or going on a teambuilding adventure. And this year? 

• Barbecue at Železná Studnička: Nature, beer, good food, and spontaneous football. It’s a great way to chill and get to know new teammates in our laid-back style. 
• Žilina Office Opening: Forget the ribbon-cutting – we kept it real with late-night chats, pizza, and beer in our new spot near the Žilina swimming pool. That’s how we roll! 
• Teambuilding at Liptovská Mara: Okay, so the Mara was drained 😅, but we made it work. We hiked through Prosiecka Dolina, faced our fears at the Hurricane Factory, and even flexed some LEGO creativity.
• Hackathon: This one was a highlight! Held in a beautiful spot near Banská Štiavnica, our tech crew had a blast coding, exploring the Bartolomej mine, and switching it up between screen time, chatting with colleagues, and even some cold- water plunges.
• St. Nicholas Day: Kids, colleagues, and holiday vibes! The little ones got creative building birdhouses and LED animals with Janka from Makerspace, had a snowball fight, and yep – St. Nick showed up 😊
• Christmas Party: Copper lamp crafting, DJ mix vibes, and a feast of homemade Christmas cabbage soup, schnitzels, salads, and vegan treats from 12 Duší. The perfect mix of tradition, creativity, and good times.

‍

Laura Emrichová [Marketing Manager]:

When it comes to marketing, 2024 was rather eventful at Labyrinth Labs. To begin, we’ve got to mention the great addition to our team, Fero Volár, who joined us as the Chief Growth Officer, taking Marketing & Sales under his wings. And honestly? It’s been a blast.

‍The Art of Social Media

Now, to the marketing activities themselves. First, let’s talk social media. We’re not signed up for many, but we’re making the best out of the ones where we’re at. Our CEO Adam Hamšík embraced the world of LinkedIn and cloud-native thought leadership like a pro, ranking as #1 of top creators in IT & Cloud industry in Slovakia, connecting with more than 1000 industry leaders and improving his LinkedIn score to 61.9/100. Pretty impressive, right? ‍

Cloud-Native Communities

When it came to events, we didn’t just show up; we went all in. To be more precise, we took part in 20 events & conferences in 5 cities / 3 countries. Not only did our DevOps engineers provide great presentations [you can catch most of them in our Been There, Done That playlist], but we also sponsored 3 major industry events like:

• ‍AWS Cloud Day in Prague
• ‍Kubernetes Community Days CZ/SK
• Webstack

Thanks to all the event organizers for fostering the cloud community! And the cherry on top? We also wanted to support a growing cloud-community, so we started organizing AWS User Group Bratislava. Because why stop at attending events when we can host them too? We wanted to create a place where cloud evangelists or people only starting to learn about cloud can come together, joining us at in-person meetups where we can discuss AWS based topics and real life examples.

Speaking of connecting with our community, 2024 also marked the launch of our monthly newsletters. Finally, a way to share all the news, innovation, and success happening at Labyrinth Labs and in the cloud industry. If you’d like to join for a monthly summary with upcoming events, interesting blogs and DevOps tools, then be sure to subscribe. No spam, one email per month, promise.

‍A Digital Makeover

On the digital side, after a couple of painful years with web edits, we ditched WordPress and shifted our website to Webflow. For now there are no visible improvements for the visitors, but believe me, for our marketing team it’s a major change in how efficient we are with changing things on our website, editing & adding new content. Like a dream.

Oh, and one last thing, a tiny detail really: we were named AWS Consulting Partner of the Year for CEE. No big deal, right? (Just kidding, it’s a HUGE deal. We’re still doing victory laps around the office.)

This year? Nailed it. Bring on the next one!

2025 Challenges As we transition into 2025, we carry forward the lessons, memories, and growth from 2024, ready to embrace new challenges and opportunities with the same spirit and dedication.

We’re still going to be us, but that doesn’t mean we stop growing. It’s all about working on ourselves, learning, and never assuming what we’ve built will just take care of itself. Our no-bullshit culture is real, but keeping it that way means staying grounded and putting in the effort – no rose-tinted glasses here.

Great culture doesn’t maintain itself. A solid, connected team like ours needs care and attention to stay that way. The real challenge is to keep improving, not to get too comfortable and assume everything will just stay awesome.

‍What’s on our radar for 2025: 

• Building an environment where honest feedback helps us grow – not just because it sounds good, but because we mean it.
• Boosting our visibility in the Czech Republic with a focus on tech events.
• Growing our teams with new roles, like a Business Development Manager in Prague and a new Head of People. 
• Hosting more events – from deep tech discussions to resilience-building and pushing the limits of our comfort zones. 
• Always nurturing and improving our remote-first culture.

Let’s make it happen! They say if you're not doing anything, you can't mess it up. And that's so true. But we're learning, and our mistakes bring us back to reality, which isn't always fun, let's be honest. But the real deal is, don’t stay stuck. That’s the strength of the Labyrinth Labs team – no one lets you just stand still. You’re always moving forward together, whether you're in Zlín or Košice. Labyrinth Labs isn’t where the office is, it’s where the people are.