Labyrinth Labs might be a tech company, but the people behind it come from all kinds of backgrounds. Eva, our Digital Sales Manager, is one of them. When she first joined us, she had no engineering background and suddenly found herself in a world of cloud infrastructure, DevOps, and Kubernetes. As she puts it, those first few months felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland, except the rabbit hole was full of Kubernetes clusters. Here's her Behind the Clouds story.
Before joining Labyrinth Labs, what did your professional journey look like, and what made you decide to join the company?
Although I’ve never held a proper IT role, three of my four previous employers were IT companies, so Labyrinth Labs fit the pattern perfectly. As my maternity leave wrapped up, my former team lead asked me to join. He has great taste in companies, and he promised the people here were excellent at what they do. Clever colleagues are my weakness, so the decision took only slightly longer than reading his message. 😊
Your title is Digital Sales Manager. What does that actually mean in practice?
Long story short: lead generation through digital channels and tools. In practice, that means exploring untouched territories and looking for companies that could use our help before they even know they need it. I also work closely with our friends at AWS to make using AWS an even better experience for our clients. The role keeps evolving with every new tool that comes out, which is a big part of the fun. Did I mention I love Claude?
You joined a DevOps company without coming from an engineering background. What was it like stepping into that world?
Pretty much every job I’ve had started with me feeling like Alice in Wonderland for the first few months. At LabLabs, the rabbit hole just happened to be full of Kubernetes clusters. Some things carry over from job to job, but there’s always a lot to learn, and honestly, that’s what keeps my brain from getting rusty.
How did you gradually learn to understand all the tech stuff? Was there a moment when things started to click?
The hard way, and with a lot of questions. As for the clicking, I still hear it every other day. 😊 I’ve made peace with that, because the clicking means I’m learning. It’s not always comfortable, but it means I’m growing.
Once you had settled in, what convinced you that Labyrinth Labs was the right place for you?
A lot of my priorities match LabLabs’ own. Some are in our company values, others aren’t written down, but they resonate with me just as much. No bullshit, specialty coffee, party hard, people first, crude humor, excellence in what you do, meme culture, determination, going the extra mile… to name a few. One of my favourite songs says “it doesn’t matter what you’ve created if you had no fun”. I think that applies to work too, and here, the fun part is pretty well covered.
Your role within the sales team connects you with both marketing and engineering. What does great collaboration between these teams look like at Labyrinth Labs?
I’d love to reveal some secret sauce here, but I think it just comes down to people. Truly cooperative people who value each other’s contributions and are willing to help if needed. It doesn’t hurt that we genuinely get along outside of work topics too. Also, everyone here sees the bigger picture, so we all pull in the same direction, and nobody hides behind “that’s not my job.”
What part of your role do you enjoy the most?
I’m a real efficiency freak. I hate wasting time and energy on things that don’t need it, so lately I’ve been enjoying all the improvements and automation AI brings. Did I mention I love Claude? 😃But overall, I enjoy the moments when I can look back and feel good about the results. So... quarterly reporting, I guess? 😃
How would you describe the culture at Labyrinth Labs to someone considering joining the company?
Very friendly and open, but also full of people who take their work seriously. The fact that our company Slack is one of my favourite social networks these days probably says a lot. More fun and useful information there than on my Instagram and Facebook combined. 😊 Some things are better experienced than explained, so come by for a coffee. We have an excellent coffee machine. Legend has it a café in the building saw us moving in and gave up. Probably not true, but you never know. And if you need to swear, go ahead, as loud as you need. Scientists say it helps prevent burnout.
You are also a mum to a five-year-old son. How do work and family life fit together for you, and what role does flexibility play in making it work?
The biggest role! Without an 80% contract, a flexible schedule, and the option to work from home, it would be very tough. Winter - and kindergarten snot season - is coming, so brace yourselves, fellow parents. Having a family is also the best guarantee that you actually leave work at work. Sometimes I walk out of the office with my head full of it, but the moment I step into the kindergarten, I have no choice but to let it all go. And when I pick things back up the next morning, the challenges usually look much smaller. I tend to overthink, and this is the best cure I’ve found.
What's one thing your teammates would probably say you're known for? 😃
I don’t even have to guess. We recently had a 360-degree feedback round, so I can actually quote it: a “calm power” who is hardworking, professional, and growing in her role. Kind of them, isn’t it? 🫶
This is my Behind the Clouds story, wanna find out what's there for you? See what positions we've got currently open!
