Petr Háka: From a Programmer to the CEO
9 years ago, Petr started working for INVENTI as an ordinary Java developer, later he founded the Pilsen branch of the company and finally moved to the highest position – co-owner & the CEO of the whole company. What does INVENTI mean to him and where would he like to see it in a few years?
For me, INVENTI is mainly a group of people pulling together, space to grow and examples of people who are thriving in our environment. A place where it's about hard work and abilities – there are no limits to a person's growth (see the example of my growth from programmer to the CEO).
The transition from a programmer to the manager was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. The eternal dilemma of whether moving to a more managerial role is the right decision and whether moving "up" wouldn’t mean overestimating my strengths which could make me withdraw from the role. Actually, the very first shift when I considered changing the role from a programmer to the team leader was the most challenging. This change involved dealing with staffing issues as well as pursuing business opportunities. In particular, I had a huge block from having to "sell" something. The block lasted until I understood that the key was to get to know the person and their goals, and to help them overcome the challenges (and there are plenty of them in the IT industry) that were preventing them from achieving their goals.
With the other co-owners cutting cake at INVENTI's
tenth anniversary celebration
What you might not know about m
Hobbies: motorbike, racket sports, hiking
Sedentary work is hard on the body, so I try to balance it with racket sports (tennis, squash, badminton – depending on the weather and the season), motorbike riding and hikes not only in the mountains.
Origin: A farmstead near Berounka
The Háka family has been settled for more than 3 centuries in a small village called Němčovice in the Rokycany region. There have been a lot of farmers and landowners in our family and even today my parents grow potatoes, wheat and apples on several hectares. From a young age I was often involved in farm work to such an extent that I instilled in myself that the further away I ended up from the work in the fields, the better. So, IT was an obvious choice for me. :) But as time goes on and one is getting older, I find my way to the countryside more and more easily.
Travel: weekly Pilsen to Pardubice
It seems that I can't sit still in one place – I have lived in Rokycany, Munich, Prague, Litomyšl and currently in Pardubice. I travel more than 50,000 km by car every year and therefore I often use the possibility to make phone calls from my car. I apologize for the occasional poor connection during phone calls, but I try to call mainly on signal-covered parts of motorways.