George Augustin: What it takes to become a successful Full Time FrontEnd Architect

George grew up nearby a fire station, on one of the seven hills of Iași. So, you can easily guess that he dreamed to become a fire man or a tank driver. He embarked on his journey, and he drove through multiple different areas, trying new roads each time, until he found the perfect career and place for him.  

He started two technical faculties, and after one year in each of them, he realized that they didn't meet his expectations. He tried, then, a psychology faculty, but again, this time after two years, he let it go, understanding that he wanted something different.  

His first job ever involved repairing elevators. Shortly, he switched to barista and then bar management, where he contributed to the opening of some of the most famous bars in Iași. Then, he took a different journey – the entrepreneurial one. For 3 amazing years he co-owned a company for interior design called Mr. House, the place where he also started his web journey. Someone made them the website, but the maintenance was pretty expensive, so George learned how to do it. He fell in love with HTML, CCS, Wordpress, Prestashop and he understood that development might be the road for him.  

When his partner decided to leave the company, George had to decide either to continue alone and struggle as an entrepreneur, or to choose completely the IT road that he loved so much, and he was really good at it.  

In July 2018, he joined CGM Software Romania as an intern. His mentor was Loredana Armanu, one of the best professionals on the market, who meanwhile became VicePresident on Software Development.  

After only one month as an intern, George became a Junior on FrontEnd. Then, he became a Mid, and after that he became Mentor for the 3rd generation of interns within CGM. His hard work and dedication soon took him to become a Senior and a Team Lead, and, recently, to the Full Time FrontEnd Architect role on CLICKDOC Consumer.  

Let's get to know George Augustin a little better and see what he has to say about his incredible journey. 

Congratulations on the new role of Full Time FrontEnd Architect, George. Tell us a little bit more about this new step in your career. Is it something that you wished to become? 

Thank you. It wasn't necessarily in my plan to become a Full Time Architect. But I was surely in position to take Architect decisions all the time. I am talking about team management, organization, general view on things, process changes, risk analysis, connecting the local teams with the German ones and the stakeholders and so on.  

It all came naturally, and I think that it all started in 2021, at the first edition of Innovation Day. I took over the Team Lead role from someone who decided to make a change in his career, along with his idea of separating the concerns of how the application is distributed. We applied for it at Innovation Day, and we won. The jury loved the idea, and we had proof of concept back then.  

In 2022, when Daniel Butze joined the team, we had the first pilot microfrontend. I made a team with Daniel Rietscher, Senior Software Architect, and the rest is history. 

Before becoming an Architect, I was more focused on specific things. Now, I see things from a wider view. Before, I was focused on how I felt. Now, I am more aware and focused on how others feel. And, of course, my focus and my goals are to take microfrontends into production and integrate the features on other applications.  

You were the Team Lead of the Emerald Eagles from CLICKDOC Web for quite a while. What did they say when you left the TL role for the Architect one? 

Being a Team Lead is quite challenging. Besides teamwork, you have to solve motivation and involvement issues, you have to listen, you have to be there for your team and for each individual. There are no successful recipes, just trial and error. For me, it came naturally to motivate people.  

You have been in CGM since 2018. In this domain of IT where the migration of the people is so common, what made you stay and continue to be a CGMer? 

I have received a lot of offers these years from different other companies. But none of them could offer more than CGM, so it would really be worth the change. Plus, I always had something to do here. I never felt stucked or stagnating. I always had new challenges, the opportunity and the support to grow my career, surrounded by amazing professionals and knowing that we can contribute together to something really great for humankind. So why leave? 

Looking back to your life and your career, what would you say that it is the most important lesson that you have learned?  

Understanding that you cannot solve all the problems in the world and not trying to rescue all the people around you.  

Also, always find a different angle to see and solve the problems that you don't like. I had many situations with lots of stress, work volume and some tasks that weren't necessarily my favorite, but I always found a different method to take care of them.  

And it might sound like a cliché, but I always had this quote in my mind, that I followed through the years: Never quit learning. Especially when it comes to your personal growth and your career path.  

You have a 7-year-old daughter. What are the lessons and the principles that you are teaching her? 

I think there is a commonsense lesson that I preach to her: to be fair to herself first, and then to the rest of the world. 

Is it more difficult to be a parent or to manage people at work? 

By far, it is more difficult to be a parent than managing teams and stakeholders. Because you must always maintain at least a quarter of a child`s energy, you have to be on the same page as your child and play the right games, no matter how tired you are. Becoming a father made me more responsible, especially because it happened in a period of my life with a lot of big changes and stress.  

How was it for you when you were a mentor? 

I become a mentor for the third generation of interns within CGM Software Romania. I had the privilege to be mentor for some amazing people who are now full-time CGMers: Georgiana Andrieș, Claudiu Loghin, Alexandru Prăjică or Claudia Asavinei. I loved the experience, because as a mentor you learn how to explain to someone else, and you also better explain it to yourself. We are used to doing things automatically, sometimes not knowing why they work like that. But from the moment we explain them to someone else, we finally understand the reasons behind them, and everything becomes clearer and easier to deal with.  

We all know you as George, the professional that is always calm and smiling. What is behind George as we know him from work? What are your passions and how are you after the working hours? 

Even if you see my calm face all the time, my interior might struggle. It is quite a challenge sometimes to keep calm all the time. I relax myself by cooking for my family and cleaning the house. And I am a big fan of music, listening to everything from rock to trip house, dubstep or techno. Yes, I simply love a good techno party. 

I am also crazy about everything new from my domain, as I read all the news, visions, plans and opinions coming from certified people on the technologies that I work with. Something else that I used to do a lot and I miss doing is reading books on science and astrophysics. Nowadays, I read mostly technical books for my work, but I plan to go back to science books and relax in my spare time with new discoveries.  

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He didn`t become a fireman, but he surely knows how to put down a fire in emergency situations. And everybody here agrees that George will do a great job as a Full Time FrontEnd Architect, inspiring both old and new generations of CGMers to grow their careers.