Leaders of CGM: Denis Iuga – The Gamer, The Developer, The (Reluctant but Brilliant) Team Lead

If you were expecting a cookie-cutter tech lead with a rigid path to leadership, think again. Because 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐮𝐠𝐚, our Frontend Developer and Team Lead in the CLICKDOC Calendar project, is anything but ordinary. He’s the kind of guy who’d be equally comfortable solving a complex UI bug, hosting a gaming quiz night, or — believe it or not — carving wood by hand in the wild countryside. Intrigued? Buckle up. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧.

Denis’s journey started in Pașcani, a small town near Iași, Romania. Like many teenagers with a solid PC and a head full of games, 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 — just that it had to involve computers. Or more precisely: videogames.

He followed that curiosity straight to the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering in Iași. “𝐼’𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝐼𝑇,” he laughs, “𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡, 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜.” Fast forward a few years and CGM became his second-ever workplace — one he’s called home for the past 3,5 years.

“𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛,” 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑠. “𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑜.”

He may not have chased the title, but two years into CGM, Denis became Team Lead for the very team he grew alongside. It was a full-circle moment. “𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒.”

And while he's the first to say, "𝐼’𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝐼’𝑚 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡", let us assure you: he is. Really well actually.

What makes Denis such a relatable leader is his honesty. “𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟,” he confesses. “𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑑𝑒. 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ.” But he also appreciates the freedom and support CGM offers.

“𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡.”

He’s especially grateful for the leadership development program at CGM, which gave him the confidence to step into this role. And he gives a shout-out to the incredible leadership experience of Christopher Roy Turner, CGM Romania’s General Manager: “𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑦𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙-𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑃𝑠.”

When he’s not solving frontend puzzles or mentoring his team, Denis is all about exploration. He’s got 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 at home (yes, seriously), and he doesn’t even care which one is best. “𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 — 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔.”

In true CGM style, he turned that passion into a community: Nerdvana. Co-created with his friend Sorin Veleșcu, this wildly successful internal series of events is where CGM’s nerdy hearts gather for quizzes, boardgames, and epic gaming battles. It’s proof that leadership doesn’t have to be stiff to be effective — it can also come with a side of Mario Kart.

Outside of the digital world, Denis finds calm in the contrast. He dreams of owning a big piece of land someday, where he can plant things, breathe deeply, and maybe even carve some wood. He already does a bit of wood sculpting — because why not?

At 27, Denis has built a reputation as a smart, humble, and hilarious team lead who juggles lines of code, team stand-ups, quiz nights, and occasional daydreams about a countryside escape. 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭. And if that’s not inspiring, we don’t know what is.

So, whether you're a gamer, a developer, or just someone trying to figure things out — remember Denis's story. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

Stay tuned

CGM is filled with awesome humans like Denis, and we’re just getting started. Keep your eyes on the blog for more stories about the amazing leaders behind the scenes. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 — 𝐰𝐞’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.