The Codest’s Success Story: Meet our Finance Lead Iza

It’s high time to introduce our finance superwoman! But before we dive into her career story, let’s meet Iza a bit better!

She describes herself as a mountain lover, that is why you can often find her on mountain trails in the Tatry and Beskidy mountains. Besides that, she’s a fan of detective stories and good movies, preferably enjoyed while under a warm blanket with a cup of delicious tea in her hand.

Iza has been ruling the financial side of The Codest for almost 2 years now, making many improvements to efficiently manage our budget and provide financial stability to the company.

Now let’s focus on Iza’s success story at The Codest!

What’s your role at The Codest?

I’m the leader of the financial unit. In other words, I’m responsible for the financial side of the company by having full control over the budget that I manage. Apart from that, I’m in charge of the customer billing company’s back-office and proper circulation of documents.

How did your journey with The Codest begin?

Well, I was looking for a change and some new fresh challenges. My friend sent me an ad of Back-office/Finance Specialist. I’ve decided to apply and see how things go. Previously, I worked strictly in the field of accounting and I was sure I no longer want to continue my career patch in that direction. At that time, the job position offered by The Codest seemed to be a perfect match for me as it was still connected with finance and gave me more independence.

How were you able to develop your career at The Codest?

In retrospect, I have the impression that “somehow everything” worked itself out. However, upon reflecting deeper, the more I showed and expanded my financial knowledge, the more interesting and responsible tasks I got. Over time, the reconciliation of the two roles, back-office and finance, became incompatible. I tried to listen to myself and decided that finance is something I really like and want to focus on the most.

At this moment, we went further and decided to add a new back-office specialist to my unit so that I could fully focus on what interested me the most – the financial side of the company. That way I’m able to develop my competencies in the fields that are important to me.

What’s the best part of your job?

In the past, I would have laughed at this answer, but now the best part of my job is change. Contrary to appearances, there is no boredom in finance and you can always see something interesting! We can all face dullness in our everyday job. For some it’s a neutral state that they don’t find problematic. But for me, constant change means progress and that is what keeps me professionally satisfied. I also appreciate the fact that I organize my work myself and cooperate with every department in the company.

What helped you excel at being a finance lead over the years?

I would say that being well-organized and meticulous helps tremendously in this role. The most vital thing is to act step by step and incorporate analytical thinking. Sometimes I already know what the consequences will be and what will be the best solution at that moment before I express my opinion on the problem. I always try to take a step back and look at certain aspects from several different perspectives in order to be aware of what might happen next. This is what makes being a leader much easier.

What is your greatest career strength?

My biggest advantage is that I’m a quick learner. I also think that acquiring new knowledge on my own allows me to be better at my profession. It might be challenging and more time-consuming but there is nothing more satisfying than putting new expertise into practice and seeing how it resonates. I really enjoy learning new things as it makes me empowered and increases my confidence, which are one of the most important things in being successful in any career.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job? And how do you overcome them?

In some cases, it can be the speed of change – as we develop quickly, I need to stay at the top of my game to always make sure that everything goes according to plan. That is why, as I mentioned earlier, I try to think about things from various perspectives and look at novelties in the company from different angles to predict what the best next move should be. The second thing can be poor communication but, frankly speaking, I think that with a good intuition and thanks to the fact I know this organization better than the back of my hand I can easily say that it is an issue that can be solved quickly.