Neotech celebrates 15th anniversary

Neotech clebrated the 15^th anniversary of its establishment on December 15, 2006.  The company, which today numbers some 80 full-time employees, takes pride in the fact that 14 of the latter are “old-timers”.  Among them are layout department head Sergei Chernyavski, with the company for 13 years; operations manager Yuri Vasilkov, 10 years; and senior project manager Anna Zolotukhina and editor-in-chief Alexander Poddubny, nearly 10 years each.  These workers have been with the Company through at stage of its growth and development, building up their professionalism and preserving a united ideology and a succession of labor traditions.

It was to the old-timers that we turned with our questions about Neotech.  All were asked the same questions, yet the answers were as varied as the workers are individual and unique.

Why Neotech?  After all, surely there were other options and offers?

• When I came to work for Neotech, it was a company with just a few employees; everyone mingled in the conference room.  For me, Neotech was and remains a company which was and is made by people, from its establishment to the present day.  Neotech is a group of good, single-minded people, united not only by their work, but by real friendship.  To me this is the basis for long, lasting relationships.  Naturally, the staff is large, and various situations arise, but all remain people nonetheless.  (Elena Vikulina, project manager.)
• When I first encountered Neotech, I was struck by two things: firstly, how seriously people worked here – no long smoking breaks, no empty, nonsensical conversations or idle chit-chat: questions to the point, talking in the lounge, and work at maximum efficiency.  Secondly, I still remember that no matter whom you approached, all proved to be professionals at their job, whether layout artist, manager, or editor.  It was a pleasure to join the ranks of people like these.  (Olga Lyshcitskaya, senior project manager.)
• Neotech is a company staffed by hard-working, responsible people - a company where an engaging atmosphere of friendliness, understanding, and cooperation reigns supreme! (Natalya Kitova, layout artist.)
• Neotech is a company of sincere guys who, joking and jesting, get their common job done well.  I always liked that “hogging the covers” is considered bad form here.  It’s the result that matters.  (Lilia Scherbina, graphic arts director.)
• Neotech?  It’s love at first sight. (Dimitry Mityuk, marketing specialist.)
• Neotech was my one and only.  (c:  (Maria Kuzmenko, project manager.)
• I came to Neotech to correct one error, and ended up staying … for thirteen years.  (Sergei Chernyavsky.)

Next question:  what events or dates do you consider milestones in the life of the company– things that had a significant impact on it and its development?

The most popular answer was, “Certification of compliance to standard ISO 9001:2000.”  But there were others:

• Creation of its own logo
• Development and launching of a new website
• Transition to working with translation memory
• Implementation of a new information system
• First major projects (Shurtan, Kirishi).  We gave it everything we had – and we succeeded.
• I recall how we won the Shurtansky GHK account; we had needed it badly.  I couldn’t see straight for joy.
• Poddubny’s coming to the company.
• The arrival of several vibrant workers.  I first crossed the company’s threshold as a customer.  Well I remember what Sergei Sant was like then: a manager, yes, but also an editor, a project manager, involved in personnel affairs – sometimes he wound up delivering urgent orders to clients himself.  He was both a vendor and a marketing specialist; he participated in the majority of negotiations, and all issues revolved around him.  At a certain point, all these duties were transferred to other people.  For a long time, from force of habit, I continued to approach Sergei with every issue, until, after hearing "So-and-so handles that" for the umpteenth time, I finally grasped that the company had changed irreversibly.  Talented, vibrant people arrived, each having their own niche, their own field.  This, I would say, was a real turning point.  And Sergey?  Today, Sergey… is able to think strategically, to make plans, to give thought to the future.  The result is the birth of new projects – “MegaText”, for example.

Yet another question: what is Neotech like today?  To what or whom can it be compared?

• Maria Kuzmenko: “You know the supersonic plane, the “Concord”?  It’s quick (quickly translated – or transported (c:), reliable (all systems are duplicated multiple times in case of malfunction), and high-quality (no doubt about that!).  Proof?  But of course!  Piloting of this modern, high-tech machine is entrusted to a professional crew, each member as regular as clockwork, carrying out their specific task directed towards reaching the united goal of all in the minimum time span, making the clientele comfortable and using the latest in technology.  To illustrate a similar example, I’ll also say this: each new project (like each flight) is a new burst of adrenaline.
• One could compare Neotech to a person, as did Dimitry Mityuk: "Neotech is naturally self-confident, in the best sense of the word.  Self-confidence doesn’t in the least mean self-conceit!  Our company is like a person who understands his superiority, and is conscious of his ability to handle any task or problem.  It’s the same as being tall: you just are, and others look up at you.  Neotech has grown up tall…”
• Yuri Vasilkov continues: "He's fairly hard-working, a little talkative, has his own personal style that sets him apart from the crowd, but he can sometimes be passionate and impulsive.  In addition to all this, he’s an incurable idealist.  This is a person for whom money isn’t everything: the main thing is to not be like everyone else, and to help others without holding back."
• Here’s Anna Zolotukhina’s take: “Neotech, to my mind, is a wise, high-minded “woman”, always full of new ideas, thoughts, and ambitions.  To my mind she should always be active, headed somewhere, and growing: there always has to be something new, followed by another something.  That's when she lives and breathes."
• Alexander Podubbny thinks that “Neotech isn’t a person: it’s a family, and we have our own happiness.”
• Co-worker Elena Sokolenko agrees: “Neotech is a big family, living an intense, exuberant lifestyle.  Just like any family, there's room for joy and sorrow, arguments and reconciliations, defeats and victories."

“I want very much for our company to survive.  I want to work with many people for a long time to come, at least while I have the strength.  The company is my life; it's hard for me to imagine myself without it or without many of its employees.  They’re my extended family – each has become a part of my life forever.”  – Sergei Sant.