Ten years in tech is a long time. At Present Connection, it marks not just experience, but changes in teams, technologies, and people.
To celebrate a 10-year journey, we sat down with one of our long-standing team members. Martynas is a leader who has grown alongside the company, from a small group of developers to a thriving, multi-team environment.
He joined in 2016 and this is his journey.
Where it all started
Back then, the whole development team fit into a small room. There were around 16 developers, no formal introductions, just people figuring things out as they went. Work, conversations, and Counter-Strike during breaks, that was the rhythm.
On the first day, he and another new joiner had to set everything up themselves, computers, desks, even chairs. Some of those chairs didn’t survive the process. The next day, the other person never showed up.
The year was 2016 and the onboarding process was… let’s say, “hands-on.”
“When we started, there were no introduction questions. Now, when people find out something about me, they say, “We didn’t know.”
Growth brought new opportunities, but those early moments still stand out for a reason.
2019, December
How things changed
A lot has changed since then. The company grew, more people joined, office changed. What started with three developers in one project, has grown into teams of more than twenty people. Tools changed too, from client-specific systems to Git and Jira.
There’s also a shift you only notice with time. Years ago, it felt like the client’s developers were from a different generation. Now, new joiners are much younger, and the perspective flips.
“Back then we joked about the client’s developers being old enough to be our parents. Now we can be parents to new developers joining the company. Now I’m starting to feel like an ABL Dinosaur.”
At some point, you realize you’ve been around long enough to see that cycle repeat.
Leading without distance
After ten years, leadership becomes less about position and more about how you work with people.
He doesn’t see himself as a typical manager. The goal is to stay close to the team, to listen, to be approachable. Even small things matter like avoiding overly formal ways of addressing each other, keeping communication simple and human.
“A team lead is like an octopus. When the team grows, you need to grow new arms.At some point you realize you can’t control all of them, so I had to let some go. It worked like a sea star, you split it, and it grows into new ones. Now we have five healthy teams.”
Challenges along the way
Not every part of the journey is clear or easy to explain.
One of the bigger challenges was working on the internal project (career framework). Explaining how it works, trying to make it understandable, and still feeling like people don’t fully get it raises questions. Is it the way it’s presented, or is it too complicated?
Sometimes there isn’t a clear answer.
Over time, Martynas found his own way of dealing with challenges. Solve things quickly when possible. If not, pass them to someone who can grow from them. As he puts it, “I am playing life.” Work becomes something stable, something familiar, while challenges can exist outside of it.
“I try to run from challenges in a way that works for me: by delegating them to people who need them, or by solving them ASAP. “I am playing life” is my motto”.
Why stay
Staying ten years in one company is never about just one thing.
There are obvious parts – office, events, travel, small perks. But those don’t carry you through a decade.
People do.
The teams you work with, the relationships you build, the everyday moments that don’t seem important at the time but add up over the years.
And, as he admits, there’s also something else. Birthdays. Cakes, pies, small celebrations. If it were up to him, the company would have one birthday every day of the year.
“We just need 364 employees, and HR should make sure all birthdays are on different days.”
