By vocation IT engineer, by profession supervisor for IT operations in Pivara Skopje. Our current interlocutor, Aleksandar Neshkevski, since his early age knew exactly what he would like to be in his life. Going back to his early childhood, with still fresh memories of the first desktop computers, Aleksandar says that these moments were crucial for the choice of his future profession. He said that his untamed enthusiasm, the desire for advancement and irreconcilable optimism brought him to Pivara Skopje, a company that owns the two basic things necessary for progress and promotion for him as a person and for his profession: constant availability to all the latest technological devices, trends and IT services and best colleagues and leaders who lead it.

1.What is your career path? When and how did you join the team of Pivara Skopje?

Like many other people in my profession, so did I, started working during my studies. While I was a student in the fourth year at the Institute of Informatics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje, I was offered a job as a demonstrator and system administrator in one of the computer laboratories. After finishing the faculty, I just needed a bigger challenge, so the change of the workplace in 2006 came more than welcomed. I started working in Macedonian Post AD, initially as a junior engineer. During my two years of work there, I progressed to the position of network and system administrator responsible for computer equipment and networking of all business units across the post offices throughout Macedonia. Thanks to my untamed enthusiasm, the desire for improvement and incorrigible optimism, in July 2008 I started working in Pivara Skopje AD.

2.What was your dream at the beginning of your career and your vision for professional development? How much Pivara Skopje has helped you to progress and achieve your professional goals?

The desire and the dream for the technology, especially information technology, was present since my early childhood. In primary school when teachers brought us the first, then, desktop computers at the Informatics class in the 7^th grade, I remember sitting four in front of one computer (two in the first row and two in a second).. even then I knew what I would be studying and what would be my professional determination in the future. Pivara Skopje was my next, much more advanced and more professional career level. This company owns the two basic things necessary for development and promotion for me as a person and for my profession: constant availability to all the latest technological devices, trends and IT services and the best colleagues and leaders who lead it.

3.Your position in Pivara Skopje is a supervisor for IT operations? What specifically does this position mean and what are your working responsibilities?

The position that I currently have in Pivara Skopje is very interesting, but on the other hand, it carries a lot of challenges, responsibilities and complexity. I am responsible for the overall IT equipment of all our end users, both for those working inside the company and for those who work outside of it, on the market. The responsibility complicates the fact that Pivara Skopje is a factory in which I can freely say that the work never rests, so that the overall IT equipment, computer systems and the entire IT infrastructure used must be available 24/7. On the other hand, together with my team, we are daily responsible for solving all possible technical computer problems of our end users. I am also responsible for the annual planning, budgeting and maintenance of the entire IT infrastructure in Pivara Skopje, for the purpose of its smooth operation. Here is of course and the IT connection with both Coca-Cola HBC and HEINEKEN corporations and balancing the use of all the IT trends and technologies they implement. However, with the good organization that actually exists in Pivara Skopje and a good team of people, such as the people I work with, even the impossible becomes possible.

4.How important is the providing of computer-technical support to all sectors in order timely and efficient performance of all work activities?

Computer-technical systems and devices nowadays are the basic tools for working and moving businesses forward. People almost can’t imagine their work without a computer, phone or Internet access. In this regard, it is crucial for all those users to provide them with appropriate and timely technical support in order to simplify their daily work and at the end of the day to leave home with a smile on their faces. The vision for me and my team is actually to make the lives of people in Pivara Skopje simpler through the use of technology.

5.Pivara Skopje has its own training center. Do the employees attend some lectures and trainings for IT skills?

With the advancement of global learning systems, normally Pivara Skopje follows all the world trends in training and information literature. Lately, more and more recent is so called “self-learning”, through previously prepared materials created in the form of video trainings, short and detailed video tips, audio and electronic documents. In this way, each of our users can follow training at any time that suits to him or find suitable material only for a specific topic that he needs. In this field I can say that we have huge help from our colleagues from both groups. In Coca-Cola HBC and HEINEKEN, there are development teams for creating all the necessary training and learning materials, and then those materials are available to all of our users in Pivara Skopje through the introduction of the latest development platforms for collaboration and learning of employees.

6.The IT industry is extremely dynamic, what is the participation of the information technology in Pivara Skopje and does the company follow the global trends?

I can proudly say that our company follows all global trends, but it is also one of the leaders in the use and introduction of trends in information technology in its day-to-day operations. As an example, we can point out that we are one of the few companies in Macedonia that long time ago have been fully implemented and works in accordance with the world-renowned SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) software and a standard for corporate operations. On the other hand, we use the latest audio and video technologies for collaboration and communication from the world’s most famous technology manufacturers such as Microsoft, Cisco, Lenovo, Apple, Polycom, etc.

7.How important is the cooperation with the other sectors in the company?

The work in Pivara Skopje and the cooperation with all sectors in it is like a series of links that are interconnected with one another, that work together in order to meet the needs of our customers and consumers. If at least one link from the whole team is weak then it would be very difficult to deliver the ultimate expectations and results. Fortunately, I have the privilege and honor to work in Pivara Skopje together with the best professionals in Macedonia, each in their respective fields of activity. Here, in fact, the experience and skill of older colleagues are intertwined, complemented by the desire for learning and progress of the younger ones, who have almost become members of our family ” Pivarci”. I would end the answer to this question with a quote from one of my sports idols in life, the famous basketball legend Michael Jordan who says: “The talent gets the game / battle, but only the team, team spirit and intelligence is what gets the championship / championship “.

8.According to you, how big is the importance of the IT industry in modern companies and modern work?

Dynamic lifestyles and emerging technologies already require and enable work from anywhere, at any time and from any device. IT industry can be said to be one of the driving forces in modern companies. Nowadays, one cannot imagine any company without using and accepting IT technology. In this regard, companies have two choices: either to quickly accept new challenges and new ways of working through the introduction of digitalization and IT technologies in their everyday life, while certainly pulling ahead to a sustainable and secure future and profit, or staying in the same place waiting to be taken and destroyed by the digital whirlwind created by these previously described companies.

9.Which character do you find inspirational in your profession?

Every person needs to find his own individual path in the development of his career and personality, but the study of the character and features of someone who has already succeeded in it undoubtedly helps. According to me, a person who stands out in the field of information science, and at the same time entrepreneurship, is certainly Steve Jobs. What impresses me most, is above all his unique style of leadership and work. Perhaps many of us will never be able to fully capture its unique qualities, but of course we can learn a lot from what is offered in the available literature and materials for it. Known at the same time after the excessive dedication to work, but also the unquestioning simplicity on the other hand, made him unique in their work. With his creative vision for the future he managed to motivate everyone around him by building one of the world’s largest companies, a leader in many technological areas.

10.What is the professional challenge you set in your career as a peak to which you are heading in the future?

A professional challenge in the future might be to increase my responsibilities and work at a regional level, such as planning and implementing the necessary new IT technologies and devices at a group level, whether in Coca-Cola HBC or in HEINEKEN. In both corporations there are teams composed of IT engineers and IT architects who actually create standards and processes at the corporate level through market research, testing of the latest IT equipment and application of technologies that are not yet available to the wider population. On the other hand, the work itself and business today are too dynamic and variable, so it is never known and cannot be accurately planned what will be my next step. However, I can safely say that whatever I do in the future will certainly be related to technology, in the direction of simplifying the lives of people through the use of it.