It was almost exactly three months ago that the corona-related emergency was declared in Austria. The world held its breath in March, April and May, and most of the work on the construction sites was stopped. Nevertheless, we at eguana used this time productively. In the meantime, the situation has calmed down and even though the virus is still present and will be for some time, the construction sites picked up their work again and with this, made a huge step back to normal conditions.
I myself, spent the last weeks working from my dining table and reduced the contact to colleagues and friends since Zoom, Skype, and Houseparty are just not the real thing. Therefore, I am highly interested about what has happened in our office since March 15. Luckily, our CEO Philipp Maroschek kindly took some time to answer some questions.
Philipp, you are an absolute pro in multitasking. Besides working at eguana you collected a range of academic titles, started a family, are fit as a fiddle and, it seems you still have a lot of spare time (to learn more about Philipp, just click here). My first question for you is also the trickiest one: do you manage to describe your job in only 10 words?
Innovative, demanding, creative, flexible, gruelling, exhaustive, inspiring, perfect – Rock ‘n’ Roll!
Well done, really just 10 words! Back to the real topic, Corona. What was first on your mind when you heard about the actions announced on March 15? How did the work change for eguana (in the office and at the construction sites)?
My first though was: f§%! Hopefully this won´t be as bad is sounds in the media. Since we have a strong connection to the construction sites which needed to pull the emergency break due to the actions, we stepped back as well and had time to calm down and focus. Since SCALES and our services are mainly digital we changed to home office for all employees. I especially don’t want to miss the time at home with my family. We all really enjoyed it.
Any other news at eguana?
A lot! We have received commitments to some research projects, including those with international research partners, and we have some exciting projects in the pipeline. Regarding the measures related to COVID-19, many new and old ideas popped up about work-life balance which we will evaluate in the upcoming weeks.
How do you continue the rest of the year regarding work? What´s on your to-do-list, what do you wish for?
I hope well. With regard to our R&D activities, we are very busy and we also hope for some large projects in Germany and abroad that could possibly start this year. Also, I hope that everyone stays healthy and that we can continue to implement exciting projects together with our customers and partners.
If you would need to describe your work at eguana with a book or film title, which one would you take?
Definitely Rocky!
With which quote would you describe yourself?
“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do” – Walter Bagehot. If someone tells me “that´s not possible”, “that won´t work” or “you can´t do it”, that gives me an incredible motivation and drive. If I have something in my head, I’ll do it. Sometimes maybe a bit too much… at least that´s what my wife says – haha.
The most important question in the end: how do you celebrate June 10th? Do you rather celebrate the ice-tea-day, the day of the pen, or do you wait until the 11th to celebrate the day of the German chocolate cake? (It has nothing to do with Germany actually, but with the American Samuel German who invented the chocolate bar for the Baker´s Chocolate Company in the middle of the 19th century)
Of course I celebrate Michi 😉 It´s his birthday!
Ops, completely forgot about this. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHI!
