Marian Miliozzi's story is one of passion, adaptability, and continuous growth. Before joining Avature in 2021 as Custom Reports Analyst, Marian had a background in graphic design and worked in administrative roles. His journey into the tech world began with a large-scale data migration project. This challenge sparked his interest in data analysis and programming, leading him to pursue a career in technology and eventually discover Avature.
In this interview, Marian shares how his initial role in the company evolved, the key experiences and skills that contributed to his rapid progression, the most rewarding aspects of his role, and how he balances his adventurous pursuits, like scuba diving, with his life at Avature.
Just as he navigates the depths of the ocean, let’s dive into Marian's inspiring journey and discover what drives his passion and dedication in his role at Avature.
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What initially drew you to Avature? When and how did your journey begin?
Well, I can start by telling you a bit about my life before Avature, because that’s when I discovered my passion for programming.
I have a background in graphic design and previous experience working in administrative roles at a public university in Argentina. One day, I was asked if I could handle the data migration of years of academic history to another system, and I eagerly accepted the challenge. During this process, I discovered a data analysis course with Python and fell in love with the language. Until then, Excel was the most sophisticated tool I knew, and though I've always been quite good with computers, nothing was as advanced as Python. Through the course, I realized I wanted to learn everything about it and the backend of systems, rather than just the frontend aspects.
A year later, I enrolled in the data science program at Digital House while continuing to work as a data migrator at the university. I soon realized I wanted a change, and started sending my CV everywhere. That's when I found Avature.
Joining a tech company was a completely different, new, and exciting universe for me. Although I didn’t have much experience, I applied anyway as a data analyst. Avature replied to my application, we set up a meeting, and I fell in love with the company instantly. After a few interviews, I was offered a job on the Custom Reports team, and I accepted right away. I joined Avature in 2021 as a custom reports analyst.
Can you share how your journey has evolved from this starting point to becoming the Technical Leader of the team? What key experiences or skills do you believe contributed to this transition?
Sure! Back in 2021, my team was small, but today we have grown to almost 20 people worldwide, with even some specialized sub-teams. Shortly after I joined, we underwent a lot of internal changes, and I quickly found myself as the most experienced member. Back then, we were constantly receiving challenging technical requests that required a lot of back-and-forth to define needs and implement solutions. That’s when our manager had the idea to create a technical analysis role to determine if a case was ready for development or needed further info, and she assigned this task to me. I became “the filter,” ensuring that cases were ready for developers to work on with all the required information. This significantly improved our performance: according to our KPIs, we managed to cut the developers' time in half within six months. That’s quite impressive!
Alongside Dani Lopez Seco, QA Engineer within our team, we started reviewing and analyzing a large number of cases, staying on top of everything happening within the team. Additionally, our manager noticed that I was creating tools and shortcuts in code to save time, automating many of my own processes. I was (and still am) deeply involved in tools and automation. For example, I enhanced a tool that migrates reports, enabling it to handle larger volumes of work, such as migrating 40 reports at once. This helped the team a lot, and I absolutely love being able to help them, not by solving their cases directly but by providing tools and training so they can solve things themselves.
I think all this, coupled with my strong desire to learn and explore new things, led me to become the Technical Leader of the team in 2023.
What aspects of your role do you find most rewarding?
For the first time in my life, I can proudly say I am passionate about my job. A while ago, our Technical Services Director asked me if we could create a tool to generate reports automatically. Once again, I accepted the challenge and developed it. Today, Avature, a company with over 1,800 people, uses that tool, and I find immense joy in that. It's incredibly rewarding to see tools I've created being used and appreciated by colleagues all over the world.
What I also find rewarding about my job is the constant opportunity to expand my knowledge. Whether through watching videos, learning new things, reading, or simply talking with people from my team or other, I'm always expanding my understanding and skills.
Now, moving on to your personal life, I heard you’re passionate about scuba diving. That’s really cool! How do you balance your adventurous pursuits with your professional commitments at Avature?
At Avature, I've found a great work-life balance that allows me to enjoy my passion for scuba diving. I love going on diving trips with my family, including my dad and siblings. We often spend weeks living on a boat, dedicating our free time to exploring amazing underwater locations.
These trips require a lot of organization and planning in advance. Thankfully, I can plan my vacations ahead of time and let my team know when I’ll be taking some time off. Everything runs smoothly while I'm away, as expected, which allows me to fully enjoy my adventures knowing that things will continue to be okay those days.
Do you think you’ve earned any lessons or insights from your diving experiences that you are able to apply to your life at Avature?
A key lesson I've learned from my diving experiences is the importance of staying calm, something I also noticed in my previous Technical Leader, who is now the manager of our team. Whenever I went to him with problems, he always conveyed a sense of calmness. Now, I try to pass on the same to my team.
A personal anecdote from my scuba diving trips that reflects this is from when I first joined Avature as an analyst and went on a trip to Egypt. I used up my air tank faster than everyone else, and on a later trip to the Maldives, I found I had more air left at the end of the dive. This shows how much I've grown in my ability to remain calm, despite being naturally anxious — a skill I leverage from, both in my personal and professional life.
As someone who has grown within the company, how have you seen Avature's culture evolve over time?
I love Avature's culture. I've worked in much more rigid and negative environments before, such as being a security guard at a bank. At Avature, I found a positive atmosphere that feels almost unreal. It’s not about my team, it’s everywhere, in everyone.
I don't feel that the culture has changed since I joined the A-Team; instead, it has improved itself over time.
For people interested in joining the A-Team, particularly in technical roles, what advice or insights would you offer based on your experience?
I recommend always striving to improve yourself, not just for the sake of landing a great job, but for personal growth. I don’t like the phrase "that's how it was done before" and greatly appreciate Avature’s openness to constantly improve things. We embrace change here, and an example of that is what I mentioned earlier about my previous technical analysis role. I had the freedom to focus on developing tools to improve processes, and these tools are still used by the entire team worldwide.
After this brief walk down memory lane, how do you envision your future at Avature?
I fondly remember the day I received the job offer from Avature, celebrating with my wife. We were both so happy! For me, the sky's the limit at Avature, and I don't see my role as Technical Leader as the final position I'll hold in the company. The best is yet to come!