After a long break from our last blog post from the Career Map series, we are happy to be back and continue from where we left off! Just like before, our goal is to celebrate our talented employees and how far they’ve come not only in Singular, but during their whole career journey as well. 

For that matter, in this article, we are glad to have Martin Trajkovski, Singular’s Product Owner based in our Skopje Office. When Martin first started in 2017, he was working as a Project Manager of the front-end team, distributed across both Skopje and Tbilisi offices. 

His #SingularStory included lots of growth, as Martin was leading various teams and was in charge of activities such as requirements definition, scope planning, cross-team alignment during development, to name just a few. However, last year Martin was assigned as Product Owner, fully responsible for the Sportsbook Control Center and the Sportsbook Back-End. 

Read below what Martin has to say about his work experience and what soft skills are needed to succeed in the profession. Make sure to check out the infographic at the end of the article!

Which technologies are you working with?

After finishing my studies, I got the opportunity to work at TabTale as an Application Developer, which quite differs when it comes to technologies compared to what I use now as a Product Owner here at Singular. For example, as an Application Developer for interactive and casual games, I mostly worked with Lua and XML. Also, Photoshop came in hand a lot. 

Right now, at Singular, I use another set of technologies, as the position itself requires a bit of a different approach. We use Jira and Confluence for smooth task running and organization in general. Additionally, we also use Notion as it also improves the whole process of notes taking and data management. Other tools that we use a lot are Roadmunk as a roadmap tool and XMind as mind mapping software; and of course, G-suite comes with many benefits, and we make sure to use it whenever it’s suitable.

The most challenging part of your work?

As a Product Owner, there are many different aspects to overlook, organize and manage. Particularly when the company has multiple teams in various locations. I always pay a lot of attention to team communication and ensure to align everyone with the priorities. I make sure everyone is doing what they need to do and provide them assistance if needed. 

Another challenging aspect is forecasting deliveries. The process itself can be affected by many different factors. One of these factors can sometimes be the change of priorities during the development process. In this situation, it is important to know how to manage the expectations of the clients and the company management. Also, it’s important to align everything with the end goal. 

Last but not least, I find the lack of information before planning to be challenging. Slack and other communication tools can address this challenge effectively.

The most important skill a person should develop to be successful in this profession?

Being a team player is the number one skill that everyone should develop. I would also say that dedication is much needed. Without it, it will be easy to lose focus. Accountability and transparency are always important for smooth task running. 

For those who want to take on a more senior role and lead a team, I recommend strengthening their listening and communication skills. This will help them better understand and lead their team. Bonus points if you have a good sense of humor! Working can be intense and exhausting sometimes, so having a good laugh with the team can improve the general mood. And last, I recommend being up to date with the latest technology.

Being a Product Owner is a challenging job. But we’re glad to have someone as organized and dedicated as Martin is. Thanks to his qualities, our Sportsbook and SCC teams work efficiently and are always meeting the goals. Kudos to Martin! If you want to join the #SingularTeam and work on award-winning solutions, you can browse our available jobs. 

Stay tuned for our next Career Map article and until then, check out the infographic below.