Interview with Ágnes Drágus who celebrated her jubilee in 2023

How did you come to work with us for more than 30 years this year? 

I graduated from the Budapest Business School of Commerce in 1993, and after a summer of self-admitted time off, I threw myself into the job search. It wasn't easy but on 18 October of that year I went for an interview at Pannon GSM, which hadn't even been founded yet. At the interview I was asked three questions, the most important was: when could you start? I said tomorrow, and I got the job. 

What position did you apply for then?  

They were looking for an all-rounder, as the positions were not even finalized. I helped with the administration at local level, alongside the foreigners - typically Scandinavians - representing the consortium bidding for the frequency. The whole telecoms thing was new, I hadn't heard of the company before, but I was convinced that you had to start somewhere, if it's administration, it should be administration. 

How was your first day? 

I remember engineers with backpacks walking around (Budapest was the first place in the country to have cell phone coverage), and it slowly hit me that this was going to be a mobile company. The only thing I knew about this area before was that there was Westel 450, where people carried around these huge phones with little suitcases on their shoulders. Then in December 1993, the company was officially formed, and January 1994 found me in a different position.

How did this happen? 

As the company was very young, it was dynamic to change. They were happy with me in my previous role and as I had a degree in economics, I moved into finance, which I found exciting. Of course, in the beginning I was a generalist there too, helping with administration, but luckily I didn't have to do any bookkeeping... After that I soon moved into controlling. I still owe a lot to this field to this day: it was where I learned that there is no single truth but there are different points of view - if I look at a problem from a different angle, I get a different picture. 

By the way, my favourite field is not finance but business controlling. My boss and I used to say that we are the impressionist painters of finance. 

Your current title says you are a Senior Technical Controller. What does that mean? 

Yes, since March 15, 2022, I have had this next to my name (I think this last change was a revolutionary act because of the historical date). One of my superpowers is that I am very good at mediating between finance and those who don't speak the language of finance. I am now in the Planning and Strategic Development department, I mainly consult with engineers and, knowing the financial processes well, I try to support them in pricing and other issues, in decision preparation. I also take care of all the financial-related tasks of the Department, such as providing input for financial forecasting and long-term planning. They are happy to get information and efficient help quickly, and I like that I can dive into finance like a deep-sea diver instead of the high-level perspective I used to have. 

As you said, you have been in your current position for two years. How did you move before, what guided your career changes within the company? 

There was a saying that you had to change every three years. I'm as slow as a snail, so it took me about five years. The need to change, the need to explore a new territory finds me after all this time, and I can experience it hereto the fullest. This is also the driving force behind my 30 years of employment. and includes the fact that I once seemingly changed companies. I was actually working in the regional office of Telenor Common Operation, one of the predecessors of CETIN, where I got to know different cultures, people, travelled a lot and loved this regional cooperation.

If we look at the technology alone, you are a true witness to a great time, a true mobile telecom veteran: you were there in the beginning, you saw the WAP era, you were there in the process from 2G to 5G, the rise of the mobile internet. How did you experience it? 

It's really amazing how much we have changed and developed over the last 30 years. Only a few industries can match it. If I think back, voice used to be the main revenue stream, then SMS, and now it's all about data. 

I was also directly involved in building the financial architecture of two new companies, the second of which, CETIN, was a much more profound contribution on my part.  

Pannon GSM, Telenor, Telenor Common Operation, and now CETIN. What do you really like about CETIN? 

From the beginning, Pannon GSM had a significant Scandinavian ownership, and the Scandinavian work culture and openness was a strong feature of the company, which has remained to this day. At CETIN we are fewer in number, so it is even more true that we focus on tasks rather than titles.  I feel that I am surrounded by very good people. It's fantastic to work with people like that, where you are not competing over why something can't be done, but how it can be done. Everyone is pulling in the same direction, we motivate each other.

What do you do in your spare time? 

On weekends, I have been volunteering at the Blue Line Children’s Crisis Foundation’s (Kék Vonal Gyermekkrízis Alapítvány) youth emotional support service for a year now.

What are you doing there? 

We try emotionally and psychologically supporting young people in crisis who contact us , by empathising with them and by validating their feelings. We don't give them life advice, but we think with them about their problems. There is a lot of stress and anxiety in young people. I also watch myself: it is interesting to see how I react to different situations. We also have supervision at the Foundation, where we bring cases that we have difficulty dealing with or that have really moved us.  

I enjoy doing some good deeds in my community, it makes my life complete. I hope that it can make the world a better place.