Pavel Dobry, Engineering Director and Zdenek Samuel, Director of QA joined Kerio in July 2001. Having spent 15 years at Kerio, we decided to quiz them on life at the company:

How did you find out about Kerio?

PD: "I attended a local job fair and met one of the company founders there. Immediately after I applied for a job."

ZS: "My schoolmate, who worked here, told me that Kerio was looking for a new person in the technical support department. I attended an interview and joined Kerio shortly after my graduation."

Was there anything that stood out about your first day at Kerio?

PD: "Everyone in the company was my age and open to new ideas. I was surprised to start work on a product on day one. I instantly realized this was the place I wanted to work at."

ZS: "I remember feeling proud that I got the job and looked forward to getting started."

Can you describe Kerio in one word?

PD: "Unique."

ZS: "Opportunity!"

What does Kerio mean to you on a personal and professional level?

PD: "Kerio has given me room to develop my coding and engineering skills, and the opportunity to build my career. I have met a lot of talented people here and I enjoy working with them. On a personal level, Kerio is like my second family and it has given me many wonderful friends."

ZS: "The most valuable thing that Kerio has given me is opportunity. The opportunity to meet great people, who are a joy to work with. The opportunity to work on products that are used by people all over the world. The opportunity to continuously improve. It's my pleasure to be part of this amazing company."

What are some of your fondest memories of your 15 years at Kerio?

PD: "There is so many of them! From midnight LAN game parties, poker parties, product release celebrations to team building activities. One that stands out is from the Kerio 10 year anniversary party, where colleagues from the UK office and San Jose office joined us for a spectacular celebration. Seeing people from several Kerio offices in one place made me very proud of what we are doing and what Kerio is."

ZS: "I have seen a lot during 15 years. I have nice memories of Invex (Czech IT exhibition), the Kerio 10 year anniversary, company-wide team building, all team events, karaoke when we were drinking to celebrate the birth of our colleague's son, my first trip to the USA, when I was talking in front of people on a conference stage for the first time and many many others."

Can you recall a funny moment you’ve had at Kerio?

PD: "We have a lot of fun at work including classic office pranks. The funniest, however, are specific IT pranks. In the early years of Kerio, during testing of our firewall product, we redirected access to one very popular IT online magazine on a company firewall for Kerio users to our own, alternative, and very funny version."

ZS: "When we celebrated Kerio's 10th anniversary we went by historical steam train. On the way back we found that we had one backpack more which meant we were one guy less. When he arrived by hitchhike to the hotel, he told us how he had gotten lost in a deep forest (which was in actual fact just a park)."

What future endeavors are you looking forward to at Kerio?

PD: "Conquering the land of cloud unified communication solutions."

ZS: "Making Kerio become a thorn in the sides of those companies, which are currently leading in cloud."

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