From Zero to Hero – this was the idea behind the 2024 edition of TEDxUdvarhely, where twelve speakers shared their amazing stories with the audience. Codespring|SOFTECH team, as one of the main sponsors, is delighted to participate in the groundbreaking event, year after year.

Codespring|SOFTECH is one of the largest private software development companies in Transylvania. As part of our social responsibility, we do our best to support any initiative that contributes to the development of our community and region, especially that of young people; a good example is our cooperation with the TEDxUdvarhely – Odorheiu Secuiesc project.

Active participation of Codespring|SOFTECH at TEDx

This year’s topic, ‘From Zero to Hero’ resonated very well with our team. Besides our local team, some of pur Cluj-Napoca colleagues joined the event to gain new inspiration from the life stories presented on TedX stage. Neither the weather, nor the change of venue discouraged us: we traveled by electric buses provided by the organizers to the Rákóczi Center, located at the outskirts of the city, that turned out to be a well-equipped venue for 800 people.

Olympian Stories

The series were opened by Hosszú Katinka. The Olympic and world champion swimmer spoke candidly about why she moved to Los Angeles only with a single suitcase at the age of 19, and how her self-doubt and questioning her values influenced her final placing at the 2012 London Olympics.

Four years later, winning gold at the Rio Olympic Games became possible after “coming to terms” with the idea of failure and accepting the fact that victory can never be taken for granted. This mindset allowed her to sit still in the waiting room and channel her energy into her performance. Fear of failure can be extremely damaging, but joy and love can mobilize energy that she did not know it existed.

Heroes of the region

In the field of sports, Odoreheiu Secuiesc – Udvarhely featured a special guest who has gone from “small” to mass events. After ten years of a handball career and a sports injury, Ilyés Sándor Lóránd started to take part in hiking challenges and trail running, at a time when this was rather uncommon in Romania. He and fellow participants at these sporting events formed a small, but growing community, and their hobby gradually became a profession. The multiple demands led to the foundation of Feel Good Sports Association, which hosted many recreational and sporting events in the region and is largely responsible for the local “trend” of community running.

This year’s speakers included a number of “everyday heroes” from our region, who were happy to share their extraordinary stories with the audience.

Those who walk the world with open eyes will encounter beauty at every turn, stated Dragoș Asaftei, a talented photographer from Odorheiu Secuiesc – Székelyudvarhely. He gave us an insight into his passion towards photography and into his project, Flying over the Mountains of Romania.

Dog trainer Benkő Zsolt, who has a number of successful dog rescues, joined the stage with his closest “colleague”. The search-and-rescue dog’s appearance was especially praised by the audience.

Dénes Adél, self-made cultural organizer and director of the Petőfi Cultural Agency’s pop music and program department, spoke about the impostor syndrome, the process of constantly questioning herself, and the positive experiences that can be gained from seizing opportunities despite the staggering thoughts.

As a dedicated Hungarian teacher, Tamás Majzik goes far beyond the call of duty: he trains “superheroes” in Dumbraveni, a small Csángó village, that is a village of ethnic Hungarians of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romanian region of Moldavia. He strives to equip himself and his primary school students with the latest technical knowledge, and, as a believer in democratic education, his students are now passing on knowledge to other student communities in robotics, coding and artificial intelligence.

Building On The Greatest Adversity

Some of the speakers presented truly shocking difficulties of their past that have shaped the rest of their lives and motivated them to help others.

The terrifying story of the daughter of Andrea Kali, an actress born in Odorheiu Secuiesc -Udvarhely and living in Cluj-Napoca, was widely publicized. When she faced that her child had been severely abused, she as a mother, together with the social network around them did everything they could to protect her and help her recover. And what’s more, beyond the individual case, their goal was to publish their story in order to shed light on this serious problem that affects so many children but is unfortunately rarely addressed. This is why the documentary ‘Too Close’ was made, as a flagship of an awareness campaign on the issue of child abuse. Professionals have been invited to all screenings of the film to sensitize people to this difficult issue and to foster change in society.

Vásárhelyi Jób Barna, who lives in the Vârghiș – Vargyas Gorge, spoke about his extremely difficult struggles with bursting performative skills. The young man, who grew up in an isolated environment, spoke openly about the abuse he faced during his childhood, his life-threatening incidents, his escape and the process of turning his greatest difficulties to his advantage – as an alpine lumberjack and mountain rescuer, he now profits from the skills he developed in his extremely difficult childhood. Now in his early twenties, he is the guardian of his younger brother, and they have managed to balance their lives. Even though a fire this year destroyed all their hard-earned possessions, the community has pulled them back together to get back on their feet and serve the community by already organizing camps for disadvantaged children.

The series of amazing stories was concluded by Kafiya Said Mahdi. The Somali girl fled to Europe at the age of fifteen to escape from a forced marriage. Her journey to the Hungarian publicity led through refugee camps, prison and children’s home. She starred in a documentary and became a famous model. Hearing her story sheds new light on often-heard phrases such as that we always have a choice, or that we should seize every opportunity to improve ourselves, because even if our life is bad now, tomorrow can always be better. From the very first moment, the audience was captivated by the 25-year-old hero’s eloquent speech in Hungarian.

Powerful Inspiration For Codespring Team

Our Codespring|SOFTECH team was deeply moved by the thoughts conveyed by the speakers. In addition, we had the pleasure to attend various dance and music performances, a comedy night and we could taste some delicious dishes of the best restaurants of the area. Year after year, our colleagues are delighted to join the cavalcade of events at TEDx and return to our everyday lives and work with new inspiration.

Codespring|SOFTECH is a +25 years old software development company. In order to foster growth, besides using state-of-the-art technology and delivering high quality work, we feel it essential to build our community as well. If our ethos appeals to you, send your CV to job@codespring.ro and give yourself a chance to grow a career with us!