Colleague

Karl Tran

Sr. Product Manager

In our employee spotlight series, we invite different employees to share their stories. With a face-to-face interview, we provide you some insight about what their role is and how we work at Genexis.

This time, we had a interview with Karl Tran. Karl works as Senior Product Manager in the Product Management Team. He joined Genexis in 2013.

What do you do as a senior product manager? 

My role is to keep in touch with other product managers, the technical teams, and sales in order to understand the priorities and customer’s needs. I function as a product manager for PON Software (Passive Optical Network), one of the main technologies for fiber-to-the-home. I work with 3 software teams at Genexis by defining the scope and prioritizing tasks. In general, we aim to deliver customer-oriented products on time with the right cost and quality.

 

How did you get started in this industry?

I completed my PhD research in advanced techniques for PON at Eindhoven University of Technology and I joined Genexis afterwards. At that time, Genexis solely focused on PtP (Point-to-Point) products. We launched the first GPON ONT (Element G1030) in 2013, which was challenging technically and commercially at that time. It is because there was virtually no market for third-party ONTs (Optical Network Terminal) and usually people sold both ONT and OLT (Optical Line Terminal) together. No operator believed in interoperability from a third-party ONT. I remembered having to crisscross Europe for interoperability tests at operators who were willing to open their doors for lab tests. Step by step, we gained experience technically and commercially in the PON market and managed to become a strong and independent ONT vendor to allow network operators to have multiple choices for the subscriber. PON has now become one of Genexis’ core technologies and products.

 

You have been working at Genexis for more than 9 years. How have things changed here?

When I first joined, Genexis was a small company with less than 20 people, and now we have over 150 employees. The company’s size has increased a lot. But I think we have maintained a specific culture over the years, which is open, flat, and flexible. Here, we don’t have a hierarchy, and everyone is approachable.

 

What is your favorite part of working at Genexis?

The culture suits me very well. Genexis allows people to have their own sphere to decide what they should do. Of course, we’re working as a team, but everyone can decide how they fit into the big picture.

 

Would you recommend others to come work at Genexis?

Yes. I think I would recommend this to people who want to grow themselves to work here. Because no one will tell you what to do here, and you always need to figure it out and decide for yourself. By doing so, you have the chance to grow.