When Zuzana Samaj left Slovakia for London more than a decade ago, she didn’t expect that a chance message from a recruiter would lead her to Cloudinary, or that she’d one day help launch new products as Director of Emerging Business. With a background in computer science and a passion for connecting people through technology, she’s built a career around translating complex ideas into practical solutions. We recently sat down with Zuzana and asked her to share her journey from developer to business leader, her thoughts on AI’s next chapter, and the one skill she believes every technologist needs to grow.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where you’re based, your background, and what led you to Cloudinary.
I’m based in London, UK, but I’m originally from Slovakia. I moved because I met a guy! So I came here and now I live in London for more than 10 years.
My background is in Computer Science. After university, I worked in technical customer roles, the jobs where you talk to customers about technology. I like helping people use tech better and I like to talk.
I got to Cloudinary because an external recruiter messaged me a lot. I finally took a call with her because she was so persistent! The biggest reason I joined was the people here. Everyone I met during the interviews was very nice, so I thought, “Why not?” and I gave it a chance!
You recently made the switch from Solution Engineer to Director of Emerging Business. What sort of skills did you carry over from the developer side of your career to the go to market side?
The biggest advantage is my deep understanding of the technology. My new role is all about being the translator: I take complex tech and explain it to all our go to market teams so they can have meaningful conversations with customers about their problems. I also take my go to market experience and I explain that process back to developers.
It also helps that I was already heavily involved in pre-sales conversations. I’m not coming into this role without ever having talked to a customer.
The rest is a learning process, but I’m excited to use these skills to help launch super successful new products from our emerging business line!
You’ve done a lot of work encouraging women to get into tech. As this relates to the Dev community, do you think perceptions towards women in tech have changed?
The most important (and a bit selfish) reason I encourage women to get into tech is simple: I want more female friends in the office! It makes a huge difference to have someone you can chat with over a coffee in the kitchen about both work and all the other things in life. That kind of camaraderie is incredibly valuable.
What dev trends are top of mind these days?
For me, the top trend is verifying what AI actually delivers.
When I see news or a demo about a new AI feature, I don’t just believe the marketing. I test it. I need to get hands-on to see if it really can do what it promises.
This is critical. It allows me to figure out if an AI feature is truly ready to help our customers now or if they should be wary of a temporary marketing tactic. We have to be honest about what the tech can do today.
What should female developers early in their career be thinking about and focusing on?
The single most important thing to focus on is communication.
You can have brilliant knowledge, but if you can’t communicate it well, it all stays in your head, and you won’t get external benefits from your work.
Everyone in tech should be able to clearly communicate at least these areas:
- Explain your decisions. Practice clearly explaining why you chose a technical solution.
- Speak up. Make sure your contributions and ideas are heard in meetings.
- Ask for what you need. Clearly ask for help when stuck, or ask for the resources and opportunities you want.
Your communication skills are what turn your technical expertise into career growth.
Fun fact about you. Hobbies? Met anyone interesting lately? Book recommendation?
I believe in community, so when I like something, I immediately try to get others involved! I love running, so I started running groups for parents at my kid’s school and here in the Cloudinary London office. On the weekends, my kids and I spend at least an hour in the pool swimming, diving, and playing games.
Read any good books lately?
My latest recommendation is Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans. It made me laugh so hard on the train that the person sitting next to me actually checked to see if I was OK! It was a much-needed escape from reality.
