MEET THE TEAM NICOLAE CIBUC NOC TEAM LEADER
Today, in our Meet the Team series, we invite you to get to know Nicolae Cibuc, one of our NOC Team Leaders.
❓How was the transition from a NOC engineer role to becoming a Team Leader?
➡️The transition was both exciting and challenging. As an engineer, my success was defined by my technical contributions: how quickly I could troubleshoot an issue, the quality of my documentation, and my mastery of our systems. As a Team Lead, my success became measured by the team’s performance and growth.
❓What has been the biggest challenge you faced in this role, and how did you overcome it?
➡️The biggest challenge was moving from “doing” to “enabling.” I had to consciously step back from being the primary troubleshooter on every major incident and instead focus on guiding my team, providing them with the resources and context they needed to succeed. It required developing a new set of muscles in coaching, delegation, and seeing the bigger operational picture.
❓How do you keep your team motivated during night shifts or high-pressure moments?
➡️I constantly connect their work to the bigger picture, making sure the team understands their critical contribution. Celebrating small wins during incidents, like ruling out a major root cause, helps maintain momentum and makes the team feel valued.
❓What has been the most rewarding achievement for your team so far?
➡️Our most rewarding achievement was identifying and mitigating a critical network issue that would have caused a major outage during a flagship product launch. Instead of just reacting to alerts, my team analyzed performance trends and noticed a potential bottleneck that existing monitoring had not flagged. They collaborated with the network and infrastructure teams, validated the hypothesis, and implemented a scaling solution before it became customer impacting.
❓Which qualities do you consider essential for being a great NOC Team Leader?
➡️Beyond solid technical fundamentals, I believe three qualities are essential:
– the ability to absorb complex information and make calm, clear decisions that keep incidents moving forward.
– understand the pressures your team is under, what motivates each individual, and how to communicate in a way that builds trust rather than fear.
– a great NOC Lead doesn’t just manage their team, they build strong, collaborative relationships with every other team we interact with. This breaks down silos and makes problem-solving more efficient.
❓What brings you the greatest personal satisfaction in your role?
➡️The greatest personal satisfaction comes from seeing a junior engineer I have mentored successfully lead the resolution of a complex, high severity incident. Watching them confidently coordinate with other teams, and apply the troubleshooting methods we practiced is incredibly rewarding. It is the moment where investment in their growth pays off for the entire team.
We are proud to have leaders like Nicolae guiding our teams at ITcare
