From director to developer: Justas’ story, and why it makes total sense at Omnisend

At a lot of companies, seeing someone leave a director role to start over as a junior developer might raise a couple of eyebrows. 

But at Omnisend, it mostly raises one question: if this is the work he really wants to do, how do we help him do it?

When Justas Laževnikas joined Omnisend, he wasn’t looking to leverage his CEO experience. He was looking to learn to code, work in a team, and start again. And we made space for that.

Stepping off the ladder

Justas’ career before Omnisend was anything but boring: online poker, banking, CFO by 25, CEO soon after. From the outside, it looked like a straight line up.

But for him, the view from the top wasn’t what he wanted long-term. “I thought it was a much bigger change to come as CFO, so I took another risk,” he says of stepping into the director’s role. 

“At the beginning I was very involved, and keen to move forward, to live up to expectations. It was interesting, but the new job didn’t attract me as much as the finances. I like to dig deep, to understand, and being a manager at that time was like fire-fighting… I didn’t like the nature of the new challenges, and my family situation changed with the birth of a child.”

Programming had been in the back of his mind for years and this time, Justas decided to take it seriously.

Starting from scratch

He approached the change like a calculated bet. “I created a financial plan for 10 months,” said Justas.” I set aside the first four for learning programming — so if it didn’t work out, I’d still have time to get licenses and return to finance. But after four months, I realized it was only getting more interesting.”

The deeper he went, the harder it was to choose just one area. “It was hard to even pick a focus — every area of programming fascinated me, and still does.”

But there were limits to learning alone. “Almost a year later, I realised that I was getting better on my own at a slower pace: I was finding ways around problems, but I didn’t know what were better, easier ways. Without much experience, it was also difficult to evaluate what I found on the internet. I realised it was time to look for a job or an internship to gain experience and speed up the learning process.”

And that’s when Omnisend came into the picture.

The internship that fit

From the start, he was honest: he knew we preferred experienced developers, but he wanted to learn and contribute however he could. The internship gave him exactly that opportunity — real tasks, exposure to multiple teams, and a clear view of how developer work is structured.

And the way Justas approached the role stood out. “I brought with me strong discipline, a solid work ethic, and a serious approach to my job. And in programming, there’s still a whole ocean of things to learn and discover.”

By the end of the internship, it was obvious he belonged here — so he stayed on as a junior developer.

Why stories like this matter for us

It’s easy to say we value learning. It’s a lot harder to live it —  especially when learning means starting again from zero.

But Omnisend’s culture makes this possible, because our values aren’t just slogans — they shape how we act. The ability to operate and feel comfortable in a constantly changing environment is at the core of our skills, and it’s one of our values — adaptability.

Justas’ journey reminded us that this value works both ways. A healthy culture doesn’t just attract the “perfect fit” — it helps people grow into the work that fits them best.

And when someone bets on themselves like that, we all win.

Ready for your plot twist?

If this feels like your kind of story, take a look at our open roles — your next chapter might start here.