31 Hours in Lviv: Witnessing Resilience and Heritage in a City of Strength
My name is Kristyl Gomes. In my seven years at Liquibase, a database software company, I’ve held many titles culminating in my current role as Vice President of Engineering. I’m fortunate and grateful to lead a remarkably proficient engineering team at our Austin, TX, HQ and distributed across the U.S., Europe, and South America. Our largest international team, from premier IT consulting/digital services provider SoftServe, is located in Ukraine.
In September of last year, I was sitting across the table from Viktoriia D., the Delivery Director from SoftServe, who was visiting Austin from her current base in Bulgaria. In due course, she started to tell me about another U.S. client who just visited their teams in Ukraine, and had undertaken the trip even though it was not without risk.
The first thought that ran through my head on hearing those words was — “I want to do that, I want to visit my engineers in Ukraine.” And so, I found myself telling Viktoriia that I would like to go to Ukraine myself.
A visit to Ukraine was something that I was on the verge of planning in early 2020, but then the pandemic broke out. Two years later, Ukraine was under a vicious and brutal attack by Russia. Now, in 2024, the war still rages on and the Ukrainians are forced to endure, which they do with fierce resilience and commendable patriotism.
I later realized how naive my travel dream sounded even to me, someone who’s always considered myself to be a physical risk taker. I’ve completed a couple of Half Ironmans, climbed the cable route to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, jumped willingly out of a plane to skydive and bungee jumped over a rainforest in Cairns; but now as a mother of two young children, the idea sounded almost ludicrous when spoken aloud.
And so, I tucked the thought away for several months.
Things changed for me in January of this year as I approached the one-year mark of taking over as VP of Engineering at Liquibase. The milestone made me take stock of how far my team had come, how many successful releases we had accomplished in 2023 alone, and how well we all worked together as a completely remote team. We have engineers in many different corners of the world, and despite the challenges that some of my engineers were still facing, we have built a supportive, successful and innovative team culture.
This reflection made me change my mind. I wouldn’t be in the position I am in, nor enjoying any kind of success as a technical leader, if it were not for the people on my team and that certainly includes the engineers in Ukraine. Liquibase hosts events where I am lucky enough to be able to bring all engineers on my team to my home base of Austin, TX to meet in person. Due to border restrictions, this simply was not a possibility for my teammates living in Ukraine. They could not come here, so I would need to go to them.
I told Patti Soch, the CEO of Liquibase, that I wanted to make a trip into Ukraine. I wanted to be there, in person, to show our Ukrainian Liquibasers that I truly valued their commitment to the engineering team and to Liquibase. I wanted to acknowledge their contributions. Just as much as any other engineer — they are building our software, driving innovation, establishing themselves as great colleagues and friends who bring enthusiasm and dedication every day. And above all, I wanted to show them that they had, and have, my unwavering support.
Patti’s response was immediately supportive. I was a little surprised, I expected some resistance due to the risk, but I should have never expected anything different from her. However she advised that I should not go alone, and recommended I take someone with me.
A short while later, I was astounded when she sent me a message “If you go to Lviv, I’d be willing to go with you….if you want me.”
Like I said, I should never have been surprised. Patti and I were on the same page. This trip needed to happen, and if anything it was long overdue.
And so it began…
A “mere” 4 months later we were stepping off the train at Lviv in Ukraine after traveling in from Krakow and Przemyśl.
Lviv is an old city founded in the mid 13th century and located about 40 miles away from the Polish border. A breathtakingly beautiful city, it is filled with historic landmarks and its city center is on the Unesco World Heritage list.
It is home to the stunning Lviv Theatre of Opera & Ballet, the stately Bernadine Church, and the quaint Rynok Square among many other significant structures. The primary reason I have any knowledge of these places is because one of our engineers, Roman BD, spent numerous hours giving us a personalized walking tour through Lviv.
The tour is just one of the many, many touching ways in which our teams in Ukraine (and in Poland, which we later visited) went out of their way to make sure Patti and I were not only well cared for, but also educated and entertained. From the fascinating to the notable, they went out of their way to show us around their gorgeous cities and introduce us to experiences we otherwise would never have been able to partake of.
Our Ukrainian friends are warm and genuine, each with distinctly unique personalities that shone through as we chatted non-stop for hours while exploring the city. For example, I always knew that Taras R. has a wicked sense of humor and that Roman is a witty and charming host, but our in-person conversations brought these qualities to the forefront in a touching way. I now know exactly where the team in Lviv sometimes stops by for a beer after work: the Winston Churchill Pub, located just steps from the Opera House. It’s also Taras’ favorite bar, and we couldn’t resist stopping in for a quick drink ourselves. Additionally, we are now convinced that Roman might be a descendant of King Danylo, the founder of Lviv, who named the city after his son, Lev. (This may not be entirely accurate, but after witnessing Roman’s deep knowledge about his city, Patti and I are convinced it must be. And the fact that he bears a remarkably similar last name as Lviv’s founder).
We dined on authentic Ukrainian Borscht & Vareniki at Hutsulskyi Dvir, drank Nalyvyky at Bachevskyi and ventured deep beneath the ground at the Lviv Underground Coffee Mine to sip on blowtorched crystallized coffee. We climbed five floors up to the roof of Hutsulskyi Dvir to be treated to a picturesque view of Old Town Lviv. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, it was a glorious day filled with sunlight and the rays of light glistened off a multitude of pink and white flowers. In every direction we looked, we could see tall church spires. I counted five as I looked around all within a stone’s throw distance, which to me as a Catholic felt familiar and comforting.
The experience felt surreal and there were moments where I told myself to pause and really take it all in.
Despite the fact that we were warmly guided through the city of Lviv by our colleagues, there were reminders that an unwanted and cruel war is still being inflicted on the citizens of Ukraine, who didn’t ask for any of this.
Reminders like the power going out, on more than a couple of occasions — both at the hotel and at the restaurant we were in (they compensate by having adjustments like a “menu without lights” section). As we checked into our hotel in Lviv and as we later walked in front of the Opera house, air sirens suddenly went off with alarming volume (we were quickly reassured that these were just drills).
I’ve traveled a fair bit across Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas, and I’ve always encountered people who look like me, i.e., brown-skinned people. However, for the first time in my life, as I looked around on the train from Poland to Ukraine and walked through Lviv, I realized this was not the case. Given the ongoing war, very few foreigners are entering Ukraine, for business or otherwise.
Another reminder. This was not “normal”. It was a clear sign that I was experiencing extraordinary times in an extraordinary place.
I’m glossing over many details. When I first told my husband that I wanted to go on this trip, he questioned my sanity and was decidedly not in favor. My parents and siblings’ reactions were much the same. My daughter looked at me and said with startling clarity for an eight-year old, “Mommy, that is not wise.” But with time and reasoning they came to a reluctant acceptance and slight understanding.
To a certain extent, I was able to get across to my husband that this trip was not about me, it was about my colleagues and friends on the other side of the world who could not come to the United States.
For me as a leader, it was important to go to them, and now. In my seven years with Liquibase, every major engineering effort at Liquibase, whether in the products or otherwise has involved the engineers from Ukraine. There is no question my engineering team would not be considered as performant and versatile as it is now if it were not for every single one of my engineers. The Ukrainian engineers have been thrust into the heart of an unrelenting and undesired war, they have had to navigate more hardships and trials than anybody else on my team.
Early on in the war, I recall one of my engineers taking a meeting while being huddled in a doorway of his house, explaining that it was the safest place for him to shelter. Another engineer explained that he would be sporadic in attendance for a while because he was volunteering to help people who needed aid and assistance. Yet another indicated that he would be away for a few days while he took his family closer to the border of a neighboring country.
In those days of uncertainty, Liquibase and I, did whatever we could to reassure them that their jobs were secure. My primary concern was their well-being and safety and that they knew that we wanted them to take care of themselves and their families first. Eventually they did, but they also made something clear — they were choosing to show up every day to work despite the horrific disruptions, because as they said “working keeps us distracted from the other realities around us” and “when we work, we get paid, and those funds will help the Ukrainian government and our armed forces to fight back.”.
This is the kind of people they are to their core — courageous, tenacious, loyal, and endearing.
When the opportunity to finally meet them in person arose, I knew I had to seize it. I’m incredibly grateful that Patti and I made this trip and spent as much time as we did visiting them in their cherished homeland. Sharing this unique experience with Patti has only deepened my respect and admiration for her, something I didn’t think was possible. My only regret is that we didn’t stay longer, but I know that these memories will stay with me for a lifetime.
There are a few names I must mention — Taras R., Tymofii, Ruslan, Pavlo, Oleh, Roman-BD, Taras A., Yevhenii, Andrii T., Vitalii, Viktor P., Kostiantyn , Olha, Anna, Viktoriia, Andrii C., Oleksandr, Natalia & Viktor K. — each of them remind me that it is possible to face adversity with grace and dignity.
Slava Ukraini!
