January 16, 2026 ⏱️ 10 min
By Cristina V.
At NetRom Software, we truly believe that change begins with learning.
Learning has the power to change not just people, but entire communities and industries as well. Which is why, for the past 20 years, our corporate social responsibility efforts have been centered around learning.
As we move forward with the ever-expanding challenges associated with sustainability, transparency, and impact, education becomes an essential part of our journey in becoming a responsible organization ready for the future.
Why Education Matters to Us
In tech, innovation is born from curiosity and knowledge. Every piece of code, every idea begins with an individual who had an opportunity to gain knowledge, receive guidance, and be motivated.
That’s why education is not just a focus within CSR for us, but a core element of our Sustainability Report and the “2025-2030 Strategy”, particularly in the area of “People & Communities”. It also supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 4, “Quality Education”.
But beyond plans and reports, we believe education is where we can make the biggest difference. We not only bring our resources, we bring our passions, our time, and our experience , and it is something that gives us, #teamnetrom, our greatest sense of pride.
Creative Ways of Bringing Learning to Life
Our approach to education is not formal or strict. People learn best when it feels meaningful, accessible and connected to real life.
This sometimes means opening our office doors to young students who have never seen how a software company works, or bringing our experts into classrooms, transforming abstract concepts into relatable experiences. Other times, it means organizing donation campaigns to make sure no student begins the school year unprepared. It can also mean visiting high schools with a team of inspiring women from NetRom, meeting groups of teen girls and showing them, through real examples, that a career in IT is fully accessible to them, that this is not a space reserved only for boys.
Every initiative is based on the same belief: we invest in people, because people shape the future.
As we formalize our sustainability commitments through CSRD and ESG reporting, these educational programs matter even more. They show our goal to stay transparent, responsible, and involved in our communities. They also help us turn our plans into real actions that make a difference.
Below are two recent initiatives that reflect this vision in action.
Educational Partnership
In 2025, one of our most rewarding initiatives was the expansion of our collaboration with a well-known private high school, the first private high school of this kind in Craiova. After successful collaborations in previous years, we became the school’s official educational partner, with a long-term commitment to supporting the development of its students.
Each week, our colleagues directly engage with 9th grade students in the “Info” specialization, following a custom curriculum built together with their team. We begin from the very basics: roles that are needed in a software team, skills and pathways, and then proceed gradually toward more technical and programming-oriented topics.
The program spans four years and is organized into four modules, covering themes such as:
- the IT industry and its key domains
- modern technologies
- essential skills for future careers
- competitive programming (in partnership with the Faculty of Automation, Computers & Electronics)
What’s special about this initiative is that it’s real . It’s not just about the use of slides and abstract examples – we share real stories, insights from our teams, real challenges and real projects.
Through such weekly classes, we are able to show the students how the world of IT looks like and who they can become in it. We guide them on balancing hard and soft skills, exploring different roles, and building the right mindset for success in technology.
In many ways, this partnership can be considered a form of applied career counselling, rooted in real life and long-term guidance. It completely matches our Sustainability Strategy 2025–2030, especially the People & Community Rights area, as it provides youth with access to information, skills, and direction at a very important stage of their development.
Ultimately, this collaboration represents an investment in people, in education, and in the future of our community.
Back2School
Every September, something special happens at NetRom Software.
Long before the first school bell rings, before our calendars fill up with fall projects, our teams begin preparing for one of the traditions that defines us: Back2School, our long-running CSR campaign dedicated to supporting children from small rural communities in Dolj County and, more recently, Timiș County.
Ten years ago, Back2School started as a simple idea: “let’s help a few kids start school with what they need”. Now, it’s one of our most loved company traditions and has become a community movement built on kindness, volunteering and our belief that every child deserves a good start to the school year.
Each year, weeks before school begins, the PR&Social Group launches an invitation to all colleagues: “Are we ready to do good again this September?” And every year, the response is the same — a wholehearted yes.
The company provides the schoolbags and basic materials; our colleagues bring the rest: time, dedication, and the joy of giving. Teams organize themselves naturally — by office, by project, by friendship circles. They “adopt” a child from the list of beneficiaries and prepare a backpack filled with everything that little student might need: notebooks, pencils, colored markers, creative kits, personal items, encouragement notes, and sometimes even small surprises.
Early in September, on the first day of school, a small group of NetRom colleagues drive to the chosen schools. Sometimes the roads are narrow, the classrooms are small, and the communities are quiet and remote.
But the moment we enter the classroom, everything changes. There’s laughter, shyness and amazed faces. Small hands reach into new backpacks. Motivational badges are pinned to shirts. Teachers are grateful. Colleagues are moved. And children feel seen, supported, and encouraged.
It reminds us that generosity doesn’t have to be big to matter. Sometimes, it just needs to reach the right place at the right time.
Ten Years of Good Deeds and Big Smiles
Over the years, Back2School has reached children in villages with few opportunities and limited resources. For many, getting a backpack full of school supplies is not just helpful—it’s motivating, encouraging, and truly meaningful.
Here are some of the communities we have supported so far:
- Velești (Dolj) – 2015
- Lăcrița (Dolj) – 2016
- Leordoasa (Dolj) – 2017
- Back2School Online Edition – 2020 (tablets for children to be able to attend online classes)
- Botoșești-Paia (Dolj) – 2021
- Charlottenburg (Timiș) & Gogoșu (Dolj) – 2022
- Dragșina (Timiș) & Galicea Mare (Dolj) – 2023
- Bistreț (Dolj) – organized in collaboration with “Pro-Rezilienta” NGO.
Beginning with a few dozen children, we have expanded to the point that we are now providing Back2School Backpacks to full schools of preschool, primary, and even secondary school children. In total, over 160 children have received Back2School backpacks, each one packed with care and the hope of making a child’s autumn brighter.
Why Back2School Matters to Us
The reasons NetRom’s Back2School is so much more than our annual giving event. It reflects what our community is about: a group of people who quietly, steadily and happily do good.
It shows who we are, a community that does good quietly, consistently and with joy.
For us, education is the most powerful long-term investment we can make in the communities around us.
Through this project, we support:
- equal opportunities, making sure that children from vulnerable backgrounds are not left behind;
- community development, by helping schools with limited resources;
- local partnerships, identifying small communities where our intervention makes a real difference;
- social engagement, one of the key elements of the Social (S) pillar in our ESG commitments.
Beyond this, Back2School builds something fundamental in our company: a culture of care, empathy and solidarity.
Back2School 3.0
What makes Back2School special is that it is an ongoing process, not a scheduled event, simply because our colleagues are the ones who voluntarily decide to join every year. They volunteer, suggest new communities, prepare backpacks with enthusiasm, wake up early to deliver them and keep the tradition alive.
In 2025, Back2School 3.0 came to mean not just a single event, but an entire series of events that span the 2025/2026 school year. This setup is based on a simple belief: community impact grows when people can contribute in ways that fit them best.
At NetRom, we understand that paying it forward has many different faces. Some colleagues contribute financially, others offer their time or hands-on help and many share their experience and skills. Back2School 3.0 aimed to include all these ways of contributing, so everyone can find a role that feels right.
The first part of the campaign, “Donor – One Child, One Warm Smile”, ran from September to December 2025. It started on the International Day of Charity and ended on International Volunteer Day. The focus was on giving winter clothing kits to children in need. Donations were never simple trades, colleagues worked together across teams and locations to prepare personalized kits with empathy, care and respect for each child.
The end of this first phase was a big step forward. For the first time, we invited the children to our offices in Craiova and Timișoara, making the end of the campaign a shared experience instead of just a handover.
During their visit, the children explored our offices, met our colleagues and talked about school, interests and aspirations. Many of them probably have never been to an office before, and it excited their curiosity and boosted their confidence. They also proved to us that support can be most effective when it is personal and genuine.
More than 240 colleagues got involved in this first act, all sharing ideas, resources and care to build winter kits for each child. Every handwritten note and carefully chosen item showed our shared commitment to warmth, respect and inclusivity. The coming phases will provide opportunities for colleagues who prefer hands-on involvement or knowledge sharing to interact directly with communities, children, parents and educators through activities focused on sustainability, learning and personal development.
By spacing the initiative across the school year, we intentionally created flexibility, so people could take part when and as they felt right about doing so.
As the most recent and completed action, the donation phase of Back2School 3.0 illustrates the campaign’s core philosophy: community impact grows when we create initiatives around people, not expectations. By providing various paths to contribute (money, time, or knowledge) we strengthen both our connection to the community and our internal atmosphere of compassion and care.
Growing Together Through Education
As we move forward with our sustainability goals and meet the standards set by CSRD and our 2025–2030 strategy, education will stay at the center of our CSR work. It’s where our skills matter most, our involvement counts and our impact lasts.
That is why we are committed to continue:
- extending cooperation with schools and universities (we go way back for more than 20 years with the Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics in Craiova)
- creating more learning experiences for students
- adding to the development of future IT talent
- supporting communities through creative learning programs.
At NetRom Software, we know real change starts with knowledge, and knowledge grows when we share it.
Education is not only the heart of our CSR efforts, it’s how we invest in the world we want to help build: where local communities thrive, and where the future is formed by empowered, curious and confident young minds.
Îndemnul nostru
Efortul pus în programele pentru studenți completează teoria din facultate cu practica care “ne omoară”. Profitați de ocazie, participând la cât mai multe evenimente!
În cei 3 ani am lucrat la proiecte diverse ce au contribuit decisiv la evoluția mea profesională. Am colaborat strâns cu echipe remarcabile, a căror dedicare și sprijin au fost fundamentale în buna dezvoltare a lucrurilor. Cu fiecare proiect, am învățat nu doar aspecte tehnice, ci și abilități esențiale de comunicare și colaborare, reflectate în experiența mea privind interacțiunile cu clienți și modul în care o echipă eficientă operează. Aceasta este cultura companiei, de la ritmul uneori alert al zilei de lucru și practicile Agile, până la momentele relaxante de socializare cu colegii în pauzele de cafea și activități recreative precum darts și ping pong.
Am făcut cunoștință cu echipa NetRom prin intermediul programelor Internship și NetRom Software Academy, in care am descoperit că noțiunile învățate acasă au totuși aplicabilitate, chiar în cadrul unor aplicații reale. Acele experentie m-au convins să aplic pentru un job.
Mentorii foarte deschiși și colegii cu experiență care mi-au răspuns prompt la toate neclaritățile au transformat provocările în task-uri rezolvate cu succes împreună. Făcând parte din #teamnetrom mi-am depășit frica de a greși și am evoluat într-un mod echilibrat pentru mine.
Am aflat de programele NetRom de la o prezentare organizată în facultate de companie. Am decis să mă înscriu la Summer Camp din dorința de a înțelege ce anume ar presupune o cariera în IT. În urma acestui stagiu de practică, am reușit să dezvolt propria aplicație cu ajutorul mentorilor care mi-au oferit informații teoretice, dar mai ales practice, pe care nu aș fi putut sa le găsesc într-un tutorial aleatoriu de pe internet. Modul meu de abordare a aplicaților s-a schimbat odată ce am înțeles în ce constă mai exact procesul, ce presupune un mediu real de lucru și importanța muncii în echipă.
NetRom Software Testing Academy a fost punctul de plecare pentru o carieră pentru mine. Pe parcursul sesiunilor am avut oportunitatea să cunosc bazele necesare pentru asigurarea calității unui produs, urmate de o zi în companie unde am văzut teoria pusă în practică.
Recomand tuturor celor care își doresc o carieră în QA să ia în considerare această academie, fiind destinată atât celor din domeniu, dar nu numai.
Am descoperit NetRom prin intermediul unui program de internship și am fost impresionată încă de la început de mediul de lucru plăcut, de susținerea și angajamentul colegilor. A fost o oportunitate deosebită de a lucra într-o echipă de proiect, cu roluri specifice, și de a înțelege mai bine cultura companiei. Întreaga perioadă s-a dovedit o experiență valoroasă, atât din punct de vedere al cunoștințelor acumulate, cât și prin prisma relațiilor dezvoltate. În momentul în care mi s-a propus să continui ca angajat permanent, a fost o decizie ușor de luat, bucuroasă fiind să pot aplica cele învățate, dar și să adaug cunoștințe noi în fiecare zi.
