One of the things I keep telling me over and over again, is how lucky I am. But then I remember all the long conversations I had with my friends —my wife included— about how one should define Luck and what role it plays in our lives.
Yes, we were lucky that we had the opportunity to grow, professionally, really fast by moving to Germany, but it was also a really challenging experience; sometimes it was tough and even frustrating. But the real key part of any self-improvement process is, in my opinion, to correctly identify and differentiate when you actually did get lucky or when you did not.
It is not easy to take an unknown step by going to a different country to —maybe— progress into your professional career. And it is even harder if you find problems of difficulties along the way, which you would most likely find. Those bumps on the road, would eventually make you consider stop perusing that goal of professionally growing abroad. I have seen it happening to some of my friends.
If I only had to take one lesson learned on my experience abroad, it would be exactly that, don’t give up. If you have a clear goal in mind, then with the right mindset, wiliness, and of course, support from friends and family, you would eventually reach it.
So what is the role Luck pays in all of this? I think the best way to put it is:
Everybody needs luck 🍀, but the role it plays in the long run is so small that we might as well ignore it in our quest for self-improvement, because, regardless of how unlucky you were, there’s always something you could have done to put yourself in a different position to begin with.
The Spanish NPP
Before moving to Germany I was a well established simulation engineer working at Tecnatom –a company that, among other things, creates and maintains simulators for NPP (nuclear power plants)– developing and maintaining the software for the Spanish’s nuclear power plant’s replicas.
It was a challenging job, where maths, physics and electronics needed to be translated into code. I had to learn how NPP worked, and how the different plant’s types meant different thermohydraulic behavior, different valves and drives parameters, different electric and electronics, and so on. It was demanding, but it was also an old codebase, with old tools, and not much time to upgrade all of that.
All the process that happens in a power plant need to be translated into code in order to build the most accurate replica possible.
Also during that time I did some freelancing work with Java, simple tools for the IBM Sterling. But they allowed me to use Java away from my side projects, and into real-world projects. By developing these projects I found out that I wanted to do Java.
Before realizing it, I was into this company longer than I would have expected, five and a half years… And I needed a change in my career if I wanted to progress. I needed to change Stacks, I needed to stop using Fortran and start using some other language I enjoyed more, like C#, Python or Java. I needed to find a job newer and fresher.
Jumping with my eyes closed
Back in summer of 2015, while was at a surf trip with a couple of friends, I came across a job opportunity to work for a software development company —HOB— based in Germany that developed secure network infrastructures.
I didn’t think it twice and applied while I was starting my holidays. And did not look at the mails until I was back from the trip, just to find out I had an interview appointment.
Maybe it was my willingness to go working abroad, or the feeling that I needed to change my job to progress, but the truth was, I made a tiny mistake. I did not do the thorough research I always do before joining a company. Which made some things harder down the line…
My advise is to always, always do a thorough research of the potential companies you are thinking on joining.
Moving to Germany was hard, leaving all the family and friends behind wasn’t an easy decision. If you have done it, going to another country to work, and lived there for a couple of years, you know what I mean.
Changing Stacks
When I came to Germany, I had professional experience with Fortran, C# and Java. But the bast majority was Fortran. I also had some Android knowledge that I got from my side projects.
Here I worked at two previous companies —HOB and Bintec— before landing on ING. Both were great opportunities, that allow me to see what works and what doesn’t within companies that sell software and hardware.
I learned a lot, I changed stacks a couple of times, which gave me the opportunity to have experience in all the major stacks, and improved my overall sight of how all those parts work together.
During my time at Bintec I developed from scratch a portfolio app. It was developed natively both for iOS and Android. I also developed the backend of the App with Firebase.
Some of the stacks I’ve worked during my stay in Germany are:
- Embedded software development
- Backend development
- Web development
- iOS development
- Android development
So after a year and a half of realizing that I wanted to work with Java, and more specifically with Android, I was able to change my professional career completely, and start working on what I loved.
Pursue your dream job, even if you need to change stacks, industries or countries. The reward is enormous once you start working on what you love.
Finding that Job you love
That is what we ultimately all want, right? To have a job that makes us want to work on, that compels us to continually grow and learn, where you have an impact on the product and on your colleagues, where you have supportive teams around you. Teams with people that teach and help you, that are helpful, honest, nice and friendly.
Well, I found all of that —and more— here in Germany, working at ING. Of all these years I’ve spent in Germany, almost 4 I worked there, on a project I love —the ING Banking to go App— and within a team, I honestly think is the best I had worked on in my entire career.
At ING I progressed quite fast, learned and studied a lot, also worked a lot. I will write another post about all the resources that allowed me to become the developer I am now.
ING Banking to go - Apps on Google Play
The end of June will mark the end of our —me, my wife and our daughter— living abroad experience, hence the end of my time working at ING Germany 🦁. And it’s certainly something that makes me sad.
But really amazing experiences are waiting for me in my next adventure! I am really looking forward to them!
Stay tuned for more!