This past month, Juan Cruz Leyba (Front-end Developer), Victor Zapata (Java Developer), and Emilio Garcia (Java Developer) represented both the Lima and Cordoba offices with a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, to meet with the Santex client Tacit Knowledge. The two weeks of face-to-face collaboration brought the teams together in order to kick off a new project. See what Juan, Victor, and Emilio have to share about their experience.
Did you see many differences in the way people work in Guadalajara? Which were the most noticeable?
J: I did not see many differences. The methodologies are pretty much the same as we practice everyday. The only thing I noticed as being the most different is that they drink beer at work. While working! And it’s accepted by everyone.
V: The way of working is very similar. They have the benefit of working from home, but because of our visit, they came to work to be with us. They work in very collaborative way.
E: One thing that’s neat is that they can work standing up because they have adjustable desks that can change height! That’s something that seems to be trending these days.
What did you enjoy the most about travelling to Guadalajara for work?
J: I enjoyed getting to know a new city, a different country with different foods and habits. Also Mexican people are the nicest in the world. We had first class treatment starting with the hotel and in every other place we visited. We met other developers from Panamá, India, and Honduras, and we had a great exchange with them. It was a great experience.
V: The Tapatíos, as they call the people born in Guadalajara, are amazing people. They have great food, a lot of bars and catchy music. All the people we interacted with were kind to us.
E: What I enjoyed the most was to have the opportunity to work with this nice group of people. They were always open to sharing knowledge, exchanging ideas, and even joking around with us. I also loved the tacos.
Any must-sees in the city?
J: Downtown is beautiful, but you should go before 8pm. Chapultepec Boulevard is a must-go for great bars and restaurants. Plaza Andares is the best shopping place in town and Karnes Garibaldi is an awesome restaurant with the best service and the most typical recipes from Guadalajara.
V: If you have the opportunity to go there, you should taste the “Carnes en su jugo”, served in Karne Garibaldi. They have the Guinness Record being the quickest restaurant to serve your order. Another part of their folklore is the wrestling. It was a great experience!
E: Karne Garibaldi is a must-try restaurant.
Do you think this trip changed you in any way?
J: I don’t think it changed me, but it’s been very helpful to get up and running with a new project. It also helped me to confirm that we can work without having any kind of problem with different cultures, in an unfamiliar place.
V: I think that getting to know new places and talking with the people helps to enlarge your vision of the world, and it helps you to understand other thinking ways.
E: Yes, it changed the way I see the project and the people working on it. The good mood of all the folks in the office made me to enjoy this visit a lot.
Something different that you took away from the experience, and something that was the same that surprised you?
J: It was amazing how polite the Mexican people are. They are so nice that it never stopped surprising me. It was also very nice to see how people from all over the world could sit at a table and try to communicate and understand each other in order to make the project a success.
V: The Mexicans have an incredible way to be. They are so kind! Additionally, despite the distance between us, it’s incredible to see how our realities are so similar.
E: I expected the traffic to be similar to Lima and the people to not be so kind and talkative. I was totally wrong. They are in fact very nice, and by the time we were there the traffic was not such a big deal. I also never thought I would end up speaking with the same accent as the tapatios.
