“There were no surprises – working here is what I expected it would be”

After my degree in system engineering, I spent almost 9 years working for TERADATA in Colombia – where I am from (…Cantando, cantando yo viviré Colombia tierra querida…) – with the last 2 years as a Technical Lead. After that, I spent more than a year specialising in the same technology for an Argentine company. TERADATA creates powerful software for building large-scale data warehousing solutions.

In 2018, a recruitment company working for Kramp contacted me through LinkedIn, because they were looking for someone with my expertise in Teradata specifically, as well as data warehousing and architecture more generally. They asked me if I would consider working in the Netherlands…I said, “Why not?” Then, I had five or six interviews with various people, and finally they offered me a position at Kramp. I had already lived abroad – in Argentina and Peru – so I knew what it meant to live away from my country, all the challenges you can face. Of course, this time I had to cross to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean! A lot of things would be different: culture, language, people, food, weather, but after thinking about it, I said yes.

I arrived in October 2018. My first day at Kramp was not really my first work day. I had spoken with my new manager about visiting before my first day. So, one Friday I tested the public transport, met my manager, who introduced me to each member of the Business Intelligence Team, and gave me a tour of all the facilities. It felt a very welcoming environment. There were no surprises – working here is what I expected it would be.

My manager, when he interviewed me, had said “Kramp is like a big family”. Recently, with him, I had to interview people we wanted to contract to our team. When he said that same thing, I knew from experience it was true. If I ever need to speak with people in Kramp, outside of my department, you know that they are doing their best to give you what you need. The communication inside my department is excellent. And it is an international team, with five or six nationalities. There is always something interesting to talk about, with all those cultures and backgrounds to discuss! Of course, our shared language is English, but I want to improve my Dutch soon.

As it happens, after a year, Kramp decided to change the technology we would build the data warehouse, to Google Cloud Platform. I saw this as an opportunity to learn. I get to apply my knowledge but learn more at the same time. We have the budget to get the training we need, and our manager gives us the freedom to find the right courses for our needs. He believes in our work and believes in us.

I do not like to feel that I am not learning something new. Because Kramp is such a big company, with a lot of data, and some challenges ahead, there are many things to do and lots to learn! It is only the beginning! My main role right now is as a data modeller, integrating data from all parts of the company – and that means I need to understand every part of the business. I like that I get to do more than just code; I can connect the business world to the technical world.