Meet Jose Ignacio, an outstanding QA Lead at Oceans and a joyful, extroverted Bolivian who loves learning, making jokes, and doing unofficial side-gigs as an unsolicited gastronomy critic with his wife.
Who is Jose Ignacio?
I’m generally a very social and friendly person, I like sharing everything I have. I also enjoy joking around quite a bit, much to my wife’s annoyance. I also like to learn continuously, about technology and electronics, but also about documentaries. I’m a husband and father of a toddler who loves me very much.
I am a perseverant person, I get up whenever I fall and move on no matter what, it’s one of the things that define me.
At Oceans, I am a QA Lead consultant, I get to direct a team and I really enjoy my role. It’s truly been a rewarding challenge and I’ve had a great synergy with the team.
What was your first impression of Oceans?
It was a radical change from past work experiences and I love that. Since the first interviews I could tell things were done differently than what I was used to, really digging into the quality of your character and how you work with others.
I can feel the warmth of people like Eder (our CEO) and my peers in Costa Rica, their culture is quite different than here in Bolivia, which was a “positive shock” for me too.
What is it like to work at Oceans?
Well, I never believed in the “work is like family” thought, but here, I must admit you truly do feel the warmth and human connection. From the ‘good morning’ messages every day to posting memes and having laughs, these are things that get lost in large corporate environments with time, as you become just one more number. Here, I feel like my contributions truly matter, I wake up in the morning excited to learn what’s up and how things will play out.
Tell us about something you’re proud to have accomplished at Oceans
On a company level I’m mostly proud I was able to join the team, and soon be considered for internal opportunities like conducting interviews and other QA projects.
On a personal level I’m proud I’ve managed to achieve a healthy work-life balance, despite the fact I’m a bit of a workaholic.
On my specific project, I’m proud that I’ve consistently received good feedback and encouragement from the client team, it’s quite a unique project with lots of autonomy. I’ve managed to automate the system to the point creating new dashboards or completing requests has become much easier and more time-efficient.
What’s your motivation on a day to day basis?
Paying bills is a pretty important one [laughs]. In all seriousness, that would be my family; my wife and my baby—who wakes me up every day—and even my dog. They are all what truly drives me forward.
What are your career expectations?
I have several ones but I’m currently looking to get a Solutions Architect Certification. I see myself as a Director of QA someday.
What do you enjoy the most about remote work?
I like being able to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with my family. I can manage my time well so I can be wherever I need to and do my work efficiently, at my office, at the in-laws, even at the park, I’ve really enjoyed having that freedom.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
Sometimes I get to annoy my wife by playing with her phone!
Now I’m picking up things I wasn’t doing anymore because I didn’t have enough time in my previous job, like courses and training. I go out to the park with my daughter much more, and I get to enjoy eating out, which I love. Here, Cochabamba is like the capital of the food, you can find cuisine from around the world—Cuban, Mexican, Italian, whatever you can think of, so I go out with my wife and we test out new places and rate them. I hope I don’t get too fat!
I love watching series and movies, especially comedies and thrillers. I used to play PC games a lot but I’ve had to put it aside a bit because of parenting (especially since she learned to push the Power button and kept turning my computer off [laughs].
