For our first entry on our World-class Talent series, we’re focusing on a successful career story for a developer in Colombia. While it can be hard to find fulfilling and exciting job positions that lead growing talent to quick professional growth, that’s not always the case. Here’s a recent success story that shows quite the contrary. 

While positions in tech may be hard to find straight out of college or with a short CV, emerging developers with talent can be a great contribution to any company. 

At Blankfactor, we get that — and that’s why we make career development a valuable ingredient in our recruitment and company culture.  We invest in growing our leadership and building long-term career opportunities for our world-class developers. 

Today, we’re proud to present an in-house success story from one of our Colombian software developers. This will be the first in a series of stories from our talent around the world. 

Oscar Virgüez’ success story

Oscar Virgüez started off at Blankfactor on a project called Prontomás, an omnichannel, multi-regional gateway that accepts local payments in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, and Costa Rica. 

Right from the start, Oscar had to keep up with fast-paced projects. From there, he has moved on to a handful of other diverse projects. 

The internal changes alone have allowed him to work with diverse teams and leads. Integrating himself in our culture more and more each day, Oscar is now in a current robust performance in his daily work. 

Coming from a different nearshore development company, Oscar found in Blankfactor’s working environment a noticeable change. On taking on new clients’ projects, his premium statement is feeling trusted and supported with the necessary tools to develop himself further and do a great job. 

His learning curve is genuine. Coming from what he deems “very monotonous work” to new learning to implement new technologies for clients, Oscar and his peer Santiago Salazar (or Santi, as most of his peers call him) appreciate a quick pace that keeps them engaged and excited about their day-to-day work. 

The leading aspect from a Human Resource perspective

Language strengthening has been one of the areas making us proud of the work the department has been doing. It’s a pillar for our company from a Human Resource perspective. Though we couple it with other benefits for a comprehensive compensation package, language courses help us tackle areas for improvement per region.   

For us, it’s important we don’t just focus on hiring experienced talent. We’re also excited to develop talent with a passion for learning. Blankfactor’s comprehensive compensation package (which includes medical, dental, gym memberships, and more),  also has a huge emphasis on providing learning and career growth opportunities. 

In the end, it’s also a matter of appreciation for the trust that goes with the job. “I’ve been trusted and I believe we’ve delivered” is what Oscar has to say about being brought on board. 

How learning impacts competitiveness

Development in areas such as language skills and technological courses don’t happen just for the sake of adding to a person’s formation arsenal. “It’s also about gaining the necessary confidence to interact and truly engage with clients”, adds Santi. 

Oscar takes advantage of the Blankfactor-provided private English lessons two to three times a week. He’s also been been logging brain hours on UDemy’s course offerings.

In his vision, his path will grant him the knowledge he needs to claim full-stack development experience. His goal is to be as well-versed in front-end as he is in back-end development, so he can better lead tech teams in the future. 

But what does Oscar think? 

In Oscar’s personal opinion, the industry has changed. It’s his impression that experience isn’t as critical as candidates’ ability to learn and be autonomous. “There’s no such thing of a leader being on top of a person, but [the job has more to do with] the person’s ability to learn quickly and adapt to change.”

It’s important for him to clarify how, out of the four hires within his Blankfactor cohort, all four are still part of the team. 

“Software companies usually change personnel – we stay here because it’s a great match in terms of personality” adds Santi to the mix. “We may be younger in years, but we are energized to tackle the latest and newest changes.”  

Oscar says this discussion is more about being more proactive and adapting to changes quickly. “Experience counts, but [people with such a profile] may not be very updated with current technologies. We have the knowledge and can respond with the necessary requirements,” he adds.

Finally, Oscar’s impressions on his team and company culture

“Yeah, last year, as the pandemic hit and we got sent home to work, we got delivered ingredients to make pizzas ourselves, so we could have a call on which we could share as a team.” The memory comes from one of these pandemic tales of connection in a world that needed us separated for global health reasons. 

“There’s an environment full of willingness to help. If you need anything, you can reach out to anyone, even Mike and Melody (our CEO and Managing Director), and they’ll listen. They’ll set time aside for a call without a problem.” The statement is doubled as both members of our team vouch for what’s coincidentally true for everyone involved. 

January the 4th was Oscar Virgüez’ anniversary at Blankfactor. We love honoring his commitment with this story on his performance and growth as a developer. He already assures us he’s been trusted and capable of overseeing his peer’s development since last year. This has lead him on sure steps for hopefully much more satisfying projects and growth moving forward. 

Are you interested in joining our global talent? Take a look at our Careers page. 

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