Crew member Highlight; Iván, from student to developer thanks to a funny story

Many students have made the leap from college or high school to YITH. This is also the case for Iván, our developer who arrived almost two and a half years ago into the YITH family, after taking two higher degrees in computer science. He is a trained web application developer, currently working as a plugin developer and he also supports our customers.

Iván has traveled around as one of his passions, including France, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Italy… But his first love is always in La Orotava, his hometown, the municipality where the impressive Teide is located, the highest point of the Canary Islands and Spain with 3.718 m. It’s impressive and totally awesome! And since he works at YITH, his heart also belongs to his work.

I currently love the position that I am in. At first, I started taking an intense course to see how WordPress works since I had done very little work with it and I also saw the e-commerce part through WooCommerce, which I was quite surprised about. Now I focus on developing. I love coding a designer’s ideas for a result that thousands of clients can use. Also, part of the time I spend supporting clients, which I love because we get even more ideas that can be added to projects.

We know that Iván started at YITH thanks to a scholarship, the story started sooner than he expected.

I had just finished my higher web development training and a job opportunity was published at the University of La Laguna with an offer. I submitted my application and what happened next is actually quite funny. They called me the day before the interview but I couldn’t take the call. So they called me again two hours before the interview, telling me that I had been successfully selected for the scholarship. I accepted whilst getting dressed, I hung up and the rest is history.

After waking up and reading the news, a typical day for Iván is often as follows:

In the morning, I greet the whole team while I have a coffee and try to organize my workday. I usually start to support new clients who have opened a request. In the middle of the morning, we usually have a development meeting (usually around 10:00-11:00). Plus another mandatory cup of coffee. After that, I continue to support the rest of the tickets. Once I finish this, usually after lunch, I end up developing some important features that customers are asking for.

One of the things that Iván likes the most, is to help and support customers. Working with them throws up some great challenges on a daily basis.

The best customers are those who understand you, and are able to put themselves in your shoes. They know that we do everything possible for them and most of them thank us with a message full of gratitude. For me, those are the best moments of the day.

But although Iván loves his job, the truth is that this year has been very complicated for the whole team and the world. YITH’s family has been separated in different parts of the world, but not everything is negative when you work at home.

The experience personally is magnificent. In my case, I have to get up very early to go to the office. Working from home, I rest more, organize myself better, and make the most of the day. On the other hand, I miss the physical moments of being with my work partners and talking about other things that are not just about work.

What do people call you?

I have one: ivanwp11. This nickname came about more than 10 years ago when I started playing water polo, and I also played with the number 11.

And we can’t finish this crew highlight without talking about food. Like a good Canary Islander, Iván’s favorite food is “carne fiesta”. What is it? Even though its name has the word ‘fiesta’ (‘party’ in English), it is not a celebration of the flesh. It is a typical canarian dish whose ingredients are pork meat cut in small pieces, chips and parsley. In addition, the lemon slice can never be missing. An authentic Canarian delight that you will find in the ‘guachinches’, traditional Canarian restaurants quite peculiar and informal.

Sticking with food, we will tell you a secret, which his Italian colleagues would be shocked to read that for him pizza with pineapple is ‘not a crime’.

To conclude, Iván has a beautiful reflection for all of you:

If I learned something from life, it is to take advantage of the time you have. If you want to do something, do it now, don’t put it off till later. We are in a time where everything worries you, forgetting each and every one of the people around you, where life ends due to stress, where everything is temporary and replaceable. All you need is to be willing.

Check out other crew-members’ stories and how they started working at YITH. If you want to connect with Iván you can do so via twitter @ivansosaglez.