Mixed feelings

Tomorrow, Aug/23rd/2013, is my last day with the company to whom I owe so much in my professional and personal life: Chemtech. I started with the company in Oct/1st/2004, when I hadn't even graduated from college, and on my way to get a Chemical Engineering degree I was suddenly faced with having to learn computer stuff. Programming, debugging, dealing with industrial systems and databases. Crazy stuff. It was. It still is. 

I had no idea what a vector was (ok, I still don't, but shhhh), but what was unique about Chemtech was that there was always someone ready to help you, perhaps not with the digested answer you were looking for, but at times pointing you to the right direction - or an alternative direction towards the same objective. It was not easy. I thought I would NEVER catch up with the other guys, who were much more experienced than I was at the time. They were mostly Chemical Engineers like me, and they seemed to have so much IT knowledge that it was very intimidating - so much that I almost gave up in the first 4 months working for Chemtech. I thought about quitting not once or twice, but on a daily basis for about 2 or 3 weeks.

But today, I am truly glad I didn't. For over time it finally felt like I was catching up with others and being able to provide a better service to our customers. One constant thing was that there was always someone helping me in every step of the way. By no means I think I could have learned what I have learned solely on my own, and I consider myself truly lucky to have been able to always count on the best people in the company and sometimes in the world to help me along the way. Another constant in all this was that Chemtech kept believing in me (and in other people IN GENERAL), always sponsoring all kinds of technical and organizational trainings for their body of engineers, technicians and managers. I think I can remember some of the trainings I personally took:

-2004: Honeywell PHD

-2005: Oracle 9i

-2005: Siemens XHQ

-2005: Industrial Networks (MODBUS, Profibus, FieldBus, etc)

-2006: Cisco routers and Switches

-2006: UML

-2006: Java and .NET programming

-2007: Simatic IT Production Suite

-2007: Microsoft Project 2003

-2008: SAP Material Management Official training

-2009: Project Management

-2013: Requirements Engineering

Curse you not if these things sound like crazy acronyms and language. That's exactly what they are.

So after a few years of learning, in 2005 I felt like I was ready to try other endeavors, so I made sure my management knew I wanted to do projects abroad. I was ready: I knew Spanish and English, which take you a long way in doing business in this globalized world. I also had basic technology knowledge, so still in 2005 I was sent to Argentina. Then to other states in Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. Then to Italy and after that to Japan and the United States. It wasn't all romantic, and some of the projects I participated both in Brazil and outside were of "strategic" nature, meaning they had little to no budget and a huge scope to deliver. That usually translated to long hours and a lot of dedication. But it all paid off. It always has. If not financially, at the very least for the things I kept learning and the people I kept meeting throughout the process.

In the course of doing projects, I also had contact with several other technologies and tools widely used in the industry, namely those from big names such as AspenTech, Osisoft, Microsoft, SAP, Siemens, GE, Oracle and the like. It was not easy having to learn things as I went, and it required hundreds of hours of off-work dedication and reading. But the knowledge that doing projects made me absorb served me well during my years in Chemtech, in every single project I have ever participated. So I guess all the investments in trainings may have paid for themselves after all.

But I guess the hardest part of my work was never having to learn new technical things. After some years in the industry, this eventually becomes business as usual and you learn new things a lot faster, and you need ever less deep knowledge to make the kinds of decisions you need to make. Truly the difficult part of delivering services is dealing with the human factor, whether on your own team or on the customer side, or from external stakeholders. How to cope with people's habits, qualities, limitations, expectations, anxieties and (I kid you not) feelings. People get sick. People mourn other people's departure. People leave the company. I think what I learned from this experience is that this learning will never be over, and every day I'll always learn new things about new people which may influence the outcome of my duties in different ways. There is no recipe for dealing with this. This is truly an on-the-job and continuous training.

Another great privilege I had with Chemtech was always working for reasonable and rational managers, who would usually make the logical decision rather than those which were of political nature. This went a LONG way in always keeping me motivated and seeking to do things in a better and more valuable manner for the business and our customers, always knowing that reason and logic were backing my every actions.

I also made several friends along this crazy, wild journey, but (for ethical reasons) I will not mention any names here. Most are still in the company, some have already left, but the fact is that I will keep in touch with them for years to come, wherever they (or I) will ever be. After all, with social media and the internet, it is pretty easy to find people out there (sometimes a bit TOO easy).

My new employer will be Chemtech's parent company: the multinational German conglomerate Siemens AG. I am being transferred to Houston, TX, to work with one of the software tools I have used in projects for the past 8 years. I will be doing a mix of product management and service delivery for Siemens' customers in the US and worldwide. This is all very exciting, and a bit challenging. And a bit intimidating. But challenge is part of the fun. It always is.

So it is but with mixed feelings that I will show up at Chemtech for my last day of work tomorrow. From one side, there are new and exciting opportunities with Siemens, living in a different country (again), meeting new people and getting to know a new culture, etc. On the other hand, I will have to leave the company I have always worked for, with whom I learned so much over the past 9 years and which, in all honesty, was righteous enough to let me take this new job without any hard feelings or strings attached. 

I guess it will all work out for the good. Despite being based in the US, there will be some relationship between my new position and Chemtech's interests, so inevitably we will still be doing business together, even though they will no longer be providing me with a monthly pay check in the process. Truth be told, I have never worked for Chemtech solely for the monthly pay check. Not that the pay is not decent (it is), but the things that I learned, the people I met and the friends I made are by far the most valuable assets I take with me as I leave.