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.

Tips for touring NY (Manhattan)

So two days ago I wrote about my first impressions about NYC. They still remain true, although I have visited so many more places since then. And for this reason I would like to share some of the things I learned in the process.

So, here is a list of some things I observed:

• If you wish to go to the 9/11 Memorial right next to the World Trade Center, make sure you get a ticket first. Until the new WTC is completed, you can only get into the memorial with these tickets. There are two ways to get them: go to the http://www.911memorial.org/ website and book your ticket there, OR physically go to the Preview Site store (http://www.911memorial.org/preview-site) and get yours there. I used the Preview Site and there was a line of about 50 people, but it went really fast and I got my pass in less than 5 minutes;
• If you wish to visit the Empire State Building, make sure you get your ticket online and arrive early. I got there without tickets at 11:30 and guess what: the place was PACKED. The line for the ticket office had over 100 people, and was going VERY slow. The line to get in the elevators was big too. They even have a "premium/express" ticket that allows you to avoid all lines, but it costs an unbelievable USD 47.50, whereas the standard fare is "just"  USD 25. So book online and get there early;
• Provided that you are in NY strictly for sightseeing (and not shopping!) if you can cycle and have experience in riding in cities, I strongly recommend you get a bike. It is by far the best way to go around Manhattan and you can always find easy parking for it. There are some services that actually deliver the bike anywhere in NY (http://deliverabike.com/) and the prices are the best I have found: USD 30 per day or USD 80 for a week. They also pick the bikes up when the rental period is due. There are bike lanes in some avenues (they cut Manhattan vertically, so you can go North-South very easily) and going West-East is also possible using the streets, where the average speed is usually slower than in the avenues, and therefore more bike-friendly. Bikes are better than the subway because you don't have to wait and even when taking the subway, sometimes you have to walk quite a while to get to the specific place you need to. I don't know bikes are very good at night, but while there is daylight, it's the ultimate commuting way;
• There are bike lanes that border the Manhattan island and go almost entirely around it. So if in addition to commuting by bike you're also in for a pleasant ride, taking these bike paths is a great way to spend some quality time in NY;
• Museums: check online the operating times of museums before simply showing up at them. Some only operate in some days of the week, and most of them close at 5pm. But they open at different times, so in order to be sure, always check online first before spending time (and maybe money) and facing a closed door;
• It is possible to physically enter the FED building, located in the financial district. But you must book in advance though their website. They let you in their underground safe where they store over 17,000 tons of gold! It must be pretty nice to see this kind of stuff, but because I only found this out that one day before I came to NY, they were all booked and I couldn't get it. Use this website for booking your tour if you wish to go to the FED: http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/visiting.html. Oh, did I mention that it is free? :)
• NY is a fairly noisy city, so if you need a quiet place to sleep, try to get rooms not facing the streets or the highest possible in the building. Or make sure your hotel has double layered windows;

That's it for now. If I find out more things that are worth writing, I'll update this post.

Cheers! And enjoy this fabulous city!

First impressions about New York

So last night I had been in NY for only 30 minutes and I tweeted that, from what I had seen that far, NY would be my favorite city in America before week's end. It turned out that it did not take a week in order for me to be certain about it. I have spent the past 8 hours today walking a part of the Manhattan area, and I can already say that this is my favorite city in the US and I will describe some of the things that led me to this opinion.

First of all I walked out this morning without many expectations of doing special things. I went out just to take a quick look around and see what the city looked like during the day. In a few minutes I was at Times Square, and at first I wanted to spend no more than 5 minutes there in total - that included taking pictures, having a juice and moving on! But when I got there, the atmosphere just felt so good, there were so many people and so many casual events were going on - all at the same time - that I ended up staying there for about 2 or 3 hours: people watching, having the famous NY hot dogs, watching some soccer matches (yes, they were playing soccer in a small court in Times Square!), Starbucking and finally purchasing a ticket for my first Broadway musical.

I then moved on, and went on walking some of the streets and avenues whose numbers I obviously can't recall. I passed through the Rockefeller Center, the 5th Avenue, made a quick stop at Apple's cube store right next to the Central Park and even went into the Trump tower. Again, nothing too special, but it was all fun, casual and convenient, and this is exactly what I was looking for this first day!

Then time came to go watch the Broadway musical: Chicago. It was really interesting, and the actors were just so talented that it made me want more, so perhaps tomorrow I will see Jersey Boys!

It was then dinner time, and I headed to Chinatown, to a specific restaurant (Joe's Shanghai) a friend from California (Lawrence) had recommended me. Arriving in Chinatown, for a few minutes I felt like I was in downtown Hong Kong or Singapore! It is just so much diversity! I must have heard about 10 languages I had no idea what they were! So I waited about 15 minutes and got a table inside. They put me on one of those round tables surrounded by other strangers who had just walked in as well, and we began ordering our food. At a certain stage of the occasion, the lady next to me asked me if I wanted to try some of their dished, as they had ordered A LOT of food (5 dishes for 4 people, and I can tell you that 1 dish serves 2 people WITHOUT a problem). I refused, not as much because I had any reservations with eating from strangers' dishes, but, because I had almost finished my own dish, and as I said one serves two hungry folks! We then went on talking about where we were from, what we did, and I ended up talking with the whole family! In the end, they told me that their ancestors were from Laos, and that, in addition to the English that we were all speaking, they also spoke Mong (geez, I didn't even know that existed!). I then took the subway back to my hotel, where I now write this post.

So, here is a short list of things I observed during the first day in NYC:

The "Good" for me:

• A lot of diversity;
• Big city, so a lot of services and stores;
• The available stores are open on Sundays (compared to, for example, Germany, where on Sundays everything is CLOSED!) and as late as 9 or 10 pm;
• Somewhat bike-friendly: because the city is mostly flat, it's possible to ride through the streets, and some even got bike lanes;
• Good subway coverage: one can go to most of the relevant places with it, at a reasonable cost (USD 30 for 7 days, or 2.5 per trip);
• The weather: even now in summer, the temperatures were tolerable (26 deg C) and humidity not very high. Comparing to DC, NY feels a lot better;

The "Bad" for me:

• The subway looks VERY old and is VERY dirty. I saw rats the size of my forearm on the tracks, and the stations have leaks and some smell bad;
• The pavement on the streets are very BADLY maintained, so it reminds me a bit the streets of my hometown Sao Paulo: irregular and bumpy;
• All services cost a lot of money: a dinner that I could have had for USD 9 in Washington DC I shed USD 30 for;
• City is dirty in general: when compared to DC or any mid-sized city in Germany, NY is not one of the cleanest I've seen;

Well, so that's it for now. If I have other thoughts or discoveries on the following days, perhaps I will publish them on my blog again!

Thanks - if anyone reached this far.