From Spain to the UK and back: An Optimisation, Innovation and IoT Journey

I was quite "fresh" from Uni (I have a Telecommunications Engineering degree) when I joined Vodafone, and soon learned that being in a real-life work scenario is quite different from the academic scenarios I had trained with.

I learnt a lot about mobile networks, and it was a challenging role - the ‘radio’ part (from the phone to the antenna) is always the first one blamed if there’s a network problem. So that was a great situation to learn in, both about technical stuff and general work dynamics. I soon realised I wanted to be exposed to an international work environment, so I started exploring the options for International Mobility. That’s how I ended up at Vodafone UK just before the 2012 London Olympics. The UK seemed like a good jump for me and I enjoyed my time there.

Diversity enriches our lives. Working abroad both educated and challenged me. Culturally, depending where you come from and how you were raised, people from different nationalities can be quite different at the start. That affects very basic stuff (for example how you face or prepare for a meeting) and more complex scenarios (for example when negotiating with a vendor, or when dealing with a sensitive topic). I had the opportunity to work with many different people with completely different approaches to similar problems, and I tried to learn as much as possible from that.

In all, working abroad has enabled me to communicate more effectively, improved my problem-solving skills, and given me the ability to work well with and learn from people from different cultures and backgrounds.