We interviewed our colleague Laura Galache, software platform functional analyst. We would like to thank her for her availability and for giving us a few minutes to answer these questions in order to get to know her a little better.
- For those who don´t know you, how would you define yourself?
I am an optimistic person with a great capacity to adapt (I don´t know if this is by nature or because I had no other choice), a hard worker, with a strange sense of humour and who needs more than one meeting to be approachable and have the opportunity to be liked. Professionally, in a meeting, in those post-meeting coffees with “external” people I have no problem, but in more personal relationships in the work environment I find it difficult to address people I don´t know very well, or with whom I have spoken little, and even more so if it is to ask for help, but once I have established a relationship, we can have interesting conversations and I will be one more in the group.
- Can you give us an overview of your business career from your beginnings to the present day?
It will be long…. and with many turns, but here goes …. I started out working in water treatment plants… what memories I have of arriving at a construction site in the middle of the countryside to spend hours in a construction shed… and I was trained as a road worker, so there is little connection between my beginnings in the labour market and my current job. I have spent several years on different construction sites and in road maintenance, but my real vocation has always been transport, so in the intermediate stages I have worked in road freight transport companies and in urban mobility analysis.
When it seemed that everything was written and I was enjoying a job that fulfilled me and that professionally had a promising future, the construction crisis arrived, so it was time, as they say, to renew or die, and taking advantage of those masters that you never know if they will be worth anything, and thanks to my experience in transport and environment, I was able to apply for a job as a researcher, which was the starting point of who I am now professionally.
My goodness, what a first few months…. And I wasn´t going to make it easy and go my own way, no, I started working in a telematics group, although the projects were about transport or environment, the objective was to develop technology, so … what meetings, I didn´t even understand what they were talking about half the time, and they were mostly in Spanish … they were hard months, to get home and start studying, but I survived thanks to the help of my colleagues and friends and I learned a lot, both professionally and personally.
Luckily, most of the projects I was involved in were for and with Fagor, and that is how my relationship with what I now consider my company began, first externally and then finally landing and becoming part of this great team.
- What has been your greatest achievement in your position?
At the moment I haven´t been here long enough to be able to talk about personal achievements, so I can only say that I have contributed my little grain of sand to the products in which I participate, that I have managed to stick together with my team (I even think I have managed to dissimulate when I don´t get a geek joke, although only my colleagues can confirm that) and that I have been able to present the work I have been asked to do in time and form.
In the current situation, with several new product lines under analysis and with a strong commitment to give the best as a team, being able to stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have been giving their all for a long time and collaborate with them is a great personal and professional achievement.
- What is the working atmosphere like with your colleagues in the company?
The word that sums it up best I think is fun. Whether I´m at my workstation surrounded by my direct department colleagues or when the location is in a meeting room with other colleagues, luckily almost every day starts and ends with a few laughs and, if time is short, there´s always a chance to solve some of the world´s problems without the need for a bar in between.
It is a fairly relaxed environment, professional of course and with its tug of war when decisions have to be made, but between people who know that we are people trying to improve or create a product while at the same time trying not to forget our human side and having the best time possible at work. In the end, from Monday to Friday, our working environment is our living environment, it is where we spend the most quality time and when the environment is pleasant and we have a good time, work always goes better.
- What do you like to do in your free time?
Spending time with the people I care about, especially outdoors, if possible because the weather allows it. Going for a walk with my dog (well, he walks me actually, he´s the boss at home), enjoying the beach, swimming pool, reading, watching series, suffering-enjoying-suffering on the golf courses and travelling; travelling whenever possible as it´s something that really recharges my batteries, especially if it´s to a sunny and warm area, nothing like walking through the villages of the south and enjoying their “terraceo” to come back full of energy! I often wonder why I stayed to live in Cantabria, oh yes, because of the people around me.
