Thank You Studiocom

Today August 15, 2008 is my last day at Studiocom.com. Inc.as an employee of the company (I hope to be able to build other types of relationships in the future.)

I cannot let this moment pass without thanking all the people who supported me, accompanied me and taught me so many things in this period. Working at studiocom is an incredible experience, the warmth, affection, talent, the level of projects, the clients that are handled really make there be a before and an after for those who have the great opportunity to be part of this team.

All the people at studiocom are extremely talented, they have something to teach and are excellent human beings, asking in advance to excuse those I may forget to mention I want to highlight in strict order of encounter my good friends:

Aníbal Castro and Oscar Gomez, who brought me to SC (especially Aníbal), yes, if you didn't know who was responsible, it was these two. It was very pleasant to meet them again, to see that they continue to be great people, excellent designers and a very good crew. What a good vibe, what good Karma. Thanks for this chance.

Mr. Castro, he almost didn't let me get to the interview, when there is nowhere to park there is nowhere to park. Period. A true gentleman, who always follows the rules, proud of his family, his daughters at university, an example of a person. Mr. Guerra, 7 children, and so calm. What a good pair of guys, what a pair of gentlemen.

Javier Montenegro who gave me the opportunity for which I will always be grateful.

Ana Maria Hernandez who received me with a beautiful smile and as if she had been waiting for me forever.

Jesus and Javier Albarracin who received me when everyone else was in Atlanta, I still don't know if that was good or bad.

Arturo Amaya who put up with me the first days with a thousand support requests with my machine, a thousand installations, virtual machines, etc. Finally one day he gave me administrator permissions and I will never be able to forget his words “just like in spider-man: a great power also includes a great responsibility”

Álvaro Obyrne, my first desk mate, at SC you change desk mates quite often, with whom we developed a conversation of shy people, after a hello and 3 hours of silence, a how are you? and 4 more hours of silence, in summary 4 words in 10 hours of work. Weeks later Álvaro surprised me with the great love he has for his daughter Maria Paula and with his admirable way of seeing life. (A vision that we share in many aspects).

Nelson Melo, who taught me more English in 3 weeks than in my whole life and took me through the ins and outs of the telephone systems, videoconferences, etc. I must also thank him for his classes on Cuban culture, history and geography, every lunch with Nelson was like Discovery Channel with History Channel with Granma at the same time.

Jimmy Saavedra and Camilo Gomez with whom we developed our first Dunkin Donuts project, with an all-nighter included and refactoring of the entire application. During 4 months we launched 3 promotions included Free Iced Coffee Day, Spring Update, and Invite friends without major problems, quite a change from the Winter update that never went live. Jimmy since then has dedicated himself to the SC extranet and to Sharepoint topics, the latest launches of IF I were The CEO, the Extranet and all the support of the Intranet are all Jimmy's work.

Jairo Celis who became an incredible master at Sitecore and who developed everything we have so far of the McCormick.com site. Thanks for all the help

Julian Orjuela who developed the entire Corporate site by himself and from whom I demanded more than from anyone else because I believe he has all the potential, sometimes I even think I went too far, yesterday Julián asked me something he should know, I told him to come closer to tell him in secret and he told me not to hit him. J, needless to say I never hit him.

The entire OSG Team, for reasons of geographic proximity, but also because of Maria Isabel, Marcela, Maria Victoria, Denise, Sandra, Jhon Albornoz and Ken Lopez, it was a pleasure working with all of you, trying to create new knowledge in technologies like Silverlight and witnessing your very well orchestrated Quality process. Thanks for all your help and good karma.

Nicolas Mutis. Who doesn't know who the cuitas are. But who does know a lot about technology, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a thousand more things, and who is always ready to help. I learned a lot of English from Nicolas, although he could never explain to me why the present continuous replaces the simple present when the verb is used in the infinitive, clearly one of the two learned English as a child and the other tries to fight with school grammar.

Andres Ardila. Modern leadership is service to others, bringing out the best in each one, pushing them out of their comfort zone and giving them tools to improve. Andres is a true modern leader. Thanks for serving as a guide.

Rafael Puyana. Tremendous Leader, you have to see him have lunch with his team at the SH to understand what it means to develop team relationships. What a tremendous example. Thanks Rafa.

Cesar Trujillo. Incredibly he is always willing to listen to all kinds of “recommendations” on how to move his business forward. What a great guy, what an excellent interlocutor. Much success with SC Latam. I hope to be able to contribute from the outside to this division that has enormous growth potential in the coming years.

Cesar León. Partner, Partner. Adventure partner in Atlanta. What a great crew to travel, go sightseeing, go shopping and see many things.

Patricia Gnecco, Milo and Frida, who adopted me while I was in Atlanta and made me part of the family. There are not many people like Patricia, I feel super proud that she counts me among her friends, thanks for the lunches, meals, breakfasts, outings (and searches) with Frida and Milo. Thanks for the gifts for Antonia, Tomas and Jerónimo, thanks for being the way you are. Thanks for the good vibes in my new position. I hope we are friends for many, many years.

Maria Claudia Gnecco. VP of Human Resources, thanks for sharing my photos of Felipe, for listening to my countless stories, for listening to my complaints and my joys. Maria Claudia helped me in these months to make many small and big dreams come true, she showed me that it is possible to have a profitable, successful company in which people come first, above the clients, the projects or anything else, thanks MariaC for your kind words at all times and above all for understanding what this change means for me and for my family. I hope you save a place for me in the new Office.

Juan Pablo Gnecco and Family. It is strange to meet the CEO of a company like this and discover that despite being at another level with respect to the market and the businesses one knows, he is still a simple guy, always with a smile, a positive attitude towards challenges and always willing to listen even to the newest person in the company. More incredible is later discovering that his most valuable asset is a beautiful and very close family and that they all share his values. Juan Pablo and SC are an example of social responsibility with their Aprende PC and Colombianitos programs. Thanks for letting me celebrate the state soccer championship with you and for your kind and courteous welcome in Atlanta.

Ken Lopez. My very good friend Ken Lopez, always was listening, always was exciting about new ideas and always was very kind. We also spend a very, very good time (cooking together) even in the middle of a tornado. Please Ken, feel free to call me any time you visit Colombia, I have your bike ready to go.

Rajit Gulati. Sir, I learned a lot from you. You have strong leadership; it was my pleasure be part of your team and saw all the changes actually happen. Thanks for every single advice and conversation we had.

Ashley Sprow, Mike Creative, Lynn Neuman, Vivian Lowe, Tim Kholer, Henry Bui, Ann McClinton, Devon, Toya, Vang Huynh, all the IT guys. You people don’t imagine how awesome was my experience in the Atlanta Office and in The States, I loved all single minute spend there and the very best about all the trip was the people, Thank you so much for sharing time and teaching me many things.

Juan Carlos Ruiz. Discussions of technology, processes, innovation, this is the man; someone willing to stay until 3am, regardless of whether the problem is from his project or not, this is the man. Sometimes one meets really intelligent people, Juan is one of those people.

Marlen, Eddy, Marisol. My total buddies, we always had a good reason to laugh and kid around. Marlen alias little earthquake, Marisol my dance teacher (lost cause) and the always helpful Eddy, ready to collaborate in everything.

To everyone, a thousand and a thousand thanks for making this period one of the most productive and happiest of my life.

I wish you the best,

Juan Carlos Peláez (The good one).

Ps: To all those who sold me computers, Ipods, Movies, Games, steering wheels, cars, Iphones, watches, tennis shoes, and a thousand more things, don't worry, on the agreed dates your payments will arrive. 🙂

Ps2: If you are the best in your field, you like topics related to Interactive media, you like working in creative environments and as a team with the most talented people, don't fail to send your resume to ahernandez at studiocom.com (Cite this blog) the experience is worth it. Speaking English very well is an important plus.