Last Friday, May 17th, a day after the interesting TechTalk that Luis Nerey, Webcreek’s Senior System Developer, gave, I came across a tall, blond guy with a closed beard and a reflexive face, which for some reason reminded me of a viking. Later, I learned that he was Jason Bott, the “general manager”, as we would say in Mexico, of WebCreek. So, taking advantage of a break in his agenda, I asked him some questions in interview format. I know that for many of you it will be as revealing as it was for me.
Rafa: What is your opinion on tech business nowadays?
Jason Bott: I think it’s increasingly influenced by globalization, more and more competitive, as more countries are developing infrastructure, there’s more and more competition for the greatest minds and ingenious that it takes to innovate, so it’s a challenge everyday to try to do that with people.
Rafa: Can you tell me what the “nearshoring method” is, and how it is applied in your company?
Jason Bott: Ok, So it’s very simple, when you work with a team in the same time zone it’s possible to interact in a much more efficient manner, questions can be answered immediately, it’s basically the same as having an extension to your team in the building next door, or in the next state it’s just a little more distant. So I think it’s a much more successful option for outsourcing because of the efficiency in communication. I think in many countries in the world there are great software companies, great engineers, but for clients in the US and Canada working with teams in Latin America is quite superior in terms of communication, efficiency and collaboration. The proximity is what gives us the ability to be agile in our development work.
Rafa: What do you expect about WebCreek’s expansion in Latin America? Why these locations and how has this strategy impacted WebCreek’s productivity?
Jason Bott: I think our expansion in Latin America has transformed our ability to deliver nearshoring services. We have a wider footprint in terms of recruiting and employing the best engineers, the best talent in Latin America. The locations we’ve selected were carefully considered for both their economic value and the potential talent pool that we have for recruitment. We are probably not finished expanding yet in Latin America, however we are very happy with the results of our expansion so far and it’s been very successful.
Rafa: Where does WebCreek’s Ukraine office fit into this picture? What are some of its biggest contributions?
Jason: Ukraine has a long tradition of intellectual excellence, the universities are very strong, their work at WebCreek is outstanding, we really value our team members from the Ukraine. The time difference is eight hours which makes collaboration with our teams a little bit more challenging in the western hemisphere. We already have plans to expand our services to European clients, so this is where Ukraine fits into our strategy, it’s also a great supplement to our teams in Latin America and it’s also serving as a trampoline for us to bring excellent engineers from and to the US and Latin America.
Rafa: What kind of professional talent are you interested in attracting to work with WebCreek?
Jason: We are looking for problem solvers, people with a lot of initiative, people who love to learn about technology and are passionate about it, because technology changes constantly, so the most valuable skill that you have in tech is your ability to change, adapt and learn. The people we look for need to have a certain foundation in the industry, but in WebCreek our engineers grow tremendously due to our challenging projects and various environments they are exposed to. So we look for people with the right attitude, the right basic skills, and the intelligence so we can help them grow into the best engineers in the world.
I thanked Jason for his time and while we drank fresh water from WeWork’s fountain, we moved on to other more colloquial conversations , about tacos, rap music and the mysterious nameless city that some called Teotihuacan. Undoubtedly, this visionary man knows what he wants, and now that you have read about it, it is up to you to accept or not his invitation to take your talent to the web …, perhaps.
