How Anyone Can Work for a Silicon Valley Start-Up
At Ergeon, we have operated as an international, all-remote company from the start. Today, we are 150 team members across 30 countries. We believed in geo diversity from the start- as it empowers career opportunities for people across the globe, no matter where they live! This idea also fits with our company values of being kind and investing in people. To achieve geo diversity, we have made a special effort to source team members from smaller countries where remote work is perhaps not the norm. There are sometimes fewer candidates seeking remote work in these countries, however; this fact helps us stand out more as a differentiated employer. As a result, we enjoy hiring the majority of our staff through referrals. Today, I am excited to share a few staff stories from diverse locations like Portugal, Trinidad, Kazakhstan, Peru, Uganda and Venezuela.
Opportunity for Career Growth
Joana — Portugal — Construction Team Manager
I grew up and lived in Portugal my whole life — a beautiful country that I love with all my heart. I never pictured myself emigrating, although my family prepared me for that possibility since I was a child. Portugal is not an easy place to develop a career but I have always been a fighter, so despite all the odds, I entered a semi-public company and managed the architectural projects of the Post Office for all of Portugal. Unfortunately after a couple of years, there was no opportunity to grow professionally and I longed for more challenges and growth.
Six years ago I made an UpWork profile to search for remote work, then one of the Ergeon founders found me! As part of the founding team at Ergeon in 2018, I feel part of a project, a challenge, an adventure, and part of a family! I am treated equally despite being a remote worker who is educated from a small country. Currently I manage a team of ~50 hailing from 15 countries and I have learned so many new skills in my job! Remote work allowed me to live in a small country with few career opportunities while giving me the opportunity to work at a Silicon Valley start up! I got the best of both worlds: not emigrating and being able to develop an international career!
Haggai — Uganda — QA Engineer
I started by studying statistics, then changed to hardware engineering. After realizing there were very few hardware engineering jobs in Uganda, I switched to software engineering where opportunities are more plentiful . I was always attracted to innovation and worked for a local startup in Uganda but we ran into some financial difficulties during the pandemic. Ergeon is my fourth job but my first fully remote role. Ergeon’s company values (invest in people, kind, lean) really spoke to me and Ergeon offered me a better opportunity than the ones I had in Uganda.
I love the remote experience so much! I never imagined that company communications such as ‘All Hands’ and ‘Business Review’ would be more transparent than when I was working in the same office as my co-workers and managers. I really feel part of the decision-making process and that my input is valued. I have more freedom to choose how I work and achieve better work-life balance. Seeing some coworkers become Team Leads in a short time makes me very excited about my potential career growth here. In the tech field, the engineers look for growth and leadership, and seeing how people grow at Ergeon is extremely motivating for me.
Ability to Live Anywhere
Eliana — Peru — Senior Project Manager
I had an atypical childhood. Due to my father’s job, we moved away from the capital. My mom speaks 5 languages and did not want me to go to a local school. In 1992, my mom enrolled me in a remote school run by American missionaries! Back then, there was no internet connection and I would receive a package with all the study material that my mother guided me through. My friends from the neighborhood thought I was so lucky that I didn’t have to “go to school”! I started online classes in 2006, then I started working online translating for an NGO until I was 21. I thought I would try working locally but found that it was not the environment for me. I switched back to remote work and worked for different companies in Texas and New York.
I always felt working remotely for an US company was the right fit for me, even more so after I had my child a few years ago. Initially I interviewed for a sales role at Ergeon. I fell in love with the company right away, so I was extremely disappointed when I was rejected for the role. Then a couple of days later, Ergeon asked me to interview for another position and I thought they were just trying to be nice. Two weeks later I was interviewed by the head of HR, the Team Lead for Project Managers and the CEO! After all the interviews, I was so stressed out about not getting the job, but I got an offer three hours later! Almost 18 months later, I am super happy with the work, the company, the people, and hope to continue in this big adventure!
Anuar — Kazakhstan — Software Engineer
After graduating from university in 2016, I joined a local company. As a software engineer, I always thought my dream would be to work for one of the best tech companies in the world — Google, Facebook, Amazon etc. I thought the best way to get there would be to work for tech startups. I was at a Singapore startup for 1.5 years, but the company had financial difficulties, so I started to look for new opportunities. In Kazakhstan, remote jobs were unusual a couple of years ago, but nowadays many friends are working remotely or looking for such a job.
In 2019 my friends from college Dauren and Sultan referred me to join Ergeon. What I love the most about Ergeon is being able to work from anywhere. A year ago, Dauren, Sultan, myself and our wives worked from Turkey for one month. It was an amazing life-changing experience, I truly believe I can live anywhere and still have a great job. Another great benefit of remote work is that I have been able to relocate from Almaty to my home town Karaganda. It has been a real blessing to live with my parents through the pandemic, especially as my son was born in February. Now, I believe I will work remotely forever and that this is much better than joining the biggest tech companies in the world!
Financial Security and Independence
Kelly — Trinidad — Sales
Remote work is uncommon in Trinidad; the culture is about searching for a secure job, with a secure pay, leave, and paid health insurance. Out of all my friends and family, I am the only one working remotely. I studied international business and I worked selling a weight loss program. My work meant I was on the road all the time meeting clients onsite. After I was married and had more financial security, I wanted to spend more time with my husband and wanted to stop traveling for work.
I joined Ergeon two years ago when I was looking for a part-time role to work from home. I enjoyed working at Ergeon from the very beginning. My manager Jose has made it seamless to transition from a corporate job to a remote career. The team atmosphere of Ergeon is amazing, like a family, I feel so close to my team and I don’t miss the physical closeness of an office. The hardest part of the transition has been the time zone difference of four hours, so I often work late. Ergeon helped me to become more financially independent. I am able to earn more and save more than ever before. At the same time, I am so happy to have more time to be with my family and run errands as needed. Five years ago, I could never have even imagined such kind of career was possible!
Jimmie — Venezuela — Design team lead
My wife and I are both designers /architects by training. Starting in 2012, we were doing some part-time work on UpWork (called oDesk back then). My wife Aliana searched for architecture jobs and for 3D animation jobs for me. By 2015, things were getting harder and harder in Venezuela, the currency was extremely unstable and inflation was reaching crazy heights. Although we both had full-time local jobs then, we felt a strong need to find jobs that paid in a more stable currency. My wife found a job first with a company started by the founder of Ergeon. Soon, we along with a group of friends rented an office dedicated to freelancing work. We then transition to full-time work from home shortly after that.
I am super happy to be part of Ergeon from the very start. I never felt I was a corporate person, so I love to work remotely and be able to manage my own time. It has meant a lot to me to be able to stay in Venezuela and support my parents, while still having financial stability. Nevertheless, the situation in Venezuela is very difficult. I have not been struggling with power supply because I am in a residential zone where all the neighbors gathered to get a proper power generator. But we feel that we are living in a bubble where inside my home all is good, outside our walls everything is really complicated. We were thinking about moving to Spain before COVID and will revisit this idea next year. What I never expected is that the best part of remote work is my coworkers! The team spirit and my new challenges of becoming a team lead have been an incredible journey!
As all of these stories put into sharp focus, hiring from small countries is a win-win for Ergeon and our staff. Talent exists everywhere around the globe, no matter the country. Our team members help us create a richer and better company culture, while we also help them achieve their personal goals.
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