STEM day 2022: How Glovo Tech employees started their careers in STEM
STEM Day is celebrated every year on November 8th to encourage young people to explore science, technology, engineering, and math education programs.
We spoke to a few employees working in the Glovo tech department, asking about how they started their careers, interests, and achievements in STEM.
- Sena Sanioglu, Sr Software Engineer at Glovo
- Giovanni Perna, Engineering Manager at Glovo
- Dimitrij Phoursa, Sr Engineering Manager at Glovo
- Angel Paredes Barato, Sr Software Engineer at Glovo
- Rafa Borges, Engineering Director at Glovo
- Eloi Barti, Sr Security Engineer at Glovo
How did you start your career in tech?
Sena: I studied a science-heavy program in high school which gave me the right to choose science-related university departments including all engineering and medical sciences. After taking the university exam I checked university department programs and realized that computer engineering has mostly classes related to Math. In my case, choosing computer engineering was almost a random choice based just on the fact that I love Math. Luckily starting from the university up until this point I really loved computer sciences and software engineering and I did not have any regrets.
Giovanni: When I was 12 years old my uncle, who owned a small IT company in my hometown, gave me as a present a book on HTML and one on Javascript. I fell in love with the idea that I could experiment and create something useful to others by using my computer. That was the beginning of my journey.
Dimitrij: Starting at the new school in the UK without knowing English proved to be a challenge and to escape the lunchtimes I often found myself visiting the school’s computer labs. There was a teacher who introduced me to an Elevator Toy that can be programmed to stop on different levels and you had to find the most efficient way to do so through simple commands. From there, I progressed to HTML, coding my very first website. Over time my interest in technology grew as my skills developed, and eventually, I progressed to study Computer Science at the university.
Angel: Even though I wrote HTML in 2000 (just trying to make my Neopets site look cooler) and my first python program in 2002 (thanks to my brother trying to help me understand computers), I never aimed to become an engineer or anything related to science. I wanted to get into art school, but I did not rank my preferences properly. So in the end, I started Communication Systems Engineering. There I was really invested in programming, I was part of the Firefox Local Ambassadors and founder of a developer Student club. When I finished my degree I started my masters in Photonics and Quantum Physics. Towards the end of it, I realized that what really made me happy all those student years was collaborating on development projects and making tech more accessible to others. It was then that I stopped my studies and instead looked for my first job in tech.
Rafa: During primary and high school I had an interest in a wide range of topics but I did not have a preferred one nor did I have any DIY programming experience before starting university. I had played some games on my brother’s Amstrad and some 90’s Spanish hits (PC Futbol). As a matter of fact, I was doubting a lot between geology and computer science and I didn’t even have my own computer when the university started so I had to go there frequently for the exercises we had to do. It was during my second year at university that I started to have a real passion for what I was learning and not a single time I have regretted the decision that I made.
Eloi: STEM was always something I wanted to do. As a kid, I was mesmerized by how easily my father — a Ph.D. in electronics — fixed anything broken around the house. I enjoyed math and physics classes growing up, and when it was time for me to decide what to do next, I chose to spend 5 years studying Aerospace Engineering. However, life takes many turns, and after graduating I ended up working in robotics and then software engineering.
What’s one thing about working in tech you wish you’d known before starting?
Sena: The most important thing in my opinion is to learn how to learn on your own. On the first day of the university, we were given directly a simple assignment which was creating an HTML page without any prior courses. In my case, I also did not have any background or knowledge. So I learned HTML in a week by myself. At the end of the week, I was feeling super proud about a simple web page that I build on my own.
Giovanni: I definitely didn’t expect that software development could be so complex and time-consuming and that’s why teamwork is so important. It’s extremely difficult to build something meaningful by working on your own.
Dimitrij: I would say the importance of M in STEM. Although I always had an interest in mathematics, I didn’t see early on how important Maths is for a career in tech in general and stopped focusing on Math after joining the university. However, mathematics is everywhere in tech, from building physics engines for our favorite computer games to rewriting algorithms that help us optimize the speed of the apps. Also, data science and statistics are highly sought-after skills and can help enter fields focusing on Machine Learning and AI.
Angel: I would like to highlight two things:
- Contrary to popular belief, development is as much tech as social engineering (in the political science meaning of it). You and your team will be as efficient and productive as you understand social interaction and communication.
- Tech Engineering & Development is holistic. If you can see the whole picture a lot of problems will find their solutions on their own, just because everything is connected to a certain level.
Rafa: When I started I thought computer science was mostly about programming. It would have helped me to understand how many other factors other than programming are important in tech and how they come from many different areas including non-technical ones.
Eloi: I wish I had known the importance of internships before starting my professional journey. Internships give you the opportunity to understand what it is that you like about the field, and what your future job might look like once you’re done with your degree.
Which developments from tech and STEM careers do you think will change our everyday lives in the next 10 years?
Sena: I believe mostly artificial intelligence will change our lives in the next 10 years. I expect computer vision to make an impact as there are many challenges that are still there such as self-driving cars, video recognition, and video generation. I am especially interested in generative machine learning models as they can be used to create recipes, music, videos, and many other things. One specific case I know from my master’s program classes that would be super impactful was to create content with sign language for educational purposes. I think there can be many other examples as machine learning can be used for many different applications.
Giovanni: There has been a big hype around robotics for many years now, but I believe that practice, has had very little impact on our day-to-day lives yet. In the last few years, we’ve made huge progress in many different areas of tech (AI and Machine Learning are great examples), and thanks to that I believe that in the next 10 years many new applications of robotics will have an impact on our lives.
Dimitrij: There is a lot to choose from. If I had to pick two of the favorites that I enjoy following, they would be Environmental tech and Virtual Reality (VR).
- Right now the environmental industry is going through a digital transformation. We are already seeing electric cars on the roads, and the aviation industry is also working on electric planes to help combat emissions. Also, with the help of AI, we now have self-driven cars, and advancements in areas such as farming help us reduce emissions and be more efficient.
- When it comes to VR, there is a lot of negative press around Meta and the money they have invested in the metaverse. Although I am not sure if Mark Zuckerberg’s bet to create a new way we socialize will pay off, VR is already widely used in many industries in all sorts of ways. For instance, in healthcare VR is already helping to train medical staff and has proven to help treat patients. Over the next few years, we will see VR emerging and becoming part of our daily life at work and home.
Angel: I really believe that the world is about to face a lot of challenges and that STEM will play a key role in it:
- Resource optimization, and here we can see contributions from all STEM careers. I do not consider myself a catastrophist but it is true that with the changes in our environment we will have to be faster to adapt to the new conditions we are being faced with: Satellite Imaging, Industrial and agricultural process optimization, material research, energy research…
- EdTech, education is slowly moving towards being more accessible for everyone everywhere, with better adaptation to the needs of the students and including a lot of new subjects.
- Enhancement of institutions, countries are quite outdated when it comes to technologies for their citizenships. I really see a lot of space for improvement when it comes to security, discoverability, and experiences within the public sector.
Rafa: I’m looking forward to the day that our mobile can finally replace once and for all laptops and desktop computers. The computing power is getting so big that we may be able to carry all that we need with just one single device. It would be good for practical reasons as well as for environmental ones. I’m also looking forward to using mobile for sports analytics — e.g. having the mobile phone record a tennis match and showing match stats and areas of improvement.
Eloi: Automation has already had a big impact on life as we know it, and I think it will increase even further. Workers will shift into performing higher-value tasks, hence the importance of being prepared in a STEM-driven environment. I believe augmented reality will also make a big leap into the mainstream, along with virtual reality. Boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds will blur. Connected experiences will take a whole new dimension, enabling new forms of interaction and socializing.
Other experiences you would like to share
Dimitrij: I still remember the words of the University´s dean on my graduation day. He said that if we were to take away one thing from our time spent in the university, it should be our ability to learn and adapt to the ever-changing landscape in tech. And this has been proven true in my career, with every day being a new learning opportunity. There will always be a new technology emerging, a new programming language, or a new book to read. The ability to stay curious and want to continue learning and exploring will help you have a long-lasting and enjoyable career in tech.
Angel: For many years I would define my path as a set of successful rejections, I aimed for something and failed to achieve it but instead achieved something which is as good or better than I would have imagined. Then I realized that this is quite common in STEM, it is hard to target something you don’t really know, and then the best strategy is to adapt yourself as things come, people get overwhelmed, people get discouraged and people make mistakes, and that is part of the experience, try to learn as much as you can from it. STEM requires the capacity to adapt yourself since it is always on the edge of what humanity has been able to achieve.
