“The Role of a Leader Is to Help Others to Be More Successful”
As a part of the Software Engineering chapter at Porsche Digital, Javier Donado creates digital products and helps to launch them into new markets. He draws from various professional experiences and is constantly experimenting with the latest technologies. Besides technical skills, Javier aims to be a good leader and to keep his mindset open to new ideas.
Javier, what is your job at Porsche Digital?
There are many tasks that we software engineers carry out at Porsche Digital. But if I had to briefly describe it, I would say that I help to create new digital products by turning ideas into compelling working solutions.
We are constantly bringing new products to the market and trying out all kinds of business experiments to build and create digital customer solutions. My job is to find out first how the available technology can help to test our hypothesis in a feasible and convenient way. Together with a multi-disciplinary team, I then coordinate an action plan so that we can turn it into reality.
Although this is the activity that takes up most of my time, there are many other activities that my colleagues and I usually carry out in the company and which I find quite interesting. For example, we also help our business management and partnering colleagues to evaluate technical related risks when scouting for new ventures or we provide advice, support and maintenance of internal tools that we use in the company for our own processes.
What is the most crucial skill in your job?
You need to be open to new ideas and often reinvent yourself. If you are convinced that you are already an expert of one special technology and you keep doing things the same way, chances are high that you miss out on better solutions.
Why might that happen? Because everything will look like a nail to you if the only tool you have is a hammer. It is therefore very important for us to be open-minded and to not restrict ourselves to the technical part of our job. Instead, we try to see as much as possible of the big picture and learn everything we can from our colleagues that are specialists in other areas. In this way, we can create business value together as a team. Doing that in a sustainable and maintainable way is also an important part of the technical challenges we face.
Having held various technical leadership roles in product teams, what was the biggest learning for you so far?
I have learned that good ideas for technical solutions can come from anyone in the team — even from people who have no technical background, and it’s your responsibility to listen to them all.
What do you think makes a good leader in the digital age?
In my opinion, the role of a leader is to help others to be more successful. To achieve that, you need to pay attention to what they have to say — that applies to almost every period of time, and the digital age is no exception. Good leaders will always be open to new ideas, no matter how experienced they are. Today, with things changing dramatically within a few months, we need more than ever the mindset of a beginner if we don’t want to be left behind.
Why did you become a part of Porsche Digital? What fascinated you?
Although I wouldn’t say that I’m a car person, I have always found Porsche fascinating. Since I was a child, my favourite toy was a 911 model car. When I grew up and studied engineering, I always had a deep respect for the German engineering tradition. Being a part of that tradition is an honour to me.
Porsche Digital is the perfect place for someone with my background to keep on contributing to this engineering tradition while at the same time adding value for Porsche in the digital age.
With more than ten years of experience in developing solutions for different industries using diverse techniques — what did you like the most and why?
What I like the most is what I am doing now, and I’m very happy to be able to say that. Although I’m an engineer and I’m very focused on all things technical, I’m also fascinated by the process of creating new companies because it always comes with tremendous challenges — both technical and entrepreneurial, and there are chances to learn a lot when that happens. You also have to put into practice everything you have learned from other industries and areas. You are not expected to say: “This is not my job” when working with us. In my case, although I’m a software specialist, I also had the chance to support the team by designing banners on Sketch and Photoshop, support HR on recruiting events, analyzing usage statistics of our products with the business team, and much more.
That’s what I like about Porsche Digital: On the one hand, we work on new, exciting business projects from the very beginning, experiencing something very close to what you would see during the first years of a start-up. It is up to you to make the right decisions for your project to grow and scale. On the other hand, you are also working for a big company, which sometimes gives you a completely different perspective from what your day-to-day work in the project is.
You are originally from Madrid, Spain — what was your motivation to work in Germany?
There are many reasons: One of them was the challenge of learning a foreign language and having to integrate into a foreign country. I also wanted to have a real international experience and see how people live and work in other countries. I have always had great respect for Germany, not only for its engineering tradition, as I said, but also for its culture: many of the people I admire, the most come from Germany. That’s why it was at the top of my list when I started looking for a job in a foreign country, and I’m very happy that I had the chance to live and work here for so many years now.
You moved to the Stuttgart area in September 2012 — Did you ever experience a “culture shock” and if so, how did you deal with it?
I wouldn’t call it a culture shock, but I must admit that the first year was not easy. When you start from scratch in a new environment, everything is difficult: You have to learn the language, make new friends, find a new home — everything. But after a while, things started to get easier, and I’m glad I was patient back then. I’ve met some Spaniards here who had problems with the weather or with the differences in daily life compared to Spain, but that was never a problem for me. I’m convinced that we as Europeans have much more in common than differences.
What was the most valuable experience you had since then?
When I joined Porsche Digital almost three years ago, we were less than 50 employees, and since then, the company has grown and changed a lot. The opportunity to experience this process firsthand was extremely interesting. I’m happy to say that we have learned a lot, both as a company and as individuals, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.
In one word: How would you describe yourself?
Curious — I always want to find out how things work and why.
Thanks for your time, Javier!
About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we’re tackling new challenges, develop digital products, and think digital with a focus on the customer. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It’s about our #nextvisions, smart technologies, and the people that drive our digital journey. Please follow us on Twitter (Porsche Digital, Next Visions), Instagram (Porsche Digital, Next Visions, Porsche Newsroom), and LinkedIn (Porsche AG, Porsche Digital) for more.
