From physics to tech to theater: How one engineer is becoming a renaissance woman
Nuria Lopez Gonzalez, a software engineer on our Madrid team, explains how following her passions led her to tech and ultimately to Taxfix.
I’m originally from Madrid and joined Taxfix last October. As a software engineer, I work in the product operation team, which is responsible for building and maintaining the platforms our customer success team uses.
You studied physics, what drew you to that?
My whole life, I’ve loved math — and physics is math for a purpose. There’s a whole range of studies there, from astrophysics to nanomaterials. Also — oddly enough — physics runs in my family. My father, mother, and two siblings are all physicists. We never spoke about physics at home, though, so it’s quite funny that we all ended up there.
When it came to choosing a focus at university, I had a hard time deciding because I was fascinated by several different areas. I ended up studying a combination of materials physics, geophysics, and atmospheric physics. After my studies, I moved to the UK with my husband and began working for a renewable energy consultancy company. We developed products for our customers to work more efficiently. One tool we made, for example, quickly calculated how many solar panels a home needed based on our predetermined criteria.
Why make the switch to programming?
At that point in my career, I was purely working on the science side. I defined the specifications for the tools, and my boss developed the technology. The thing is that sometimes I finished my work too soon and didn’t have much to keep me busy. So my boss offered to teach me to code so that I could help him out.
Since we were only a team of two, we were doing everything — frontend, backend, and database queries. I quickly became enthralled with coding because it was a puzzle I needed to solve. This opportunity was a perfect way for me to learn by doing. If I needed to do something, I did some research and figured it out as I went. When my boss left the company, I took the chance to step into his shoes and take charge of both the scientific specifications and technical development. But, as I was the only developer there, I was missing that mentorship, someone to show me how to do things more efficiently. If I really enjoyed coding, then I had to take a step forward and be in a team with other developers.
I moved on to a systems developer role with a lingerie company where I helped transition code on the backend from .net to node. After about one year there, my husband and I wanted to move back to Spain. We took a seven-month break to travel the world — two months in Africa, two months in Australia, and three months in South America. Once back in Spain, I joined a technology consultancy for one of the largest multinational banks. It was a great learning experience, but after two years, it was time for a change.
How did you decide to join Taxfix?
A headhunter contacted me and, to be honest, I didn’t know much about Taxfix. My current employer was very far from home, and I needed more flexibility in my schedule as I had just started taking theater classes — a life-long dream of mine. So I decided to meet with Taxfix.
Through the interview process, I fell in love with the team. Everyone was super friendly, and the culture was so open and down-to-earth. I was just a bit concerned about the company being a startup. In Spain, startups have a poor reputation. People think you’re going to work crazy hours and that you can’t have a personal life. This wasn’t the impression I got from Taxfix at all, so I chose to ignore my prejudice for startups and joined — a great decision in the end.
Compared to some of my past experiences working in huge corporations, there’s not much hierarchy here. I like that I can talk to anyone, from our CTO Alex to our founders Mathis and Lino. You can say how you feel and have the right to be listened to. It’s a respectful environment. We’re very different people, but we all understand each other and have a good time together.
The work is also pretty exciting. Right now, my team is looking at how to make our internal tools scaleable for other markets. We’re also building logic to allocate tasks within the Customer Success Team automatically. It’s challenging work that’s made more complex by the fact that we’re remote-first at the moment. Since we’re still growing our team, we have many colleagues that we’ve only met through Google Hangouts. We find ways to come together virtually, though, like our weekly team tea break.
And now you’re also studying theater, why?
My whole life, I’ve wanted to be an actress. I used to study theater when I was younger but gave it up when I started university. It was always on my mind to return to acting, so when I moved back home to Madrid, I made the leap.
I go to classes three times a week after work. Before COVID-19, I had one class that started at 5:00 pm, which meant I had to leave work at 4:30 on Thursdays. The team was very accommodating to this and made sure not to schedule important meetings during this time. I have loads of people in my theater lessons that haven’t told anyone at work what they’re doing. They’re worried that they won’t be taken seriously by their colleagues. Taxfix is great in that sense — no one will judge you.
What advice would you give to others with a passion outside of work?
To anyone interested in doing something artistic, go for it! You don’t need to be a professional in that sector. If you have a passion for it, you should allow yourself to enjoy it. Theater is an entirely different discipline for me from coding. That being said, it does affect the way I communicate with the team, the way I express myself, and the way I understand other people. It’s a way of connecting to ourselves and something most of us don’t learn at school.
Also, be sure to find a team that you can be yourself around. Don’t be scared to talk openly about your interests. We’re all unique people and shouldn’t have to hide that when we go to work.
Interested in joining our engineering team? Check out our open positions.
