Glober stories that inspire
My story at Globant started in 2017, when I finished my training at the Data Architect (DA) Academy. Being a .Net developer since I started at the company, I had the opportunity to work on different projects, where I learned new things, met incredible people, and grew a lot. Later, I became a .Net technical leader.
Even though I had had very positive experiences with these projects, I felt like something was missing: I wanted to apply my knowledge to contribute to society.
One day “the planets aligned”. They offered me a job in the Data Sector of the Life Sciences Studio at Globant. This studio conducts research and applies new technologies in order to contribute to healthcare and other areas of science. At the beginning I was just a collaborator, dedicating my free time, and after a couple of months, when the pandemic began, I started working full time.
Now I am 100% dedicated to a project where we develop different technological solutions for the health sector. For example, a dashboard that enables the tracking of intensive care unit beds, breathing machines, and other resources for treating COVID-19 in real time. Additionally, we are working on a web portal and an app to keep all health care personnel up to date, trained, and connected during the pandemic, among other systems.
This great opportunity makes me happy from both a professional and a personal standpoint, and I appreciate being part of this experience.
However, one day something happened that “blew my mind”. Part of my daily work is to look at data, but one day I saw something specific: a “1” in the column for pediatric COVID-19 deaths. I was petrified. I was filled with a profound sadness.
A child died from this disease, a heart stopped beating, the breath of life left their body as well as their loved ones’. They will no longer hear their voice when they shrieked with excitement or when they cried because they were in pain. All that will remain are memories, and although they may be beautiful, those memories will never be enough. From far away and without this family even knowing of my existence, I cried for their loss and felt their pain.
There is a reality behind the numbers. The cells in the database can store any value, but these data are different. They don’t represent the number of students in a class, the number of products in a store, or the price of the latest smartphone on the market. They represent lives that were lost, and with them, the lives of others that will never again be the same.
Then I lifted up my head, took a deep breath, and a new feeling came over me: motivation. I am not a doctor, I cannot save lives directly, but the work that we do with the team has generated a great impact on the fight against COVID-19. Along with business analysts, UX, devs, testers, and managers, we have built tools (control panels, management and mobile applications) that have served the Ministry of Health in Argentina to help make fundamental decisions. With our input we facilitate the work of those who are currently on the front line of the pandemic.
When I started writing this story, I associated my need to contribute to society with my own loss, my own “1” from several years ago. At that moment I understood why it was so important to share this experience.
Every day I get up feeling motivated to continue helping however I can with the technologies that I have within my reach. I think that people, in the harmony of chaos, we can take giant steps if we are united. Love is the greatest force that moves us and fills us. Every experience we’ve had until now has been worth it. Every day is a step forward, and every breath, a second chance.
