Meet Sebastian Alonso, Web UI Architect – Globant Medellin
Here at Globant, our Globers represent and live our culture. Cover Stories are a space to feature recognized Globers. In this edition, meet Sebastián Alonso, Web UI Architect at Globant Medellín and passionate about programming.
I’m Sebastian Alonso Gómez Arias, Web UI Architect at Globant Medellin. I have been part of Globant 3 years ago, and at the moment I’m involved in three projects. Moreover, I’m Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies, passionate about web and mobile programming. I love sports and music ;).
-Over the years and through all the technological changes, how has your work changed? OR given how fast technology changes, how has your job evolved throughout the years? What do you do to stay relevant?
Developing technological products is a profession on constant change. I remember myself programming 10 years ago and those languages don’t even exist now, but the principles are still valid today. With the passing of time, more and more high-level languages have risen which help you write less code, though more thought has to go into it. I think that this one has been the main change in my job. It changed from a logical and mathematical profession to a more creative job, which makes you try, fail, and try again. In the meantime I take most of my time to develop web and mobile products in which I test my logic but also my creativity, where writing less code is better.
– Whatgets you most passionate about your work?
Transforming code. It’s the possibility of creating something so abstract and complex, at first sight, and turn it into something cute and presentable for the user. One of the greatest things is to bring people around a product, which makes you give your best everyday.
-If the technology or tool you are used to working with is not the solution, what do you do?
In our world, magic consists of finding the perfect fit like a glove. There are lots of frameworks, frontend tools, but not everything works for everything. Frequently, the tool that we always use does not solve the problem, so it makes us go back to basics and see it from another perspective to face the problem.
– If you could say just one thing to people starting their professional path in tech, what would you say?
Read: Since every day something new is happening, the only way to stay relevant is to stay updated with trends. Check to see what are the technology giants working on, this will help you determine which are the new and upcoming things to learn and review. The idea is not only to read technical literature, but to also read about management, self-growth, productivity and fantasy – so you can think out of the box.
Write code: You can’t talk about what you don’t know in depth. You have to stay competent and try to make concept trials of new tools and frameworks on your own.
Talk to your teammates. Get out of your cubicle and talk with the team member beside you. Ask him/her what s/he thinks about something new you have just learned, explain him/her new things, and allow him to explain it to you as well. This will help you learn and everyone around you will learn with you.
-If you had to explain your job to a little kid, what would you say?
I would say that I map their toys and then build them. The only difference is that the toys that I build are for computers, tablets or cellphones. This is to say that my job is to see what new toys my client wants. Then envision the best tools I will need to build and draw the new toy. Always taking into consideration the opinions of my colleagues to see how to build, and if there’s anything to change, until we all cohesively visualize the ideal toy.
– If today you had to start again with technology, which language would you choose? Where would you start?
While at the university, I started with backend languages such as JAVA and PHP since they were the only courses that were taught. If I had started with Javascript I think that today I would have more knowledge on what I do. I would then start with Javascript and Node.JS and focus on trying to be good at these two tools.
– Which event do you participate in or organize to stay relevant?
I love teaching. I was a professor before and loved to share knowledge with my students. Teaching is a spark I’ve lit and kept all along my career. I consider that teaching someone something makes you learn it better. That’s why today I lead a developers community called GDG Medellin (AKA Google Developers Group) where we give talks and workshops for free about different technologies. Moreover, I actively participate as speaker in different framework and technology conferences.
Last but not least, I think that the most important thing I’ve done until now is creating an event called Development Week, which consists of a whole week of 8-20 talks about technology, inviting all kinds of friends from our community. The result was so positive that made us extend the event all along Latin America with the help of Globant. So far, we have done 8 editions of the Development Weeks! Generally, participating in tech communities and meeting up with other developers is what makes me stay 100% relevant.
