In this episode of The Nearshore Cafe Podcast, host Brian Samson (founder of Plugg Technologies) dives deep with Fernando Soto, a senior Business Analyst working remotely from Guadalajara, Mexico. From humble roots in Tijuana to leading global tech projects, Fernando reveals the real story of life as a nearshore tech professional.
📉 Laid off after 16 years at HP.
🚀 Reinvented his career through remote work.
🌐 Now shaping product success for U.S. companies from Mexico.
🎯 What You’ll Learn:
• The surprising truth about growing up in Tijuana
• What a Business Analyst really does (and why it matters)
• How AI is changing BA workflows overnight
• Best practices for managing cross-border tech teams
• Why Guadalajara is a global tech hub on the rise
👥 Who This Is For:
CTOs • Product Managers • Engineering Leaders • Ops Managers • Remote Hiring Teams
If you’re building or managing remote teams—especially in Latin America—this is a must-watch.
💼 Sponsored by Plugg Technologies
Plugg connects U.S. companies with elite Latin American software professionals.
👉 https://www.plugg.tech
📲 Subscribe for Weekly Insights
🧠 Real-world tech career stories
🎙️ Nearshoring playbooks
🌍 Latin America’s top talent perspectives
🎥 youtube.com/@thenearshorecafe
⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 Meet Fernando – From Tijuana to Guadalajara
2:00 Chinese food in Tijuana? Yes, really.
6:00 Why Fernando abandoned veterinary dreams for tech
10:00 16 years at HP—and the shock of getting laid off
13:00 Building cross-border teams that actually work
20:00 The truth about remote culture, recognition & retention
28:00 How AI is transforming the Business Analyst role
31:00 Advice for hiring nearshore talent in 2025
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🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
🌐 Website: https://www.nearshorecafepodcast.com/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-nearshore-cafe
#TheNearshoreCafePodcast #Nearshoring #RemoteTechTeams
#BusinessAnalyst #PluggTechnologies #GuadalajaraTech
#LATAMTechTalent #RemoteHiring #CrossBorderCollaboration
#AIinTech #Tijuana #GlobalTeams #RemoteWork #CBAP
📢 Don’t forget to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS for more insights on Latin America’s growing tech scene! 🎧🔥
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✅ Sponsor: Plugg Technologies | PLUGG.tech
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Welcome everyone to another episode of the Nearshore
Cafe podcast.
This is season three and inseason three we touched on a lot
of really great topics.
Today we're going to meetFernando Soto, a business
analyst working from Mexicosupporting the US.
Before we get into Fernando'sstory and how it all works, we
(00:48):
want to thank our sponsor, plugTechnologies pluggtech great way
to connect talent from all overLatin America to growing US
companies.
Fernando, so great to have you,great Thanks.
Thanks a lot, fernando.
For those that don't know you,where are you dialing in from?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I currently live in Guadalajara, mexico, but I was
born and raised in Tijuana, soyou could say I've lived half my
life in each city, so Tijuanagave me my roots.
Guadalajara has shaped mycareer actually, so both have
been like instrumental inshaping who I am, so personally
(01:26):
and professionally.
So what else I can say?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, well, maybe let me let me ask so for
those who've never been to.
So, tijuana is an interestingcity because it's a place I
think a lot of Americans know islike a fun place you go, you
party.
But not many, we don't knowmany that, uh, that live there.
So what should we know aboutTijuana as as a city to live
(01:50):
culture, food, things like that?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I recently went there and I love it.
Some people say they don't likeit because I don't know they,
they haven't lived there.
Other people have said, yeah, Ilove it there.
Anthony Bourdain people havesaid, yeah, I love it there.
Anthony Bredain, he's uh, he,he was in San Diego and I think
we talked about this now.
He, um, he was in San Diego andthey were interviewing him and
they asked him where can youfind the best restaurants, the
(02:15):
best food?
And he said not here, go SouthTijuana.
So cuisine is excellent, evenbetter than here in Guadalaj.
Some, some uh pigs, you know,some, some dishes are much
better over there.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I can you when you go , when you go back to visit,
what's like the, the, the numberone thing you have to eat while
you're there?
Chinese food.
I love that answer.
Tell, tell us more.
Tell us more about the chinesefood scene in tijuana I think
there are many Chinese from longtime ago.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
They're like behind the scenes in the restaurants,
you know, and it's Occidental,occidental it's how to say?
Occidental Chinese food notreal, because if you go to China
it's like a whole world ofcuisine, but this is like they
adapted the Chinese food for forus, you know, and I know a
(03:05):
place in Mexico also, I thinkit's called China Girl, which is
similar, but here inGuadalajara I haven't seen any
other.
Like gift tanks can match it,but they give you very small
portions.
Other than that, believe me,every single restaurant is very
good and I went there.
I was like, yeah, I want to go,yeah, and it's not expensive.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
That's fantastic.
I love it, yeah.
And then, uh, you know, what doyou remember about growing up
in tijuana?
You know, is it a big place forsoccer music?
You know things like that I'mnot very good.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I'm not very good at sports, you know, because they,
they actually tell me here inguadalajara, hey, do you like
soccer?
And I say I'm from the north,and they say, oh, you like
baseball?
And I say, wrong.
Again, I don't know.
I used to run track and field100 meters, you know, and
teachers, I don't know what's up, you know, like I told them 100
(03:59):
meters, that's it.
Yeah, just sprint, sprinter.
They gave me, yeah, I'm asprinter and I always won.
I didn't have to practice oranything or train or anything,
and they always gave me 400, 800meters.
So I just in one place, in onetime, I just stopped at the
middle of the track and I waswinning because I was like 100
(04:22):
meters in and then I couldn'tfinish yeah, my son is going
like this the lactic acid buildsup um yeah, so were you always
into it and computers no, notreally I was.
(04:43):
I loved animals, so this is abig twist.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So, but you know, in Tijuana it was a small city In
that time there were not manyuniversities that had a
veterinary or veterinary.
I think I wanted to be aveterinarian, you know, go
figure.
And I think the closest one wasin Ensenada was like a marine
biologist, something like that,and I couldn't go to the United
(05:10):
States.
You know, I had a passport butyou know I can't study there
because I'm not a US citizen.
Plan B, you know it's like whatdo I like second best.
And I say, well, computers,let's start.
And I started going to classes.
I was very young, I was like 16probably, and I started liking
it.
So that's, that's what I didyeah.
(05:30):
And then I went to universityand then I came here to
Wallahara to visit my sister.
It was a round trip and she wasa single mother with a
one-year-old, and somehow I justleft everything and stayed with
her yeah yeah, that's.
That's when I I met my, my, mygirlfriend, and she became my
(05:52):
wife and I stayed.
They didn't let me leave.
I weren't taken back to myhometown but walahara and many
people know this women from here.
They will not go, they will notleave this place.
That's funny, so she won, Istayed.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, I want to ask more about that, but tell us
more about the university scene.
Like the university, where didyou go to school?
It was in Tijuana, right.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, actually I didn't finish it.
Tell us a little more about thatyeah, it's a funny story,
because it was called AutónomaUniversidad Autónoma de Baja
California and it was like notpublic university, but it was
very tied to the industry there.
(06:38):
So you know, I learned this way.
After I felt, you know, halfwaythat the university, I felt
really stupid and I said, no,this engineering is not for me.
And I actually dropped and cameto a high and continued to
study and finished engineering.
This is the problem, you know,somehow.
And I said, somehow the plane Igot, my IQ grew Because in the
(07:03):
university that I finished it Igot like straight A's Over there
.
I studied, studied, studied andcouldn't make it.
So later I found out that therewas like a little corruption of
the industries over there.
Maquiladoras are called.
They say, hey, stop, we don'twant engineers anymore, so
(07:24):
please don don't, you know, givethem a hard time.
You know like well, that wasthe answer, maybe from school.
Uh, we were like 30 in 30 andonly like five passed like exams
, like with one question, likeor two questions.
So the minimum was seven, fromzero to ten.
The minimum was seven.
We don, we don't have like ABand we have like zero to 10.
(07:46):
And with a two question exam,you either got a zero, a five or
a 10.
So in the minimum was seven.
So I was like, oh, thank you,we had like one question exam, a
problem very difficult.
So, it's like zero, zero, zero,zero, zero, zero, zero.
Everyone's zero.
It's like, wow.
So I felt stupid that time.
So I talked with one of my oneof my uh friends who also went
(08:08):
there and he he's the one thattold me because he was in the
student uh union or somethingand and he knew that one of the
teachers blabbed it out like sayhey, yeah, there's like this
company's hour and it's not thecase anymore.
You know that.
It was that back then and butnow that you have to pay for
your university, they stopped, Idon't know.
(08:29):
They stopped making thingsharder for students so they can
pass.
Yeah, there was like an intentof bad intent.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, so you're a business analyst today
supporting a US customer, anddoing it from your home office
in guadalajara.
Yes, tell us about the lastcouple years and like, like what
.
What led to this point today?
You know, even in the roleitself is interesting.
You know you're kind of at thecrux of business and technology
(08:58):
and working with users yes, yesyes, so tell us more.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I need to tell a little bit about the history
there.
So, you know, my journey intech started at HP,
hewlett-packard here inGuadalajara.
So there I spent around 16years and then, you know, I
started as an engineer,developer engineer.
So back in 2010, I was workingas a developer when and when I
(09:24):
asked to join a project as abusiness analyst and my honest
reaction was cool you know whatthe hell is that?
So I didn't know and actuallynobody knew back then.
Right now, it's a role that islike everywhere.
At that time, the only realgrowth path most of us saw was
becoming a project manager or amanager, if you pull some
strings there.
You know, as I started learningmore about the ba role through,
(09:48):
you know, hands-on experienceand later certifications, I
realized I really liked it.
You know, to me a businessanalyst is the unsung hero of it
.
So it's a low-key role, but theimpact is huge and at it helped
me.
You know.
I helped formalize a roleinternally and even created a
dedicated career path for otherVAs, you know many, many of whom
(10:12):
had been doing the work foryears without knowing the
industry even recognized it as adistinct profession.
I went on to get my CBAPcertification.
You know I have it hereProbably you know the first in
Jalisco at the time, which isconsidered, you know, on par
with the certification forproject managers.
(10:33):
So I was even invited to speakat a PMI conference to talk
about the BA role.
Funny enough, you know, afterthe talk, some folks from IBM
because remember that here inGuadalajara we have like all the
tech companies are here came tome and said Hank, thank you.
Now I finally understand what Ido.
So over the years I've workedon global projects across the US
(10:53):
, latin America, brazil, europeand Asia.
You know I've worked on globalprojects across the US, latin
America, brazil, europe and Asia.
You know I've worked under bothWaterfall and Agile
methodologies and I trulybelieve in the model where, you
know, pm, ba, qa and Dev alloperate together.
We have that synergy,regardless of the methodology,
you know, and it leads to strongoutcomes and excellent projects
(11:14):
that we deliver.
So yes, very quickly, amemorable challenge.
I once led a project with ateam in Brazil.
They didn't speak Spanish orEnglish.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh wow, Tell us, how did you navigate that?
That's funny yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And I didn't speak Portuguese, so Portuguese is
very similar to Spanish, but ifthey speak fast, it's like any
other language that you don'tunderstand.
So we spoke slowly, we typed inchat and we made it work.
So it was slower.
Yes, we got it done.
That's the reality of Nearshorecollaboration there.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So which language were you typing in the chat?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Portuñol.
We invented a language typingin the chat Portuñol.
We invented a language yeah, itwas like a mix of Spanish and
Portuguese, you know, becauseEnglish was out of the question.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
We didn't speak English, spanish and Portuguese.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
That's great.
How big was that team?
I think it was about 15 peopleand it was a tax project.
Brazil taxes are part of the,you know BRICS, and they're part
of the difficult to understand,so they had to like explain to
us.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Many times, you know, and I was like, okay, so they
had good presentations.
So you know, one I want to.
I was I'm going to say thetruth.
You know, like I was there 16years, you know, for me, I
thought I was.
You know, I was going to bethere forever.
You know, like I was going toretire there and everything.
So there's this I got laid offsomehow, you know I got.
(12:41):
I was jumping betweendepartments.
There was a split in HP becausethere were like 300,000
employees worldwide.
They split into HP Enterpriseand HP Inc and I went to HP Inc,
so my team was divided in twoand I and they, my manager, told
me hey, you know, witheverything you've done with uh,
(13:03):
with the ba role and everythingyou know, and I thought I was
going to be a manager orsomething, but nope, they said
you're going to go to hp and itwas like an art, business,
architecture role.
That didn't work out.
And then I ended up where Ididn't want to like as a pm.
I liked it, yeah, but you knowI did again the ba role in
secrecy.
(13:24):
So all the requirements I didit myself.
So same, same project.
You know I was doing probablyall of those because I didn't
have that dynamic of pm ba.
I was in finance.
Funny part there was that therewas this manager who was a
micromanager and I honestlydidn't like that one.
(13:44):
I tried to go to another team.
I went to another team and Ilanded on another manager the
same way.
And then that's when I wasthere a couple of years and then
I was why, that's what that'swhen, uh, I it was, I was there
like a couple of years and thenI was, I was laid off and for me
was uh, that was yeah, sorry uh16 years.
(14:04):
You know my heart and soul tothat company.
And then I was laid off.
They didn't say it was, it wasme.
They said you know this ishappening all around and and it
was true.
You know, I recently learnedthat they're also laying off
people with 16 years orsomething.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, I know it's a tough thing to go through.
You know I'm curious from yourperspective, Fernando, because
you've worked across so manydifferent borders.
The role of the businessanalyst is it universally the
same, no matter what countryyou're doing it from, or have
you seen any like nuances orflavors that are put on it?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, this is recent, but before usually the business
analyst is a liaison betweenbusiness and tech team, because
I don't know if in projects, ifyou want disaster, you take the
technical team like developersand put them in a room with the
stakeholder who's asking for therequirements.
So they're like more business.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So you know, this tech developer guy is going to
start talking about databases,talking about spreadsheets,
talking about, you know, verytechnical stuff and business.
They want everything high level.
So we are like in the middle,like a translator.
Yeah, I can relate.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Do you feel like it's well?
I guess in your world there'smaybe two translations, right?
It's like maybe you're doingSpanish to English and then
you're also doing businessrequirements to the technical
requirements.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, well, I actually the way that I learned
English.
And then you're also doingbusiness requirements to the
technical requirements.
Well, I actually the way that Ilearned English.
I learned it at a very youngage and I don't think in Spanish
like other ESL, I still thinkit's.
My mother language is Spanish,but you know, and they've told
me that I have goodpronunciation.
I don't know, and sometimesthey've told me, hey, I can
(15:59):
detect your accent.
Okay, yeah, Thank you.
Didn't ask you.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
That's funny.
Well, I want to ask you, youknow, as someone who's been in
this world for a long time, inthe technical world, what are
some best practices you know for, like, we've got people
listening that are maybenearshore, curious.
They're thinking about, youknow, putting a team of
Fernandos, you know in Mexicoand maybe they're in the States.
(16:24):
What are some best practices oradvice or guidance that you
give these people to kind of setup their nearshore operation,
their nearshore technical teams,for success?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Well, let me see when , I you know when I, what I can
say is we have a very goodtalent in Mexico.
There are a lot of universitieshere and they teach like to
global, not that they don'tteach like, oh, you know this
company, local companies askingus for like what happened to us
(16:59):
and to me and my university,that local companies are asking
the university to do this, dothat.
You know they were like leadingus, so here, no, it doesn't
happen.
Here in Guadalajara or otherother big cities here in Mexico,
like Monterrey, mexico City,querétaro, the universities are
(17:20):
aware of that global, you know,global companies that need
talent.
And now you know this, this newtrend, I think since, since,
since the pandemic, you, youknow, they realized that we can
actually work from home and it'ssome of the.
I love it.
You know, I was like I've beensince the pandemic.
They told us go home, it'sgonna be a week, and I'm still
(17:43):
here.
Since then, two companies, twodifferent companies.
So I got, I got fired in myhome yeah and then I started a
new company.
I started in in this new companywith, uh, you know, they
actually saved my life actually.
So I, I'm really grateful tothem and um, and they, they
really appreciate it and I'mlike I've been telling, like my
(18:05):
wife and my friends, you know,this is how I've been doing.
I did, I did the same effort,you know, the same kind of job,
same effort where I was, but I,it was not appreciated.
So I'm like I'm not doinganything.
So it was like it was not me.
So I was like because you knowyou doubt when they fire you.
You feel like, yeah, you get alittle insecure and wonder
Exactly exactly and, like now, Ido the same and I've been
(18:28):
working the same as I alwayshave, and they really appreciate
it and the culture is great.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
So maybe, like a couple of the takeaways that I'm
getting is that Mexico reallyteaches to a global technology
world and best practices inChicago or San Francisco or
London or wherever the samethings they're teaching in
Mexico.
So there's really not a wholelot of like adaptive.
I need to change my style orframework or methodology.
(18:59):
These guys are going to be ableto plug right in.
And then maybe the other thing,the other thing that I'm
hearing is, um, that there isthe same things that humans need
everywhere, that employees needeverywhere.
They need acknowledgement,recognition, appreciation.
It's no special thing we wouldjust do for Mexicans in the IT
(19:21):
world.
It's the same things we woulddo for anybody.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, that's it, you got it.
I don't know if it's across allcompanies, but this company
that hired me is their culture.
They have like a growth mindset, culture, which is awesome.
They've never treated me anydifferent.
I'm a contractor Now, I'm notan employee, and I was the first
(19:47):
one that they hired and theytold me hey, guess what?
You're going to be our guineapig Actually.
And they told me hey, guesswhat?
You're, you're going to be ourguinea pig.
Actually, the agency told methat you're going to be a guinea
pig and if that works for you,um, we will hire more.
We're we're going to clone you.
Okay, it worked and I think Idid, I did, I did things well,
so, and uh, and they, they askedme to hire other VAs from
(20:11):
Mexico and we had a badexperience with one of them and
it's you know, it's somethingthat happens.
Working from home, it's likefor me, it's a big perk and some
people don't really take thatfor granted.
Yeah, and we had this guy whowas replaced For me.
You know he was like you know,for me, you're done, I'm done
with you Because you know, forme, you're done, I'm done with
you.
(20:31):
Sure, because you know it washis attitude and actually the
company gave him another chance.
Oh my God, I was like, wow,it's like you know, he doesn't
deserve it and he blew it.
So just imagine, for me he wasdone.
You know, for me I was like Idon't want to work anymore.
So but it's not the case, youknow, it's not always the case.
(20:53):
You know, we hired someone elseand we're doing great.
There are three people fromMexico.
We have actually one of themlives like five minutes from
here.
Oh cool.
Recently I went to a barbecuethat he invited me.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And we got together.
So yeah, yeah, so it's good,yeah, so it's.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Good, yeah, good.
Nothing like an asada to bringeverybody together.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, carnasada, yeah , and you know, in work I'm like
leading that, because when Ientered I was alone and my
manager he was like very, verybusy alone.
And my manager he was like very, very busy because managers
were also doing, doing like thework, like requirements
management.
You know uh writing tickets injira, uh design, and in uh figma
(21:42):
, you know all that talking tothe making percentages to the
client.
And I was like home when I wasin hp managers, they just
managed, they didn't do likework.
You know like what we did.
And I tell these guys, you knowlike, take advantage, you're
being trained in your language,because I'm trained in Spanish
(22:07):
and all the time you know,because for me I don't know what
happened, but am I smarter?
I don't know, I don't know, butyou know they have.
I don't know what happened, butam I smarter?
I don't know, I don't know, butyou know they, they have me,
maybe they have me and it's likethey're.
They're asking me like, hey,this, hey that, hey, hey, every.
And I didn't have that and I'mlike what you know, you guys
have me.
I didn't have myself when I,when I came in this, this work,
(22:29):
so I said well, that's good forthat, that's great.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, let me throw one more piece out there before
we go.
A lot is going on in the techworld AI I'm not even you know,
so maybe in like a quick kind ofrapid fire.
How is AI impacting the role ofthe business analysts today and
then, what do you maybe seecoming up in the next couple of
(22:54):
years?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Actually, ai is for everyone, because people think
that AI is like cheating yeah,sam, but I see it as hiring a
very good assistant.
Of course, this assistant hascomplete framework of computers,
but the AI and I justdiscovered it because I used it,
(23:15):
but not as you used to.
So I went to this course, Itook a course and I was like,
wow, you know, we can reducetime Like one fifth of what we
do actually with AI andcompanies are not catching up.
Actually.
That's what I'm saying my, myniece.
She's working in this companywith I think it's a real, a
(23:41):
realtor, and they have, likethis AI, they have chat.
I can say them chat GPT but, asa community.
I didn't know that you can useit, and so they upload all the
documents of the company.
But whenever I didn't know thatyou can use it, and so they
upload all the documents of thecompany.
But whenever, because it's justdoing things faster, because
whatever an AI robot can, I cancall it a robot, I call it a
robot yeah, Can do.
(24:02):
A human can do a robot can doit faster, that's all.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
That's all because they, instead of you going into
the SharePoint of the companyand looking at all, reading all
the documents, ai does it likethis.
Right, it's just the same way.
Yeah, ai, if I see it this way,20 years ago, if you didn't
know English or use a computer,you were illiterate, somehow
Digitally illiterate.
Today, if you don't go into AIand I don't mean just asking
(24:33):
how's the weather or you know,just programming it, because you
can program to whatever youwant.
Believe me, just go into take acourse.
There are free courseseverywhere for AI.
Go there, Because if you don'tdo it, you're going to be left
behind in technology.
(24:54):
So yeah, that's mine.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I think that's great advice.
Great advice.
Well, fernando, this has been alot of fun.
I knew it would be.
I knew you'd have a lot ofgreat stuff to say.
You're listening to theNearshore Cafe podcast sponsored
by Plug Technologies, luggtecha great way to connect talent
from all over Latin America withUS companies, and great talent,
(25:20):
like Fernando, in Latin America.
Thanks again for listening.
We'll see you next time.
Thank you, erwin.
Thanks for joining us at theNearshore Cafe podcast.
Tune in
Welcome everyone to another episode of the Nearshore
Cafe podcast.
This is season three and inseason three we touched on a lot
of really great topics.
Today we're going to meetFernando Soto, a business
analyst working from Mexicosupporting the US.
Before we get into Fernando'sstory and how it all works, we
(00:48):
want to thank our sponsor, plugTechnologies pluggtech great way
to connect talent from all overLatin America to growing US
companies.
Fernando, so great to have you,great Thanks.
Thanks a lot, fernando.
For those that don't know you,where are you dialing in from?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I currently live in Guadalajara, mexico, but I was
born and raised in Tijuana, soyou could say I've lived half my
life in each city, so Tijuanagave me my roots.
Guadalajara has shaped mycareer actually, so both have
been like instrumental inshaping who I am, so personally
(01:26):
and professionally.
So what else I can say?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, well, maybe let me let me ask so for
those who've never been to.
So, tijuana is an interestingcity because it's a place I
think a lot of Americans know islike a fun place you go, you
party.
But not many, we don't knowmany that, uh, that live there.
So what should we know aboutTijuana as as a city to live
(01:50):
culture, food, things like that?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I recently went there and I love it.
Some people say they don't likeit because I don't know they,
they haven't lived there.
Other people have said, yeah, Ilove it there.
Anthony Bourdain people havesaid, yeah, I love it there.
Anthony Bredain, he's uh, he,he was in San Diego and I think
we talked about this now.
He, um, he was in San Diego andthey were interviewing him and
they asked him where can youfind the best restaurants, the
(02:15):
best food?
And he said not here, go SouthTijuana.
So cuisine is excellent, evenbetter than here in Guadalaj.
Some, some uh pigs, you know,some, some dishes are much
better over there.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I can you when you go , when you go back to visit,
what's like the, the, the numberone thing you have to eat while
you're there?
Chinese food.
I love that answer.
Tell, tell us more.
Tell us more about the chinesefood scene in tijuana I think
there are many Chinese from longtime ago.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
They're like behind the scenes in the restaurants,
you know, and it's Occidental,occidental it's how to say?
Occidental Chinese food notreal, because if you go to China
it's like a whole world ofcuisine, but this is like they
adapted the Chinese food for forus, you know, and I know a
(03:05):
place in Mexico also, I thinkit's called China Girl, which is
similar, but here inGuadalajara I haven't seen any
other.
Like gift tanks can match it,but they give you very small
portions.
Other than that, believe me,every single restaurant is very
good and I went there.
I was like, yeah, I want to go,yeah, and it's not expensive.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
That's fantastic.
I love it, yeah.
And then, uh, you know, what doyou remember about growing up
in tijuana?
You know, is it a big place forsoccer music?
You know things like that I'mnot very good.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I'm not very good at sports, you know, because they,
they actually tell me here inguadalajara, hey, do you like
soccer?
And I say I'm from the north,and they say, oh, you like
baseball?
And I say, wrong.
Again, I don't know.
I used to run track and field100 meters, you know, and
teachers, I don't know what's up, you know, like I told them 100
(03:59):
meters, that's it.
Yeah, just sprint, sprinter.
They gave me, yeah, I'm asprinter and I always won.
I didn't have to practice oranything or train or anything,
and they always gave me 400, 800meters.
So I just in one place, in onetime, I just stopped at the
middle of the track and I waswinning because I was like 100
(04:22):
meters in and then I couldn'tfinish yeah, my son is going
like this the lactic acid buildsup um yeah, so were you always
into it and computers no, notreally I was.
(04:43):
I loved animals, so this is abig twist.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So, but you know, in Tijuana it was a small city In
that time there were not manyuniversities that had a
veterinary or veterinary.
I think I wanted to be aveterinarian, you know, go
figure.
And I think the closest one wasin Ensenada was like a marine
biologist, something like that,and I couldn't go to the United
(05:10):
States.
You know, I had a passport butyou know I can't study there
because I'm not a US citizen.
Plan B, you know it's like whatdo I like second best.
And I say, well, computers,let's start.
And I started going to classes.
I was very young, I was like 16probably, and I started liking
it.
So that's, that's what I didyeah.
(05:30):
And then I went to universityand then I came here to
Wallahara to visit my sister.
It was a round trip and she wasa single mother with a
one-year-old, and somehow I justleft everything and stayed with
her yeah yeah, that's.
That's when I I met my, my, mygirlfriend, and she became my
(05:52):
wife and I stayed.
They didn't let me leave.
I weren't taken back to myhometown but walahara and many
people know this women from here.
They will not go, they will notleave this place.
That's funny, so she won, Istayed.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, I want to ask more about that, but tell us
more about the university scene.
Like the university, where didyou go to school?
It was in Tijuana, right.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, actually I didn't finish it.
Tell us a little more about thatyeah, it's a funny story,
because it was called AutónomaUniversidad Autónoma de Baja
California and it was like notpublic university, but it was
very tied to the industry there.
(06:38):
So you know, I learned this way.
After I felt, you know, halfwaythat the university, I felt
really stupid and I said, no,this engineering is not for me.
And I actually dropped and cameto a high and continued to
study and finished engineering.
This is the problem, you know,somehow.
And I said, somehow the plane Igot, my IQ grew Because in the
(07:03):
university that I finished it Igot like straight A's Over there
.
I studied, studied, studied andcouldn't make it.
So later I found out that therewas like a little corruption of
the industries over there.
Maquiladoras are called.
They say, hey, stop, we don'twant engineers anymore, so
(07:24):
please don don't, you know, givethem a hard time.
You know like well, that wasthe answer, maybe from school.
Uh, we were like 30 in 30 andonly like five passed like exams
, like with one question, likeor two questions.
So the minimum was seven, fromzero to ten.
The minimum was seven.
We don, we don't have like ABand we have like zero to 10.
(07:46):
And with a two question exam,you either got a zero, a five or
a 10.
So in the minimum was seven.
So I was like, oh, thank you,we had like one question exam, a
problem very difficult.
So, it's like zero, zero, zero,zero, zero, zero, zero.
Everyone's zero.
It's like, wow.
So I felt stupid that time.
So I talked with one of my oneof my uh friends who also went
(08:08):
there and he he's the one thattold me because he was in the
student uh union or somethingand and he knew that one of the
teachers blabbed it out like sayhey, yeah, there's like this
company's hour and it's not thecase anymore.
You know that.
It was that back then and butnow that you have to pay for
your university, they stopped, Idon't know.
(08:29):
They stopped making thingsharder for students so they can
pass.
Yeah, there was like an intentof bad intent.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, so you're a business analyst today
supporting a US customer, anddoing it from your home office
in guadalajara.
Yes, tell us about the lastcouple years and like, like what
.
What led to this point today?
You know, even in the roleitself is interesting.
You know you're kind of at thecrux of business and technology
(08:58):
and working with users yes, yesyes, so tell us more.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I need to tell a little bit about the history
there.
So, you know, my journey intech started at HP,
hewlett-packard here inGuadalajara.
So there I spent around 16years and then, you know, I
started as an engineer,developer engineer.
So back in 2010, I was workingas a developer when and when I
(09:24):
asked to join a project as abusiness analyst and my honest
reaction was cool you know whatthe hell is that?
So I didn't know and actuallynobody knew back then.
Right now, it's a role that islike everywhere.
At that time, the only realgrowth path most of us saw was
becoming a project manager or amanager, if you pull some
strings there.
You know, as I started learningmore about the ba role through,
(09:48):
you know, hands-on experienceand later certifications, I
realized I really liked it.
You know, to me a businessanalyst is the unsung hero of it
.
So it's a low-key role, but theimpact is huge and at it helped
me.
You know.
I helped formalize a roleinternally and even created a
dedicated career path for otherVAs, you know many, many of whom
(10:12):
had been doing the work foryears without knowing the
industry even recognized it as adistinct profession.
I went on to get my CBAPcertification.
You know I have it hereProbably you know the first in
Jalisco at the time, which isconsidered, you know, on par
with the certification forproject managers.
(10:33):
So I was even invited to speakat a PMI conference to talk
about the BA role.
Funny enough, you know, afterthe talk, some folks from IBM
because remember that here inGuadalajara we have like all the
tech companies are here came tome and said Hank, thank you.
Now I finally understand what Ido.
So over the years I've workedon global projects across the US
(10:53):
, latin America, brazil, europeand Asia.
You know I've worked on globalprojects across the US, latin
America, brazil, europe and Asia.
You know I've worked under bothWaterfall and Agile
methodologies and I trulybelieve in the model where, you
know, pm, ba, qa and Dev alloperate together.
We have that synergy,regardless of the methodology,
you know, and it leads to strongoutcomes and excellent projects
(11:14):
that we deliver.
So yes, very quickly, amemorable challenge.
I once led a project with ateam in Brazil.
They didn't speak Spanish orEnglish.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh wow, Tell us, how did you navigate that?
That's funny yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And I didn't speak Portuguese, so Portuguese is
very similar to Spanish, but ifthey speak fast, it's like any
other language that you don'tunderstand.
So we spoke slowly, we typed inchat and we made it work.
So it was slower.
Yes, we got it done.
That's the reality of Nearshorecollaboration there.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So which language were you typing in the chat?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Portuñol.
We invented a language typingin the chat Portuñol.
We invented a language yeah, itwas like a mix of Spanish and
Portuguese, you know, becauseEnglish was out of the question.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
We didn't speak English, spanish and Portuguese.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
That's great.
How big was that team?
I think it was about 15 peopleand it was a tax project.
Brazil taxes are part of the,you know BRICS, and they're part
of the difficult to understand,so they had to like explain to
us.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Many times, you know, and I was like, okay, so they
had good presentations.
So you know, one I want to.
I was I'm going to say thetruth.
You know, like I was there 16years, you know, for me, I
thought I was.
You know, I was going to bethere forever.
You know, like I was going toretire there and everything.
So there's this I got laid offsomehow, you know I got.
(12:41):
I was jumping betweendepartments.
There was a split in HP becausethere were like 300,000
employees worldwide.
They split into HP Enterpriseand HP Inc and I went to HP Inc,
so my team was divided in twoand I and they, my manager, told
me hey, you know, witheverything you've done with uh,
(13:03):
with the ba role and everythingyou know, and I thought I was
going to be a manager orsomething, but nope, they said
you're going to go to hp and itwas like an art, business,
architecture role.
That didn't work out.
And then I ended up where Ididn't want to like as a pm.
I liked it, yeah, but you knowI did again the ba role in
secrecy.
(13:24):
So all the requirements I didit myself.
So same, same project.
You know I was doing probablyall of those because I didn't
have that dynamic of pm ba.
I was in finance.
Funny part there was that therewas this manager who was a
micromanager and I honestlydidn't like that one.
(13:44):
I tried to go to another team.
I went to another team and Ilanded on another manager the
same way.
And then that's when I wasthere a couple of years and then
I was why, that's what that'swhen, uh, I it was, I was there
like a couple of years and thenI was, I was laid off and for me
was uh, that was yeah, sorry uh16 years.
(14:04):
You know my heart and soul tothat company.
And then I was laid off.
They didn't say it was, it wasme.
They said you know this ishappening all around and and it
was true.
You know, I recently learnedthat they're also laying off
people with 16 years orsomething.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, I know it's a tough thing to go through.
You know I'm curious from yourperspective, Fernando, because
you've worked across so manydifferent borders.
The role of the businessanalyst is it universally the
same, no matter what countryyou're doing it from, or have
you seen any like nuances orflavors that are put on it?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, this is recent, but before usually the business
analyst is a liaison betweenbusiness and tech team, because
I don't know if in projects, ifyou want disaster, you take the
technical team like developersand put them in a room with the
stakeholder who's asking for therequirements.
So they're like more business.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So you know, this tech developer guy is going to
start talking about databases,talking about spreadsheets,
talking about, you know, verytechnical stuff and business.
They want everything high level.
So we are like in the middle,like a translator.
Yeah, I can relate.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Do you feel like it's well?
I guess in your world there'smaybe two translations, right?
It's like maybe you're doingSpanish to English and then
you're also doing businessrequirements to the technical
requirements.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, well, I actually the way that I learned
English.
And then you're also doingbusiness requirements to the
technical requirements.
Well, I actually the way that Ilearned English.
I learned it at a very youngage and I don't think in Spanish
like other ESL, I still thinkit's.
My mother language is Spanish,but you know, and they've told
me that I have goodpronunciation.
I don't know, and sometimesthey've told me, hey, I can
(15:59):
detect your accent.
Okay, yeah, Thank you.
Didn't ask you.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
That's funny.
Well, I want to ask you, youknow, as someone who's been in
this world for a long time, inthe technical world, what are
some best practices you know for, like, we've got people
listening that are maybenearshore, curious.
They're thinking about, youknow, putting a team of
Fernandos, you know in Mexicoand maybe they're in the States.
(16:24):
What are some best practices oradvice or guidance that you
give these people to kind of setup their nearshore operation,
their nearshore technical teams,for success?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Well, let me see when , I you know when I, what I can
say is we have a very goodtalent in Mexico.
There are a lot of universitieshere and they teach like to
global, not that they don'tteach like, oh, you know this
company, local companies askingus for like what happened to us
(16:59):
and to me and my university,that local companies are asking
the university to do this, dothat.
You know they were like leadingus, so here, no, it doesn't
happen.
Here in Guadalajara or otherother big cities here in Mexico,
like Monterrey, mexico City,querétaro, the universities are
(17:20):
aware of that global, you know,global companies that need
talent.
And now you know this, this newtrend, I think since, since,
since the pandemic, you, youknow, they realized that we can
actually work from home and it'ssome of the.
I love it.
You know, I was like I've beensince the pandemic.
They told us go home, it'sgonna be a week, and I'm still
(17:43):
here.
Since then, two companies, twodifferent companies.
So I got, I got fired in myhome yeah and then I started a
new company.
I started in in this new companywith, uh, you know, they
actually saved my life actually.
So I, I'm really grateful tothem and um, and they, they
really appreciate it and I'mlike I've been telling, like my
(18:05):
wife and my friends, you know,this is how I've been doing.
I did, I did the same effort,you know, the same kind of job,
same effort where I was, but I,it was not appreciated.
So I'm like I'm not doinganything.
So it was like it was not me.
So I was like because you knowyou doubt when they fire you.
You feel like, yeah, you get alittle insecure and wonder
Exactly exactly and, like now, Ido the same and I've been
(18:28):
working the same as I alwayshave, and they really appreciate
it and the culture is great.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
So maybe, like a couple of the takeaways that I'm
getting is that Mexico reallyteaches to a global technology
world and best practices inChicago or San Francisco or
London or wherever the samethings they're teaching in
Mexico.
So there's really not a wholelot of like adaptive.
I need to change my style orframework or methodology.
(18:59):
These guys are going to be ableto plug right in.
And then maybe the other thing,the other thing that I'm
hearing is, um, that there isthe same things that humans need
everywhere, that employees needeverywhere.
They need acknowledgement,recognition, appreciation.
It's no special thing we wouldjust do for Mexicans in the IT
(19:21):
world.
It's the same things we woulddo for anybody.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, that's it, you got it.
I don't know if it's across allcompanies, but this company
that hired me is their culture.
They have like a growth mindset, culture, which is awesome.
They've never treated me anydifferent.
I'm a contractor Now, I'm notan employee, and I was the first
(19:47):
one that they hired and theytold me hey, guess what?
You're going to be our guineapig Actually.
And they told me hey, guesswhat?
You're, you're going to be ourguinea pig.
Actually, the agency told methat you're going to be a guinea
pig and if that works for you,um, we will hire more.
We're we're going to clone you.
Okay, it worked and I think Idid, I did, I did things well,
so, and uh, and they, they askedme to hire other VAs from
(20:11):
Mexico and we had a badexperience with one of them and
it's you know, it's somethingthat happens.
Working from home, it's likefor me, it's a big perk and some
people don't really take thatfor granted.
Yeah, and we had this guy whowas replaced For me.
You know he was like you know,for me, you're done, I'm done
with you Because you know, forme, you're done, I'm done with
you.
(20:31):
Sure, because you know it washis attitude and actually the
company gave him another chance.
Oh my God, I was like, wow,it's like you know, he doesn't
deserve it and he blew it.
So just imagine, for me he wasdone.
You know, for me I was like Idon't want to work anymore.
So but it's not the case, youknow, it's not always the case.
(20:53):
You know, we hired someone elseand we're doing great.
There are three people fromMexico.
We have actually one of themlives like five minutes from
here.
Oh cool.
Recently I went to a barbecuethat he invited me.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And we got together.
So yeah, yeah, so it's good,yeah, so it's.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Good, yeah, good.
Nothing like an asada to bringeverybody together.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, carnasada, yeah , and you know, in work I'm like
leading that, because when Ientered I was alone and my
manager he was like very, verybusy alone.
And my manager he was like very, very busy because managers
were also doing, doing like thework, like requirements
management.
You know uh writing tickets injira, uh design, and in uh figma
(21:42):
, you know all that talking tothe making percentages to the
client.
And I was like home when I wasin hp managers, they just
managed, they didn't do likework.
You know like what we did.
And I tell these guys, you knowlike, take advantage, you're
being trained in your language,because I'm trained in Spanish
(22:07):
and all the time you know,because for me I don't know what
happened, but am I smarter?
I don't know, I don't know, butyou know they have.
I don't know what happened, butam I smarter?
I don't know, I don't know, butyou know they, they have me,
maybe they have me and it's likethey're.
They're asking me like, hey,this, hey that, hey, hey, every.
And I didn't have that and I'mlike what you know, you guys
have me.
I didn't have myself when I,when I came in this, this work,
(22:29):
so I said well, that's good forthat, that's great.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, let me throw one more piece out there before
we go.
A lot is going on in the techworld AI I'm not even you know,
so maybe in like a quick kind ofrapid fire.
How is AI impacting the role ofthe business analysts today and
then, what do you maybe seecoming up in the next couple of
(22:54):
years?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Actually, ai is for everyone, because people think
that AI is like cheating yeah,sam, but I see it as hiring a
very good assistant.
Of course, this assistant hascomplete framework of computers,
but the AI and I justdiscovered it because I used it,
(23:15):
but not as you used to.
So I went to this course, Itook a course and I was like,
wow, you know, we can reducetime Like one fifth of what we
do actually with AI andcompanies are not catching up.
Actually.
That's what I'm saying my, myniece.
She's working in this companywith I think it's a real, a
(23:41):
realtor, and they have, likethis AI, they have chat.
I can say them chat GPT but, asa community.
I didn't know that you can useit, and so they upload all the
documents of the company.
But whenever I didn't know thatyou can use it, and so they
upload all the documents of thecompany.
But whenever, because it's justdoing things faster, because
whatever an AI robot can, I cancall it a robot, I call it a
robot yeah, Can do.
(24:02):
A human can do a robot can doit faster, that's all.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
That's all because they, instead of you going into
the SharePoint of the companyand looking at all, reading all
the documents, ai does it likethis.
Right, it's just the same way.
Yeah, ai, if I see it this way,20 years ago, if you didn't
know English or use a computer,you were illiterate, somehow
Digitally illiterate.
Today, if you don't go into AIand I don't mean just asking
(24:33):
how's the weather or you know,just programming it, because you
can program to whatever youwant.
Believe me, just go into take acourse.
There are free courseseverywhere for AI.
Go there, Because if you don'tdo it, you're going to be left
behind in technology.
(24:54):
So yeah, that's mine.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I think that's great advice.
Great advice.
Well, fernando, this has been alot of fun.
I knew it would be.
I knew you'd have a lot ofgreat stuff to say.
You're listening to theNearshore Cafe podcast sponsored
by Plug Technologies, luggtecha great way to connect talent
from all over Latin America withUS companies, and great talent,
(25:20):
like Fernando, in Latin America.
Thanks again for listening.
We'll see you next time.
Thank you, erwin.
Thanks for joining us at theNearshore Cafe podcast.
Tune in
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