From Barcelona to Coimbra
After a bustling Mobile World Congress, it was time for my wife and me to take a few days to celebrate our recent marriage. One of the cities we visited was Coimbra, Portugal, a place that, to be honest, wasn’t on our list of places to visit, but since we were on our way to Porto, we thought it was worth exploring.
Luck was on our side when we met Roger Martínez Iglesias, our guide on a “free tour.” Interestingly, we were the only participants at the chosen time, which made our conversation more intimate and personal.
During the typical conversation about where we are based, I mentioned that we were from Buenos Aires, but that I, in particular, came from Barcelona and my wife had joined on the last day. Roger told us that he is originally from Barcelona, and then I mentioned that he would probably be familiar with the MWC and that the reason for my previous visit was because of the fair. It was then that an unexpected connection arose. Our guide had worked as a PM for ACCIÓ, one of the foundations that collaborates in organizing the MWC. When I mentioned the name Carles Gómara, looking to see if we knew anyone in common, he confirmed that he had been one of his bosses.
Roger told us that he was taking a sabbatical year to focus on writing a novel, although he had no doubt about returning to the industry once that project was finished. The tour he provided us was phenomenal; we learned about the history of the city and the University of Coimbra, which made it even more fascinating and beautiful than we had imagined.
Meeting Roger made me reflect on how small this incredible industry can be. The Mobile World Congress means different things to many people, but it is undoubtedly a crucial meeting point for a constantly evolving global industry.
My wife, who works in a completely different field, asked me if it was common for people to take breaks and make similar changes to those of Roger in what she calls “people who work in technology.” I explained to her that it is increasingly common to see people dynamically changing their professional development combined with their life plans, generating interesting and versatile profiles. Far from being negative, this ends up creating individuals with a deep understanding and tools to manage the challenges that come with adapting and taking risks.
Years go by and I continue to be amazed by the ability to communicate with people from all over the world in real time. Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by phones; there was a phone with buttons in my house since I was little, but we regularly visited my maternal grandmother’s house, and she had a beige rotary phone that fascinated me. There wasn’t really much to do other than try to dial, call the automated service that gave you the time, or pay close attention to the copper cable with the RJ11 connector that ended in the nearest wall, but the fascination never waned. Despite technically understanding how a phone call works, a text message, and let alone a video call, I can’t help but think it’s magical. As I write this text on a high-speed train, I can have conversations with people from different cities around the world, bridging distances, although one can project it with little dots on a big map. With the explosion of 5G technology and low Earth orbit satellites, this is just the beginning.
In summary, if you visit Portugal, be sure to stop by Coimbra and take a tour with Roger. His stories will transport you to worlds that make the plots of Game Of Thrones and Romeo and Juliet seem small. On the other hand, we are living in a time of technological revolution that offers us countless possibilities, an impressive increase in productivity, and efficiency.
For some, this revolution means taking a sabbatical year to write a novel; for others, it’s working from a remote location; and for some, it will be the opportunity to work and travel simultaneously. It’s up to us to use that time and potential available to humanize our jobs and our lives, while exploring the limits of our capabilities and horizons.
