From Texas to ESYON: Roan Dominguez tells how it came about

To start with, Roan tells us a few things about himself. He studied computer science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and likes to joke that he got on the first plane to Germany right after graduation. “But in fact there was about a month in between,” he adds with a laugh.

He answers the question of why he chose Germany or Leipzig in particular: one of his friends is German. Over the years, she has described the working atmosphere, the work-life balance, the health system and the general situation in the country as very positive. Roan can also identify very well with the German mentality. Because his best friend moved from Tübingen to Leipzig a few months before he graduated, the young Texan also moved there.

Roan’s actual journey began when he saw a job posting from ESYON on LinkedIn and decided to apply. Adding to the difficulty posed by the physical distance, the coronavirus pandemic further complicated the application process. Nevertheless, Roan managed to travel to Germany for a personal interview and a trial period. This procedure is typical for candidates applying to ESYON. In our experience, it is the best way for both parties to assess whether there is a match and if they can envision working together. It was an easy decision in Roan's case, and he has been part of the ESYON team since August 2021.

As a US-American, Roan only speaks broken German. "At first I was worried that this might be a problem and that I might be a bit isolated at work," he admits. But the worry was completely unfounded.

"The team integrated me right from the start and speaks to me in both English and German," he says, adding with a smile, "The small talk often takes place in German so that I can improve my language skills. I think that's great. But then we prefer to discuss important topics in English."

And Roan is also an integral part of the team outside of the daily work routine. Barbecues and card game evenings take place every few weeks, and he joins in whenever possible.

Dual studies are also possible at ESYON. Wulfgar Siewert provides a field report.

Growing responsibility instead of permanent junior level

We want to know how Roan feels about working at ESYON and his tasks as a developer. "What I experience is much better than the situation many of my friends in the US are currently facing," he explains. Overseas, many young professionals would be kept at junior level for a long time, at least for two years. "You don't get to do a lot of work during that time, at most a bit of debugging and a few small projects." Roan also sees himself at junior level at the time of the interview. However, he says ESYON introduced him to simpler tasks first so that he could be given more responsibility later on.

"No company gives a newcomer a huge project right away. ESYON doesn't do that either. But I notice that I can take on more responsibility bit by bit."

As a developer, Roan primarily works on the Amazon Marketplace Connector and Model X. He has developed a special featurefeture for a potential client. "A prospective customer wanted a reconciliation of the so-called settlement report from Amazon Seller Central with the financial data in Microsoft Dynamics 365. I developed this feature and implemented it in our solution so that it can now be used by all customers."

We ask Roan about his further goals for the future at ESYON. For now, the developer wants to push the AMC and Model X further. "We still want to develop and add to the solutions until we're at the stage where we just have to adapt them to our customers' requirements." And after that? When that time comes, Roan could imagine taking a look at other areas of the company. "I would like to deepen my knowledge of PHP," he says. "Then I could develop into even more of an all-rounder and support in frontend development, for example, which I'd personally love."

We listen to these and other concerns of our employees, which Roan also confirms to us once again: "At the job interview, you are always asked which area you would like to orientate yourself towards in the future. It's great that ESYON is open to these wishes." If and when Roan's wish for a stronger insight into PHP development will come true. If a chance opens up, we will definitely give Roan an opportunity to develop his PHP Skills at ESYON

Roan, thank you for this very nice and informative interview! We are very happy that you have chosen ESYON and hope to have you with us for a very long time!