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Hispanics in IT find fascinating work
They bring cultural awareness, ideas and experiences to the workplace
Bilingual skills can be an advantage in a global market
By Claire Swedberg
Contributing Editor
 In the world of information technology, employers from government agencies to banks and retailers are looking for smart well-rounded college graduates who can bring new perspectives along with technical know-how, says Pablo Molina, associate VP of IT and campus CIO at Georgetown University (Washington, DC). “They want people who can think outside the box and do it creatively; they want a diverse outlook,” he observes. Hispanic IT pros can fill that bill.
Molina adds that the bilingual status of many Hispanics can be a plus. “With the increasing globalization of the market, and with English and Spanish the most common languages spoken, this is a real asset to job candidates,” he says. Not only can bilingual techies communicate with potential customers and clients in Spanish or Portuguese, they may have a better understanding of the diverse client base of today’s companies.
Groups such as Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA, www.a-lista.org) and the Hispanic Information Technology Executive Council (HITEC, www.hitecglobal.org) offer further support and resources for Hispanic IT pros in the workforce, as well as those still in college.
Bilingual skills are crucial to DEA
EEO manager Rosemarie Morales says that bilingual skills are important to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA, Washington, DC). She sees a workforce that includes Hispanics as an advantage to
the DEA mission.
“The agency does a portion of its work in Spanish-speaking countries,” she notes. “Skills and abilities in translating and interpreting Spanish are crucial.” She explains that Hispanics are able to bring together business organizations, law enforcement and other community groups in order to accomplish the DEA mission within the Hispanic culture. “They bring cultural awareness, ideas and experiences from their countries
of origin to the DEA family,” Morales says.
Juan Guerrero works at the DEA through Catapult
Juan M. Guerrero, Jr is a senior engineer/lead tech at Catapult Technology, Ltd (Bethesda, MD), a service-disabled veteran-owned firm that provides IT and management consulting services to the federal government.
He’s working as a task lead and senior engineer at the Drug Enforcement Administration, providing IT field support. His responsibilities include troubleshooting and restoring network connectivity for email, fileservers, printers, desktop workstations, laptops and other IT infrastructure components. “I also ensure that incoming service tickets are addressed in
a timely manner by the support team,” he says.
Guerrero started in IT because he was intrigued by the computer’s ability to connect people throughout the world. He graduated from TESST College of Technology (Alexandria, VA) in 1999.
TESST helped Guerrero land his job. The school offers career services in resume writing, job searches and interviewing skills. It also arranges interviews for graduates. “When I saw the opportunity at DEA, I concentrated on that interview and was hired,” he says.
Guerrero believes that people in the computer field should learn as much as possible about troubleshooting. “It’s also helpful to become familiar with the components of a computer and how the equipment works in the real world on an actual network,” he notes.
But Guerrero says it also takes good communication skills to identify and resolve user issues. “That’s my greatest strength. A lot of users really appreciate knowing your plan of action for resolving the issue.”
Jonas Rivera is a network engineer at DTRA
 Jonas Rivera is team leader of network support at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA, Ft Belvoir, VA). He’s in charge of day-to-day operations and oversees network support for the Nevada Test Site, White Sands Missile Range and Dugway Proving Ground as well as his own office
in Albuquerque.
Rivera started at DTRA in 2000 while he was still a student at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM). He was a part-time employee on the helpdesk in Albuquerque. He enjoyed the challenge and independence. “It was a shock at first,” he says, “not having a supervisor standing over my shoulder.”
The experience was so positive that Rivera changed his major from engineering to business admin with a focus on MIS. He got his bachelors in 2003.
After graduation he joined DTRA as an IT specialist, providing network support at the Albuquerque office. In 2004 he added firewall management in addition to supporting issues
with networks, email servers and domain controllers.
Rivera was promoted to project manager in 2008. He now develops price quotes and works with vendors on new technology acquisitions. “It’s easy to stay current because the Department of Defense keeps security regulations current,” he says. “As new threats arise, new equipment is set to respond.”
His work also involves overseeing the video teleconference center (VTC), which services the videotaping of missile tests and other operations as well as conferences. It’s Rivera’s job to provide access to the video, audio and networking required for each unique event. “You can really feel the pressure when it comes to the last week,” he says. “There’s no room for failure.”
Rivera likes to take on hard tasks avoided by others, like the VTC system, which had a hit-or-miss reputation before his arrival. “That’s how you expand yourself,” he says. “You don’t have to cure cancer; you just take on a little at a time. Even if you fail, at least you tried.”
Mario Ruiz works with Cisco’s partners
In his position as channels systems engineer at Cisco Systems (San Jose, CA), Mario Ruiz has managed to combine his two greatest interests: technology and business.
He works with Cisco’s partners, learning to sell, design and implement a Cisco solution. “I like to think of myself as a technical account manager,” he says. “I’m seen as the go-to person for various technologies.”
Ruiz started his technical career as a college student building websites for friends and working for a structured cabling company, which provided great insight into IT. “I was just wiring and connecting a bunch of devices without knowing their function,” he says with a smile, “but if I miswired something I would sure enough see someone from IT poking around.”
While still working on his degree, Ruiz took a job at Poseidon Waterproofing (Elizabeth, NJ)
as a LAN administrator. He soon replaced another administrator as network admin, systems manager and de facto CTO of the IT department. “It was a sink or swim opportunity,” he says.
Ruiz earned his 2006 BS in telecommunications with a minor in business management at St John’s University (Queens, NY). He let his passion for IT dictate his major, but minored in business to become a well-rounded candidate. He rationalized, “If I’m going to be doing this
for the rest of my life I might as well enjoy it.”
After graduation, Ruiz wanted to use his technical abilities in a way that would be relevant to the business side, so he targeted sales and engineering positions in technical companies. After many interviews and meetings, he accepted Cisco’s offer to join its associate systems engineer program, and he’s never looked back.
Ruiz has learned to think about the practical implications of new technology on the business rather than focusing on the bits and bytes. He finds himself pondering, “Will this increase my user’s productivity; will I be making the job easier; am I simplifying a business process or complicating it?”
He advises students to follow their passions, challenge themselves and study something intellectually stimulating. “Choose something that you would do all day for free,” he says. “Have fun. If it isn’t fun, why are you doing it?”
On the technical side, he says his certifications in CCNA, A+ and MCP are helpful as well. But Ruiz notes that networking is key. “If I didn’t network, I wouldn’t have applied to Cisco.”
Teresa Solorzano DeBar, president of Cisco’s Conexion, the company’s Latino employee resource group, notes that Conexion fosters career development among its Hispanic employees. “The group helps employees develop business acumen, communications and influence skills,” she says. The company also pairs high-potential employees with senior leaders to provide mentoring, development and exposure.
Hector Beltran is an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton
 Bolivian native Hector Beltran has been guiding others for twenty years. Today he mentors new hires and interns as they arrive for IT-related positions at strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean, VA).
His bilingual skills have been a strong asset in his career.
As a Booz Allen associate Beltran develops IT transformation, transition and implementation plans; manages requirements analysis and software application development projects and conducts IT assessments for the company’s clients.
Beltran earned his 1988 BS in computer engineering and computer science at Mississippi State University (Starkville, MS). His first job was junior systems analyst with ERC Government Systems, a Fairfax, VA consulting firm that’s now part of Anteon Corp. For six years he worked on software for various clients.
In 1994 he earned his MS in software systems engineering at George Mason University (Fairfax, VA). He took a position at an IT systems development firm as a principal software engineer, but the job wasn’t a good fit. In 1996 he found a position at Booz Allen that allowed him to apply the newer technologies and methods he’d learned.
In his tenure at Booz Allen Beltran has developed alternative, cost/benefit and return-on-investment studies; facilitated joint application development sessions; developed RFPs and participated as a member of proposal evaluation committees. He’s worked for clients like the Department of Defense, federal, state and municipal agencies, professional associations and foreign countries.
Beltran’s work has taken him to El Salvador, where he lived for a year in high school. He speaks English and Spanish fluently and was able to immediately interact with that client.
El Salvador was establishing a health information system in which all patients and their treatment history could be shared among the country’s public hospitals. “One of the things I enjoy is high impact, short duration projects,” he says, “especially when they’re challenging.”
Beltran encourages the college interns and recent grads he mentors to get exposure to many different projects through their internships and early-career assignments. “It helps determine your interests,” he says. “I learned that I was interested in project management through hands-on work with clients before I started my masters.”
VP David Tabora works on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs
 Honduran native David Tabora decided to go straight for his 2001 MSEE after earning his 1999 BSEE at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). “I felt that a masters would give me the intellectual maturity and technical depth to be truly successful,” he says.
Tabora wanted to work for an industry leader, a company that offered challenge and growth opportunities. He had targeted wireless communications until he interned at Goldman Sachs (New York, NY). “I found the work intriguing,” he says, “so I decided to give financials a try.” His project involved helping the company’s mobile computing group develop a wireless computing strategy that included PDAs and laptops for employees.
Tabora joined Goldman right after graduation as an analyst on a team that was designing and building a security system and infrastructure network for a remote access solution. He says his background in mobility computing made him well suited for the position.
In 2003 Tabora was promoted to the market data sector of the investment banking organization. His group was responsible for making market data available to Goldman’s banking division. In this role he not only got experience working with investment bankers,
he learned the relevance of the data to the business.
Today Tabora spends his days in the high-pressure world of the trading floor making sure data flows unimpeded. As VP of technology he leads an IT support team that has to understand what traders do and the systems needed to support the flow of data in order to be effective.
For example, team members must consider how data will integrate with accounting systems. “The level of complexity is higher than anything I’ve done,” Tabora says. “My reaction time needs to be very quick since everything in market trading is time sensitive.”
It’s also Tabora’s job to forecast what may be needed in the future. “There are always new strategies and trading requirements,” he says. “Communication is key because traders don’t have all the time in the world to explain their needs.”
Tabora advises college students to taka a broad range of courses. “Don’t be too specialized,” he cautions. “I would have benefited from courses in economics or finance.”
Jorge Rivera Reyes is operations PM at Intel
 When Intel became the first Fortune 500 company to establish a facility in Costa Rica, Jorge Rivera Reyes jumped at the chance to leverage his bilingual skills. The company was looking for IT people with project management experience and fluency in Spanish and English.
Rivera Reyes was born in California and moved to Costa Rica when he was seven. He earned his 1995 BS in computer systems engineering at the International University of the Americas (San Jose, Costa Rica). He then took a job as a developer at the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, also in San Jose.
Within a year he had moved on to the Costa Rican office of international standards organization GS1 (Brussels, Belgium) as e-commerce PM providing barcoding and EDI support. He managed the project that helped connect supply chain partners (suppliers, shippers and retailers) with purchase orders shared over the Internet.
In 1999 Rivera Reyes joined Intel’s software support group. He managed a team of technicians at a call center in Costa Rica that supported the company’s automation factories. During the three years he served as crisis manager, he oversaw and resolved a number of manufacturing production crises. “It was very stressful the first three times,” he notes. “This experience helped develop the skills I use to this day.”
In 2003 Rivera Reyes wanted to move back to the U.S. and took a position with a division of First Data Corp (Greenwood Village, CO). He was working with MS SQL, .net and PHP as a senior apps developer at the company’s Tempe, AZ facility.
By 2005 he was ready for a new challenge and turned back to Intel. “I loved the culture and the company itself,” he says. He was hired as an information security specialist at the Chandler, AZ location, supporting the daily operation of a secure facility. His job was to ensure the security of the operations and Intel’s newly developed technologies. “I became totally immersed in security,” he says.
When the operational lead for the group resigned, Rivera Reyes was promoted to his position. He also began pursuing his 2009 masters in information management at Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ). “I felt that a masters would help me understand the business side better,” he says.
Rivera Reyes is a member of the Intel group that won an Emmy award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for development of high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) technology.
He urges IT people to focus on their own tasks, not what others are doing. “But don’t be afraid to ask for help,” he says. “Always communicate your needs in a timely manner and be humble and willing to learn from others.”
Rivera Reyes describes Intel as a very diverse place to work; members of his team are from many different parts of the world. “Cultural diversity is imperative for today’s business world,” he says.
Eber Azana is apps development specialist at Cigna
 Eber Azana is part of the technical early career development program of Cigna (Philadelphia, PA). He works in the company’s Bloomfield, CT office. He started in December 2008 as an apps specialist. He had just finished his BS degree in business and technology at the University of Connecticut.
It may have been his first job after college, but Azana’s work experience had started long before. A high school internship brought him to UBS in Stamford, CT where he worked for a summer as a business continuity analyst. “I was interested in computers and business,” he says, “and I got to see both in action.”
During college he interned as a global ops project coordinator at Bloomberg LP (New York, NY). His job was to provide support for the installation of Bloomberg terminals. His Spanish language skills were also tapped to help Bloomberg with its advertising campaign for an expansion in Mexico.
Azana got to use his bilingual skills again during his 2007 summer internship as a market researcher at Overwest Advisory (Stamford, CT). He researched Mexican trade shows and convention centers, and translated and analyzed economic statistics from Mexican websites
and documents.
From 2005 to 2008 Azana was business development manager at the Connecticut Information Technology Institute (Stamford, CT). He worked with the company’s corporate clients to identify and deliver resources for IT professional development. “I would look at IT trends and suggest curriculums in new programs like PM,” he says.
Azana got to work with SAP during a 2008 internship at drinks company Diageo of North America (Norwalk, CT). As an info systems analyst he analyzed corporate compliance discrepancies and resolved issues in the SAP ERP system. From that experience he learned
the importance of adapting quickly to new and different systems.
Today Azana works directly with business analysts, enterprise architects and fellow systems analysts on Cigna’s new call center application. His task is to provide data migration and synchronization strategies from legacy applications and interfaces to the new solution.
Azana feels that his bilingual and multicultural heritage has made it easier for him to work
in many different settings. He works closely with people of varying backgrounds, ages and experience and stresses the importance of having good social skills. “Never think for a minute that being Hispanic is a disadvantage,” he advises.
Jesus Martinez works in risk management at Bank of America
 Jesus Martinez is a technical project analyst at Bank of America (Charlotte, NC). He’s on the supply and risk management team at the company’s Dallas, TX location.
Martinez is responsible for identifying potential risks related to technology before a problem arises. That involves making sure the company’s technology providers remain compliant with bank policies and processes.
Martinez earned his 2007 BSCS at Texas A & M University (College Station, TX). Early in college he had chosen the management route over technical, so his strategy was to explore a wide variety of possible jobs before graduation.
He got that chance through a co-op program with a chemical company in the Dallas area. Over three terms he developed and implemented new business processes and improved existing ones in three different areas of the company’s IT department. “I also learned business etiquette,” he says, “particularly how to interact with business management and diverse co-workers.”
When he set out to find a job after graduation, Martinez was impressed with Bank of America’s interview process. It was the only company that offered an opportunity to meet with an associate who was in the program he was considering. “I was able to pick the associate’s brain,” he says.
In August 2007 Martinez started in the company’s two-year leadership development rotation program. His first rotation was with the security engineering team where he had a technical role, maintaining and updating security for the IT department. He rotated to the program deployment team that supports risk and compliance. “My primary role was to work with audit issues,” he says. Now in his last rotation, he’s with supply and risk management.
Martinez stresses the importance of honing soft skills, including communications, teamwork and leadership. “The feedback I got from the people I interviewed with was that those skills give you a leg up,” he says. “There are many unique perspectives in a company that is as diverse as Bank of America.”
Kelly Sapp, spokesperson for Bank of America global HR, notes that the company strives for a diverse workforce and supplier base to reflect the diversity of its customers. “For us, diversity goes beyond race and gender to viewpoint and experience,” she says. “We work with people in different lines of business in different parts of the world.”
D/C
Claire Swedberg is a
freelance writer who
lives in La Conner, WA.
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