I visited Dubai doing what i love.
So i got an invite to go to Dubai from one of the clients of the company i collaborate with (Ceiba Software). The idea was to get to know up close the process we’ve been working on for a couple of months, understand the architecture, the decisions made, get to know the end user and some other stakeholders.
This was my first international trip, so i was a little nervous. I knew it was a long ass trip and it would affect my sleep since i can not do it in cars or planes, so there’s that. It almost did not happen because i couldn’t get a visa on time to transit in the US, so my itinerary had to change just a couple of days before leaving Colombia.
At a glance
I mean, you know: it’s a hot hot place (keep in mind that i come from a place in the coast near the Ecuador parallel, so I know heat first hand)
I stayed in Atlantis The Palm. That is some high end shit, i mean the luxury and the attention to detail is crazy. People were so nice and polite, communication was not an issue since everybody speaks English. The facilities were awesome.
The hotel has one of the largest water park in the world: Aquaventure, which is a perfect place for the family. The place is massive and it has everything you might need: from restaurants to luxury stores.
Although most of the time i was working, i managed to escape at nights to get out and get to know the city. Moving around using taxi can be expensive, but is definitely cheaper than using Uber.
I went to the Souk Madinat Jumeirah, visited a couple of malls (Mall of Dubai, Mall Emirates), went to see the Burj Khalifa, the Museum of Future and visited a place I knew I’d love : the Gold Souq, not for the gold but for the other things you can get, and for me was spices and other souvenirs i wanted to bring home. Expected a little bit more from the food, but hey, you can’t win them all.
One of the things i enjoyed the most was the feeling of walking down the street without worrying about the insecurity you might find in other places. This is to say that Dubai is one of the safest places in the world. Loved every second I spent in that place.
Another thing that i enjoyed a lot was comparing the reality versus what we get to see outside that place. In other words : don’t believe everything you see/read on the news/media. Dubai is a place that has changed a lot. They keep their traditions but also have learned to embrace others. I mean, they have to if they want to keep promoting tourism.
This experience has changed my perspective in so many ways. I used to hate leaving home, but now i kinda wanna do it more frequently. The idea of getting to know new people, places, cultures is very exciting for me now.
Let’s get back to business
Now, let’s talk about what Iwent to do over there. I got to see the application/ecosytem we’ve been working on for a couple of months. It’s amazing to see the product working, seeing the users take advantage of the custom tool we built for them to ease the experience of the guests in the park. I am so proud to see that all of the effort and work that my team and me put into this paid off , but I also had a chance to see what we can do to improve such a tool (one of the benefits of seeing it up close).
So I took a couple of ideas back home to discuss with both the client and the development team.
Being able to see everything first hand was a very educational and amazing experience and having a chance to get to know such a beautiful place was a blessing (more clients like this).
Got to know some of the stakeholders, listen to their needs and got to discuss a few ideas of the future for the solution. It was nice because most of them i just knew from emails or video calls, so finally putting a face to those voices was awesome (nice people, by the way).
Although all of these things I mention before were great, I want you all to take special attention to the “doing what Ilove” in the title of the article or the “the company I collaborate with” in the intro. Why didn’t I refer to it as “the company I work for” or “my job” ? The answer is easy : I just love what I do and when that’s the case, you’ll never work. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new, to transfer knowledge, to build with other people along the way, to grow as a person and as a professional. That’s why I love my company.
Can you imagine doing what you love, going places you never thought you’d visit, getting to know amazing people and getting paid to do so, can you ? I wish you all have the opportunity (luck ?) or the chance to find a place you feel the way i do right now.
So I guess I’ll just wait for the next opportunity to go out and visit another place and will share that with you.
A special thanks to Vantage which is the company that invited me to have this amazing experience.
