Capgemini, a stand-out workplace offering diversity and exciting opportunities

Romero holds the position of Managing Cloud Advisor at Capgemini Stavanger. Additionally, he is a member of the “Cloud and Custom Applications’ Experts”, a nationwide group of ten advisors who work across the entire department and client portfolio.

What is your story, Eugene?

– Starting from the beginning, I was born in the U.S. but grew up in Spain. At 16, I moved to Mexico for some years. I completed my schooling there, initially pursuing Electronics. However, I always had a passion for IT.

Like so many in this industry, Romero is a self-taught IT Engineer.

– Looking back, I wish I had studied something related to IT. But I have always liked to try and learn things on my own. IT is a domain where there are a lot of self-learning possibilities. On time, I joined an organization where I was able to work with IT, and at that point it was clear to me that this was my calling.

It was love that eventually made Romero come all the way to Norway. His wife is Norwegian, and one day they decided the time was right for them to move from Mexico here.

– As I arrived in Norway, I started looking for a job, and I immediately liked Capgemini. Their recruitment process was quite good, they were very clear in their communication, and I was very impressed by all the skilled people I spoke with during the interview process.

– That was five years ago, and I’m still here.

Was there anything that impressed you right away when you started working in Capgemini?

– Something I noticed and still really like about Capgemini is the large variety of backgrounds of those who work here. Being a global company, it naturally fosters international diversity. But even here in Norway there is a rich diversity; we have people with different educational backgrounds, experiences, and languages.

– I believe that such diversity is quite important to succeed in business. It brings multiple perspectives to the table. You get a good mix of viewpoints and a good mix of ideas, which is very valuable.

After five years, you are still working in Capgemini. What keeps you here?

– Well, these five years have gone by very fast. Almost too fast, I would say.

Romero is particularly pleased with the career options at Capgemini. When he joined the company, he was shown a career framework which laid out different paths.

– What’s great about this framework is that you can choose which path you want to follow. Say you start here as a Software Engineer. You can always follow the traditional path “up”, to senior and management levels. But there is also the possibility to move sideways. For example, if you discover you have a greater interest in testing or project management, you have the option of changing your career path and moving into those areas.

– This freedom is quite nice. And this is possible because Capgemini is a large company with a lot of different clients, as well as a large variety of projects. This also means that there is always something new to do. This kind of variety has made me enjoy my time here.

One client that Romero has worked with since he started at Capgemini is the Norwegian Maritime Authority (Sjøfartsdirektoratet).

– Public sector doesn’t sound too exciting at first, right? However, this is one of the clients I’ve enjoyed working with the most. Our task has been to digitalize processes that have been done manually for literally hundreds of years, like the registration of vessels for example. New development is always exciting, and this client has been very forward-thinking and open to new technologies.

By being closely involved in this client’s projects, Romero himself has deepened his understanding of Cloud and Cloud infrastructure.

– They are a highly agile organization that can quickly change course as needed. After so many years their projects continue to evolve, and there are new, exciting tasks all the time.

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What is the best thing about your job?

– Well, there are several things, but if I had to choose one, I would say the fact that no two days are the same.

– In my role as Cloud Advisor, I collaborate with various clients as well as teams within Capgemini. As an advisor, they know they can contact me when they face challenges in their projects. This of course means that sometimes, I don’t really know how the day is going to be like. That makes time go by fast!

Romero is also a popular public speaker and frequently participates in conferences. Earlier this year he spoke at NDC 2023 and DevopsDays Oslo 2023. At the beginning of November, he will present two talks at NIC Cloud Connect, both of them relating to the automation of tasks in Kubernetes clusters.

While many find public speaking to be intimidating, Romero has found some ways of making the experience less scary. Later in November, he will hold an Upskill presentation to encourage other colleagues at Capgemini to also try their hand at it.

– Of course, public speaking was scary for me as well in the beginning. But I really enjoy it now. Capgemini has given me the freedom to go to different conferences and speak about different subjects. Their message has been “keep us informed of where you are going, but don’t feel that your hands are tied because of us”.

Romero also has a blog, where he writes articles and posts videos of some of his talks. That blog can be found here.

Last, but not least – what are the main reasons one should consider joining Capgemini?

– When you work at Capgemini you will never feel like you are alone. We firmly believe in helping one another. That’s why our motto is “The Power of One”. We have a strong culture of collaboration.

Additionally, knowledge sharing is essential for everyone working at Capgemini.

– The size of Capgemini means that we have experts on pretty much any subject, ready to help you out and point you in the right direction. It is good to know that you always have a strong network of people behind you.

Diversity is one more reason for working at Capgemini.

– If you value working and interacting with people of many different backgrounds, this is the place to be.

– And if you want to work in a company where you can take control of your own future, Capgemini is the best option.

Don’t miss Eugene Romero’s talks at NIC Cloud Connect 2023! On Wednesday, Romero will discuss how he and his team use Terraform to fully automate the Azure Kubernetes clusters at Sjøfartsdirektoratet. On Thursday, he will speak about how to automatically and securely consume secrets in applications running on Kubernetes. Take a look at the agenda for the conference here.