In 2021, SoftServe made a big step and entered Latin America's market by opening offices in Colombia, Mexico and Chile. In eight months, these locations have significantly grown, gathered teams of driven professionals ready to create innovations and positively impact the communities.

John Howard joined SoftServe in December 2021, and was the first person in Colombia's office. We asked him five questions about how it all started, what he values the most about working at SoftServe and how and how similar are the cultures of Ukraine and Colombia , where SoftServe has its roots.

Tell us a few facts about your personal and professional background

Speaking of my IT experience, I started in 2002, trying different roles, from software developer, project manager, scrum master, and delivery manager. I was familiar with the company some time ago and followed its Instagram and Facebook. SoftServe creates a feeling of a big global tech player. It has very friendly people-oriented and family-like culture. It feels like the company has a different mindset.

I like to read, watch movies and meditate. Also, I am a creative director for my brand of clothes. The idea came up for my master's degree, and I decided to make my own product. I like fashion, so I created some clothes for myself. People started asking me: "John, where did you get these clothes?". And I said: "It's mine!". Then I decided to launch my brand, and with my marketing experience, it grew quickly.

What was the most challenging for you and the team in launching the new market?

The most challenging thing for me was the very beginning of my journey in SoftServe. I came from working at a small company to joining a global giant with 13,500 people worldwide! I was building something huge from scratch! We are a company with numerous processes, we are new in the market, and we need to keep the mindset of entrepreneurs and follow the process and approvals.

In the beginning, it was important to establish HR operations, talent operations, and facility operations. We started learning along the way, and we got great results!

A few months ago it was just me and now, for a new company in the region, we have 125 people aboard. The feedback from our delivery is very positive; our teams are performing extremly well. And, what is even better to hear is that our clients are happy because we were able to generate a good pipeline of candidates for each position.

We already have eight accounts. Right now, we are working with projects of the new age, using the latest technologies. The ability to add new features is valuable for people. They like to implement their knowledge and, at the same time, learn constantly and use cutting-edge technologies. We mainly focus on projects in Phyton, Business intelligence, Big Data, .Net, Java, GO, Automation QA, Manual QA and Ruby.

What do you value the most about SoftServe?

People are looking for a company where they can grow, get more technical skills, and do something that has value and an impact. SoftServe offers plenty of such opportunities. Now, we are partnering with local tech communities and local tech trainers to develop the new talents in the region. Also, we are reviewing the educational programs and providing the mentorship program as well.

In the future, we are going to start developing our own programs, in particular, to set up SoftServe University by the end of this year. Globally, we have around 150 people working at SoftServe University to bring best practices to our associates. Annually, around 10,000 participants join the programs and 600+ of our employees become mentors at the University. Now, we aim to launch it in Colombia.

I also value the flexibility offered by the company. After the pandemic, many people want to have an opportunity to work from home. However, it's still important to socialize, collaborate with colleagues and have a workspace for team gatherings activities. This hybrid work format allows many associates to feel more independent and help them focus not on the place of work but on the best result. As for me, I often start my day at home and then, come to the office to see people and try to build this culture of networking.

Finally, I'm very proud of our proactive corporate social responsibility approach. We have well-established practices and teams in every location that consistently work on our main CSR directions, which include empowering communities, ecological responsibility, improving IT education, diversity&inclusion, well-being, and corporate volunteering and charity.

Where is SoftServe Colombia heading to? Tell us about the nearest plans

We have great plans and an amazing team to work with, we embrace the culture of people-oriented company where everyone has equal opportunities to grow and develop, and we try to motivate people to change the world. Our main tasks are to do what we are doing, learn about what is working, what is not working, what we need to change, and do great things.

This year we are planning to hire 450 people. We are looking for tech leads, PM leadership team, DevOps, Python, Node, Angular, and Ruby specialists.

IT is so popular now in Colombia, and there are a lot of new business here. Last year, more than 300 US companies came to our market. And they change developers' lives: salaries are improving, as well as their lifestyle. It brings new opportunities for employees and their families. The IT market is impressive here and growing fast. We have the goal to make Medellín the Silicon Valley in Latin America.

How the different cultures that exist in the company get along with each other?

We feel very empowered in Colombia because we come from a period when the country was more isolated. Now, we're more globalized with a robust economy and more connections to other countries. We're willing to work with new people and learn from other cultures.

Even though Ukrainian culture is new for us, we have much in common because we share many values and principles, such a being open, supportive, hard-working, and building close relations like a family. For example, every Monday, we invite people to come to the office and have lunch or brunch and connect with each other. Also, we plan to have quarterly events that bring people together.

We deeply care about the quality of the things we do, and being as professional as we can. We are open to learn from Ukrainian culture. And we also try to gain some experience from the other LATAM offices, Mexico and Chile, checking out what is working there and what's not, sharing ideas and working as one big team, as a family.