Part two details Iñaki’s first days at Matrix and how he got to grips with a new workplace in a new country. It’s been two-and-half years since he moved to Ireland from his hometown just outside of Bilbao in the Basque country.
Iñaki has since become more than accustomed to Irish life as the picture on the right testifies. If that’s not enough just ask any of the barmen around Dublin. There was a time though that Iñaki was caught out by Paddy’s Day when he first began with Matrix…
My first day here was so funny. I thought I was due to start the week after St. Patrick’s Day. I had come to Dublin on the 7th of March 2013 to complete a one-week English course before beginning at Matrix. I didn’t realise that we had Monday off due to Paddy’s Day being on a Sunday.
I had visited the office complex the Friday beforehand just to get familiar with the area. I walked in through the car entrance and took in my new workplace. When I went to leave the car entrance and pedestrian gate were both closed. I couldn’t figure out how to open the gate and I ended up having to climb over the fence. Things didn’t get much easy on my proper first day.
The first day that I came to work was when the office was split in two. I was following Jeff (our Managing Director) up the steps and he was looking at me like “Who the hell is this guy?”.
He suddenly remembered that I was due to start that day and took me into the office but there weren’t any free computers so all around it wasn’t the ideal start.
For the first month, I had to work on a notebook with a 10-inch screen. It was terrifying trying to create websites on this small screen. It’s like trying to make a website on a tablet. Thankfully I work from three screens now so those days are long gone.
The first thing Jeff asked me was “Do you know how to use WordPress?”
I said I hadn’t a clue about it and he told me that I was going to have to research and read up about it. So I started reading all these WordPress documents all throughout the day. At the end of the day, I remember a colleague of mine, Manuel, came to me and said can you “help me with something?” I completed the task in 5 minutes.
From then on they all sent me things that they didn’t want to do themselves and I learned more and more and began to take harder tasks on board.
So then I started working on other things that I hadn’t worked on before like control panels, hosting and other stuff. Jeff told me to get a handle on that including emails, domain names, etc.
[Pauses] I love reflecting on this. It’s easy for me because I have a good memory. If you were to ask Tomas about this he wouldn’t have a clue.
I don’t necessarily think that they need to know much because I certainly didn’t!
The only two things that I ask from someone who wants to come here to work is to be capable and prepared to solve their own problems. Be eager to learn and don’t ask the same questions twice.
One thing I always say is “Use Google!”
The chances are that the question you have has already been asked before by somebody else. So the answer is already out there in most cases.
One thing I found when I first came to Matrix was that I should not ask my colleague Tomas many questions. He hated my questions. In fact, he still does. So I spent almost 3 months not talking to him because I was afraid. Little did I know at the time but they were the best 3 months of my life, now I talk to him and everything is going downhill! *Laughs*.
I think if you start to ask questions you will always be asking questions. You will become dependent. It taught me how to solve my own problems and take care of my own shit.
Do you mean other than the Matrix blog?! Generally, I read Spanish blogs mostly, although I do check Joe.ie every day.
In terms of work, I keep up to date with the content shared by the likes of Genbetadev. When it comes to creating a website and stuff like SEO, the landscape can change from day to day so it’s important to keep your eye on the ball.
I also check hipertextual.com & microsiervos.com on a daily basis to keep in touch with interesting articles about the world, technology etc
The third and final part of our interview with Iñaki will be posted in two weeks’ time.
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By Matrix Internet
By Jeff Sheridan
By Iñaki Castellet Hernández