Today we want to present you one of our department managers. Javi, FXStreet’s CTO, joined our team in September 2014 taking the responsibility of leading the IT department. Find out how working at FXStreet is for him and why sport and work play two important roles in his life.
Javier at work
How does a day in the life of the CTO at FXStreet look?
Exciting! The good thing about my position is that I can do a little bit of everything: developing software (it’s my true passion), making decisions about the technical strategy that the company needs to follow and trying to keep the team happy and motivated every day.
What do you like best about your job?
As a Software Engineer what I like the most is to be surrounded by people that share the same passion that I have for my job. In my opinion, this is something difficult to find so I consider myself privileged. The other thing is that FXStreet has given us the opportunity to build something from scratch (the 3.0 version of our website), something very rare in a company.
What do you like least about your job?
“Bolets” (“Mushrooms” in Catalan), which is how we call to the unexpected problems. Being in a company like FXStreet has loads of advantages but it also has its downsides and not having a special team for maintenance work is one of them. The whole team does everything, from writing software to reboot systems when they are down and sometimes this implies to fix “Bolets”.
If you were not a Software Engineer, what would you like to do for a living?
I know that it is going to be a surprise, but probably I would be an Army Officer. Some of my relatives are Army Officers and I like the kind of job they do nowadays, like humanitarian missions and military exercises where you spend months lost in the forest.
Animated gifs are often used in internal emails among collaborators at FXStreet… share with us a gif that you particularly like!
I am a huge fan of Memes and I have a library with tons of them but if I have to choose one…
We almost all put our headphones on when working here at the office. What do you usually listen to?
Unlike some of my fellows who they like reggaeton (Cuban sector mostly, and I will not name any of them 😉 ) or more heavy stuff like Justin Bieber (just kidding), I normally listen american folk like Jack Johnson, Neil Halstead or Eddie Vedder. You can listen to all of them here (this is my personal playlist!):
Your favorite bands at the moment?
I am a huge fan of Jack Johnson and The Black Keys.
Any weird habit you have when working?
I have 2 “tics” when I am very concentrated. I normally cover my mouth with my left hand and also I quickly move up and down my left leg. I used to scratch my head but since I am losing hair I am trying to stop it 🙂
What are the software, websites or tools you mostly use at work? What for?
With capital letters: NEWRELIC, it is the most useful piece of software when you get those painful “Bolets”. At FXStreet we use it all the time.
Javier in his personal life
What do you typically do when you get out of the office?
The best question is “What do you typically do when you wake up?”. I am a morning person so I have changed the habits and I normally wake up 3 hours before I get into the office to make my daily routine. Of course, this does not always happen but I try to keep it at least 4 days per week. The advantage of this is that when you get back home at the end of the day you feel like you have done everything so you can relax, spend more time with your family and friends and so on.
What is your morning routine about?
I usually wake up at 6:15, I drink a cup of coffee and then I go for a 20-minute run. Once I’m back home I practice Yoga for 15-20 minutes and then I take a shower. I prepare breakfast that includes a smoothie, a cup of coffee (again) and a sandwich or an omelette. I take advantage of breakfast to read at least 3 different articles from Pocket and finally I work on any side projects that I have at the moment for 30-45 minutes. This can include reading a book or developing an application. After all of that, it’s normally 8:45 when I head to the office.
Do you have a specific hobby?
I have tons of them! 90% are sports like surfing, paddle surfing, padel or football, etc. Though I do not practice football anymore because I got scared since our teammate Marcos got injured playing. I love it but the risks when you get older are quite high. Also, I like to cook on the weekends.
What are your holiday plans in the upcoming months?
We have been traveling around the world for the past 4 years and I think this year we will take a break and go somewhere nearby. I love Cadiz (Andalusia), which is my hometown, so we are looking for a house there to spend 15 days.
What are your favorite websites? Do not say FXStreet 😉
As everybody in the office knows, www.as.com is my favorite because there you can find the most objective information about the sport’s world (just kidding, again). Now talking seriously, I do not have any specific favorite website. I use Pocket, a tool for mobile and browsers that keeps my favorite articles and then the tool learns from my readings and recommends content that suits my interests.
What is the last movie you’ve watched. Would you recommend it?
Two weeks ago I watched “Split”, a fantastic movie from the director of The sixth sense. I totally recommend it!
You are from Madrid… and your picture at the top of our interview already gives an answer… but I will have to follow the tradition in this series of interviews and ask you the dramatic question: Do you support Barça? If not, dare to say which football team you support… 😀
The only purpose for me to make this interview was to answer this question. I am a Real Madrid, Mourinho and CR7 huge fan! 😉 In the office we are a small group of Real Madrid fans but it is quite interesting to be surrounded by Barça supporters and trust me, we never get bored at lunch.