What does Agileana look for in potential employees? Rather than looking for exactly the right credentials and pieces of paper, we look for people with interesting resumes who bring a wide range of real-world experience to the table. We look for people with a proven ability to learn on the job and adapt and evolve as needed. That’s what being “agile” is all about.
Lucas Torres is a prime example of what we look for. A man of many talents, Lucas joined Agileana nine years ago (predating our rebrand as Agileana) after several years of running his own software development company in his hometown of Cali, Colombia as a largely self-taught developer.
From Strength to Strength
Ambitious from the start, Lucas quickly went from learning web development to founding his own company and going after large clients. While the company only lasted for four years, these years were enormously educational for Lucas, who had to learn everything about hiring salespeople and developers and managing employees, accounts, and clients etc.
“This was my schooling,” he asserts. “It was a hands-on school that was learning by doing.”
After four years as a tech entrepreneur, Lucas took his hard-earned skills and unblunted ambition to his next role at Agileana. After seven years as an Agileana developer, he became restless once again and expressed a desire to move into more of a leadership role. This led to his promotion to tech lead, in which he supervised other developers, and ultimately to his latest role as director of delivery.
Today Lucas supervises all the teams across Agileana, ensuring that projects are delivered on time and on budget. He also handles accounts with clients and spends much of his time making sure clients are happy with the services they receive. Looking back on his time as a full-time developer, Lucas says there’s only one thing he misses.
“I miss being able to listen to music while I work,” he says. “Now it’s not an option because I’m in meetings all day long.”
Excited for the Future
When Lucas joined Agileana (then known as InQbation prior to its 2015 rebrand), the company had less than ten employees. The company’s explosive recent growth, both in terms of staff numbers and the size and scope of clients, fills him with excitement for the future.
“The way we are growing as a company is amazing,” he says.
“We were almost flat for years, and then boom! Suddenly we’re getting new business and having to hire new people. Now when we post a job we get 700 candidates. People are getting to know us. It’s exciting to know you’re part of something that is getting bigger.”
Lucas is also excited about the future outlook for Drupal as a tool.
“Drupal has become a very strong enterprise tool for both government and the private sector. It was developed as a CMS, but now it’s really emerging as a framework. It’s not just a tool for doing websites anymore, especially now with Drupal going in the direction of becoming headless or decoupled. You can tell there’s leadership behind it and that there are strong business decisions going on behind the scenes.”
Last but not least, he’s excited about his new role as delivery director.
“On the executive team you feel a lot of responsibility on your shoulders,” he says.
“When you’re a developer you’re only responsible for your own time. Now I’m accountable for 30 to 50 people. That makes you want to become better, to get new skills. You’re doing work you’ve never done before. You have to behave differently. I feel fantastic in my new role. I think I can do really good work.”
The quintessential self-starter, Lucas has thus far risen to every challenge he’s been presented. We are indeed privileged to have him on our team!
