A Colombian in New Zealand Serving as a DevOps Engineer

The Story of This post is a reflection in the form of a story about the journey from Colombia to New Zealand, serving as a technology consultant for a company with over 700,000 people worldwide. 17,620 KM from Bogotá, Colombia to Auckland, New Zealand The Early Years The first 25 years of my life were restless movements from place to place. I don’t perceive that I belonged to any specific place or fit into a particular culture. After various experiences such as visiting my dad and mom in Bogotá, moving between schools, changing friendships, developing my personality, and many other factors that escape me, little by little, a large part of who I am today in 2022 was shaped. Some notable stages were: 2002 I heard an English teacher talk about migrating to Canada, a country far from Colombia, with a lot of work and great new experiences. I was fascinated by the idea of leaving Colombia and having an adventure. 2004 Moving from living in El Socorro, Santander to the capital of Colombia, Bogotá. 2009 I returned from the United States due to acts of teenage rebellion. Certain failures in our lives either break us or motivate us to seek God and long for a radical change (repentance of heart). 2010 God can use anyone in any situation: during Holy Week, I went with my close ones at that time to a church called Iglesia de Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo Internacional. God spoke to my heart and dictated what would happen in the following years. I’m preparing another story on medium.com with the details of this revelation. However, God instructed me about the difficulties I would go through, the departure of my Mother due to physical illnesses, plans about traveling abroad, my future wife, and other details that were entirely fulfilled about the future. 2011 I traveled to India thanks to the University of Medellín, Colombia, called Eafit, for an internship with Infosys in Mysore, Karnataka, India. Despite other experiences in my life, this has been one of the most impactful I’ve had. 2012 My dear Mother departed from her physical body to be with God just days after my birthday. It was the hardest year of my life. It’s like when one says that the world breaks into a thousand pieces, or the sky meets the earth. The Process to Get to NZ 2015 During my last semester of systems engineering at the Catholic University of Colombia, I had the dream of going to Germany to study a master’s degree. I had a failed attempt at a cultural exchange program with RWTH Aachen University. I always had Germany on my radar after hearing a “call center” colleague talk about his plans to travel to study and settle in Germany. For my plan, I needed an English proficiency exam, so I decided to take the TOEFL. The result was enough to apply for international master’s programs. …the hardest time of my life. It’s like when one says that the world breaks into a thousand pieces. Personally, I had several family problems and a dating relationship that was going nowhere. One night in May, I decided to apply for master’s programs in Germany. Deep down, I only longed to leave Colombia once more to live a study experience in Europe and maybe change my life and leave my current life behind. Before starting my Google search for universities, I felt I should say a prayer to the Almighty Father (commonly called God). The first understanding I had was “Germany NO!” I decided to search in English for one of my favorite topics in software architecture, “Master’s degree in Service Oriented Architecture.” The first result was a program called Service Oriented Computing at AUT New Zealand. For reasons I’m just beginning to understand, I felt a security and conviction that it was the place where I should go to study because God had greater purposes for me than I could imagine… The process of applying to a university in New Zealand is not complex, but at that time, they required physical documents, and seeing the price of $34,000 NZD per year plus $18,000 NZD per semester made the dream seem impossible. I had a lot of faith and began to persist in finding options. The first thing I did was research the university’s website until I found a study agency in Bogotá that is an ally of the university in New Zealand. At that time, the individual student application was sent by physical documents! The great benefit of the study agency is that they applied to the university for me, gave me advice, and also applied for my student visa. This seemed fair and more practical to me. The university accepted me in record time and offered me two options to start my studies: July 2015 or February 2016. 2016 After 7 failed attempts between scholarships and loans, God provided the money for the first 12 months of study. The way I managed to get the money for the first year of study was with the advice of my brother and best friend. As a financial advisor, he recommended that the best option was to take out a mortgage loan in COP (Colombian pesos). This meant mortgaging an apartment I inherited from my Mother to invest in studies at a lower interest rate. The events unfolded. Another inconvenience worth mentioning is that New Zealand requires demonstrating initial living funds. Miraculously, because God opens doors that no one else can open and closes doors that are not convenient for us to protect us, Bancolombia called me to offer me exactly 18,000 NZD, which was what I needed to demonstrate funds. It’s incredible how God made it possible because the bank called me on Friday at 3:00 pm, and I needed the money by Saturday or Monday at the latest. God opens doors that no one else can open and closes doors that are not convenient for us to protect us. 2017 I said goodbye to my brother, my two cousin/sisters, and my Mother’s brother’s wife, and I boarded a flight from Bogotá to Chicago, stopping in Fort Lauderdale. I arrived in Chicago, Illinois at 10:00 pm, and that night I slept at the airport. Leaving El Dorado Airport in Bogotá, Colombia The following days, I dedicated to visiting a beautiful family who welcomed me in Sheldon, Illinois, as an exchange student. I was in Chicago at a friend of a friend’s house :-) and finally traveled to Los Angeles to take the more than 12-hour flight with Air New Zealand to arrive in New Zealand. I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, without knowing anyone, with $100 USD in my pocket and a travel suitcase. God opened ALL the doors since before boarding the plane in Los Angeles, I only had an Airbnb for two nights in Auckland! The biblical verse Matthew 19:26 brought comfort and peace to my soul and spirit. By the grace of God, a New Zealand family or Kiwis that I met through an Australian friend offered to host me for 3 weeks. It’s something that impresses me every time I remember it. The sign I saw as soon as I got off the plane in Auckland, New Zealand

Life in New Zealand More details about what happened after I set foot on the soil of Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand) will be published in another story on medium.com. For now, I’ll leave the summary in this last segment of this post.

2018 Miraculously, I obtained the money for the last semester, graduated, and married my Filipino wife. 2019 I started a junior role job with a salary that barely allowed me to apply for a resident worker visa. 2020 We applied, the pandemic started. By God’s grace, we were approved to stay here. Today we are very close to citizenship, but it hasn’t been easy because the rules are very precise, and it’s necessary to remain in this country. Additionally, the borders are still closed. Only citizens, residents, and Australians can enter.

Waiting with Faith in 2022 For all the beautiful promises and what is to come in the future times. Always grateful and with Faith in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2024 Post-Pandemic effect

A lot of people still dont realize the traumatic effects of the 2020 pandemic in life. I am still overcoming the shock. New Zealand was not hit hard but the isolation of the country made it very challenging. Now after visiting Colombia 7 years later, I am happy to say that I am Colombian. Is an honor to know I am from Latin America. As a Latino Hispanic I am providing my riches to an English speaking country. My cultural and personal value is building the new Zealand society.

thanks for reading.