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“Anything is possible as long as you don’t limit yourself!”

With 2 university diplomas (1 in Graphic Design and 1 in Visual Communication) and 10 years of work experience in his pocket, Fernando Jaramillo (35) moved from Ecuador to the Netherlands for love. 

Despite his credentials, it was a struggle to find work in graphic design. If anything, that inspired him. Fernando: “I saw my difficulty in finding a job as an opportunity to develop myself further in IT. Even though I loved being a graphic designer, I did always miss the need for pure logical thinking.”

Pleasantly surprised

After several coding boot camps and lots of hard work, Fernando applied for jobs again. But, finding work was hard due to his lack of experience in IT. Then this Jopp ad popped up on his Instagram timeline. Fernando: “At that point, I had nothing to lose and was willing to try anything. I contacted Jopp and was pleasantly surprised: from the first moment of contact I could tell they had a very serious way of working.” 

100% match

It didn’t take long for Thomas Lock to reach out to Fernando with a vacancy at Werkspot. “A perfect match, in my opinion. And luckily the people at Werkspot agreed and gave me the job.” It was the start of a 7-month period where Fernando worked there through Jopp before moving to full-time employment at Werkspot itself.

Crucial advice

Fernando had of course some experience in writing cover letters and doing job interviews. Still, Jopp gave him helpful advice: “You get lots of tips and tricks that really prep you for your interview. But the best thing was telling me to write down in my application letter how I match the values of Werkspot. I would not have thought about that and I’m certain it made a difference in me getting the job.” 

“They made my life easier!”

You can have all the work experience in the world, but moving to a new country will challenge you. “I simply didn’t know how the market works here. Having Jopp by my side helped tremendously. I could feel the whole team supporting me throughout the process. And I still do, actually.”

Fernando’s career path took him from graphic design to IT. “I am not the youngest Junior IT developer out there, but hey: it only shows how working hard and keeping your focus can get you anywhere. It doesn’t matter how long it takes as long as you get there. There are no limits, anything is possible!”