It was summer of 2008, I was coming back from spending a sabbatical period in Beijing learning mandarin (the hardest thing I have done in my life! You can ask my brain :P), at that time I was already dreaming in beautiful Chinese characters. Upon my return, one of my best friends asked me “Now, what’s next?” I was coming out from being five years in the automotive industry and I wanted something more challenging so I answered “Technology” I never knew this answer will have taken me to a ten years ride with the company Telenav.
At the beginning my project was closing deals with the telecommunications’ companies of one of the richest man on earth. I still remember my first calls where I needed to have my computer open to take notes and keep searching for all the different terms I didn’t understand at that time and after a short period became part of my daily vocabulary. Also back in those days the term home-office was very new in Mexico so when people find out I was working remotely they could not believe it, my answer was, being a remote worker gives you freedom but also a lot of commitment.
Along the way the market changed so I started participating in other projects involving Open Data, Open Source and using OpenStreetMap in the company solutions. In the last couple of years I helped to grow the data in targeted areas using tools such as OpenStreetCam, this growth had reached within a couple of years millions of kilometers of open images to improve the roads data (yes! All that data waiting there for you!) and in the near future will be the HD basemap for the autonomous vehicles solutions in different parts of the globe.
Thanks Telenav for challenging me and for making me part of the technology race and for raising in me the interest in the Open Data, Geomatics and the Autonomous vehicles’ industry. Thanks to Hassan Wahla and Sal Dhanani for giving me the opportunity to participate in revolutionary projects. Special thanks to Phillipp Kandal, Frederic Julien and Martijn Van Exel for supporting my volunteer participation in diverse projects in the Humanitarian Open Data communities and being the first ones believing in the Geochicas initiative.
Thanks to all my colleagues and the people I have met during this amazing ride.
It has been a wonderful experience but now it is time to start a new adventure.
¡Muchas gracias y hasta siempre!
Miriam
