Diego Sanz Lopez
+31 (0)6 30 74 17 13
d.sanzlopez@xelvin.nl
“Yeah, definitely. It took me a long time to make up my mind. I had been thinking about making the move for a few months. Then things progressed, and I got in contact with Xelvin. But, even after that, I still wasn’t 100% convinced what I wanted to do. Eventually, I just did it, and it was the best decision of my life.”
“So, I obviously knew that Xelvin would help me, but I didn’t think that Diego would physically do that much for me, but he did! Such as picking me up at my arrival and arranging my bank account etc. The process was so easy for me. And the person that made it that easy was Diego! If I had to do all those things myself, it would’ve been much more difficult. I had been expecting it to be more difficult. I wasn’t expecting that much support.”
“So back then, I worked in the automotive industry, and I was really interested in engineering. I wanted to blend into engineering, all kinds of engineering and technologies, and I was always doing research. But there was nothing really in the area of Northern Ireland, and I’ve always had the dream to move somewhere else. The main thing was definitely the job, but also the fact of living somewhere else. So, from that point, I looked at my motivations and turned my search to the Eindhoven area. For obvious reasons, because Eindhoven is the place of tech companies. There were a lot of opportunities for ex-pats, and I just went for it!”
“A lot of things! One thing that you can’t ignore is the salary in the Netherlands for an engineer. The salaries are pretty great, actually. The career itself and the work environment are excellent. I feel that the work environment promotes your well-being. But I would say for sure that the biggest pro is that I’ve made some really close friends here, and they’re from all over the world, so that’s definitely the coolest part of everything! You come here and meet new people.
“Once I started the process with Diego, even before the interviews, we had many conversations about working in the Netherlands and what it’s like. But after I got the job, Diego pretty much prepared everything for me. He told me what exactly I needed to do. It was actually kind of surprising how little I had to do and how much Xelvin was involved. I only needed to have the documentation ready. Whenever something was unclear, I could ask Diego, and he would explain everything. I expected that it would be more difficult, but that was not the case!”
“The first step is obviously making contact. For me, it was with Diego. Everything from that point on was step by step. It started with the interview that I had with Diego, and from then on, I had to write my motivation letter, and Diego was very helpful with everything. After that, I had my interview with Trumpf, and the next thing I found out that I got the job! After that, it all went quite fast. I only had about 8 weeks to prepare myself, which was a good thing. I knew exactly what I had to bring with me because of what Diego told me. When I came here, everything was sorted out for me, we went to all the appointments, and it went very well.
When I started at Trumpf, they put me in touch with a working buddy. That person is basically your trainer for 14 weeks. I was here for 2 months, and then I went to Germany for 1 month for training. Everything was paid for, and I even got a car. Looking back at the first few weeks of working at Trumpf, I was surprised by how fast I picked everything up.”
“Just do it! Once you’ve been here for a month, it is an easy role. Try to earn your money and keep going. For me, it was super simple, but everyone is going to have a different experience. I think it is essential to get out there and meet new people. That will definitely make a huge difference in your experience. Life is what you make of it. You have to grab the opportunities for yourself!”
