🟩 Chapter 2: The Leap to Europe

Cruz Blanca / Bupa: My First Corporate Leap

This time, I joined Cruz Blanca, the largest health insurance company in Chile, later acquired by Bupa, a British giant.

I worked as a technology analyst. My boss was strict, technical, brilliant. He taught me tough but valuable lessons:

• A task is yours, not the team’s.
• Nothing is done until it’s truly done.

It was hard. I cried. Many times I wanted to quit. But I also learned to play the game. I toughened up. I learned to coordinate projects and deliver quality.

After a few years, I decided to look for something more. VTR had always caught my attention. I had already applied three times without success. I tried a fourth time.

Finally: VTR and the World of Telecommunications

This time, they called me. They interviewed me for a position I didn’t expect: TV Project Engineer.

I went through several interviews. I wasn’t very hopeful, but this time was different. I was selected.

This changed everything. It was my world: video, internet, networks. They assigned me a new project: implementing VTR’s first OTT service.

And I wasn’t alone: the team behind it was Liberty Global, a multinational present in several countries.

At first, I didn't know much, but I loved it. It was challenging, full of new components, with international teams and large structures.

It was also amazing to enter the real corporate world. A building in the upscale center of Santiago, everything nice, good services—it was a huge change. I started to understand from the inside how these large corporations functioned, organized by floors and departments. VTR was definitely a great experience. I had wonderful moments there.

Learning English “the Hard Way” and Discovering My Passion

My English was poor. Meetings were with British and Dutch colleagues. Sometimes I didn’t understand anything. But being on the “client” side, I could ask for meeting notes, translate them, study them. Google Translate was my best friend.

Over time, I earned my place. They gave me the whole project: product, networks, datacenter. Everything.

And that’s when I discovered something: I’m passionate about project management.

When you know how to communicate, divide tasks, visualize progress… everything flows. I learned that projects get blocked by the small things. By the tasks no one wants to take. And I was willing to do them.

From OTT to Set-top Box: A Leap into the Unknown… and a Life Change

That’s how we finished the OTT project. A huge challenge, but it wouldn’t be the last.

Liberty Global offered me something unexpected: to lead the project to launch the new next-generation set-top box, called EOS.

To take on that role, I resigned from VTR and started my own company. It was a gigantic change. I didn’t fully understand the position, didn’t know the team, everything was in English… but I decided to go all in.

And it was tough. But over time, I managed to adapt, understand the dynamics, and take control. We launched the new STB and also a new CDN for IP content distribution. In total, in about three years, I had the privilege of leading the launch of two flagship VTR products, plus their first proprietary CDN network.

The salary at that stage was crazy. It changed my life. During those years, my dreams grew. I remembered how, in other stages, some vendors told me I changed jobs because “the roles were too small for me.” At that moment, I understood. Maybe they were right. And maybe life really did have something different in store for me.

A Leap to Europe… with Fear, a Child in My Arms, and a Divided Heart

As with everything in life, contracts come to an end. And when my Liberty Global contract ended, I had to decide:

Stay in Chile with nothing certain, or move to the Netherlands, where I had a new offer?

My first child had just been born. I had never felt so much love or so much fear.

At 33, I realized there are two lives: One without children and one with children. Everything changes. For the better.

Starting from Scratch, Again

Moving meant starting from zero. Looking for a house in a country where Spanish isn’t spoken, and where the official language isn’t even English: it’s Dutch.

Luckily, in the Netherlands, even the kids at the supermarket speak better English than I do.

My wife, a brave soul, left everything behind. We found a house in a beautiful neighborhood, close to work and Amsterdam. (And yes, in five years here, I still haven’t found an ugly neighborhood in the Netherlands).

From the very first minute, I missed my loved ones. My mom. My grandfather. My friends. I always thought we’d be back in a year or two…

And here I am. Five years later.

💡 Reflection on Chapter 2

“The biggest leaps require blind faith. Cruz Blanca taught me discipline, VTR connected me to the world, and the Netherlands taught me that home isn’t a place, but the people you carry in your heart.”