“I can’t imagine going back to an office.”

Three years ago, Evaristo Romano joined Pasiona to become part of a strategic technological project at one of the publishing houses most relevant in Spain. Since then, he has been a key member of the team of operations, ensuring that the services run without interruption for millions of a35> users in Spain and Latin America.

In this interview, Evaristo tells us what it’s like to work 100% remotely managing critical infrastructures in AWS and Azure, what role continuous training has played in his professional development, and why being integrated into a leading client while being part of a consultancy like Pasiona gives him the best of both worlds.

A conversation about professional growth, personal balance and the importance of not being afraid. personal balance and the importance of not being afraid of change in the technology sector.

— Hello, Evaristo, and welcome. It’s a pleasure to have you here. You joined Pasiona three years ago to take part in a key project at one of the country’s leading publishing houses. How do you remember your early days and what has this journey been like up to now?

—Thank you very much. I remember my early days with mixed emotions. Excitement, because it was thrilling to start something new, especially at a publishing house I had known since I started school, having always seen it in books. Curiosity to see what the new teams and environments would bring. And gratitude to both Pasiona and the client for trusting me to take on new challenges, which have allowed me to grow professionally and have made the journey to today very enriching.

—We know that you work 100% remotely. In a sector where collaboration is so important, what does this working model mean for you? How has it impacted your daily life and your work-life balance?

—Honestly, I can’t imagine going back to an office. Considering that my job involves managing servers that could be in Ireland, Frankfurt, or across the pond, there would be no operational difference between working from an office or anywhere else in the world. The real difference is in the comfort, and that can only be achieved by working from home, from a small coastal village or in the mountains, surrounded by nature, enjoying the tranquillity and calm that these environments provide. It makes ‘going to work’ every day a real pleasure, combining productivity with well-being and quality of life.

We work collaboratively with different teams using tools such as Teams, Jira, SharePoint, and OneNote, which enable very convenient and efficient communication and task organisation, even more so than if we were all in the same office.

In terms of work-life balance, it’s ideal, as working from home has improved my quality of life: I avoid traffic, petrol costs and early mornings, I have lunch with my partner, who also works from home, and at the end of the day I can, for example, go straight to courses, language classes or devote time to my hobbies without interruptions. In short, I make much better use of my time, which is ultimately the most valuable thing.

You may be thinking that teleworking breaks human contact, the social aspect with the team, but we solve that by meeting three times a year in Madrid. On that day, we work from the offices, do live training sessions and, most importantly, enjoy a good meal together.

—Tell us a little about the project. You are at the heart of a publishing house, contributing technological value. What exactly does your role consist of, and what technologies or challenges do you encounter in your day-to-day work?

—In operations, our priority is to ensure that Production always runs optimally. We handle weekly deployments in production and constantly monitor environments through alerts, logs, and metrics, with the aim of detecting any problems before the user notices them and resolving incidents as quickly as possible. This may involve expanding or optimising resources, as well as detecting errors in the code and communicating them, escalating them to the responsible teams. The rest of the time is spent on continuous improvement of the infrastructure and process automation.

We manage and orchestrate IaaS on both AWS and Azure, with Linux and Windows servers and numerous PaaS services. We design and maintain infrastructure as code using CloudFormation, implement CI/CD pipelines with AWS CodePipeline and Azure DevOps, and develop critical automations with Python, ensuring scalable deployments, secure operations, and efficient collaboration in distributed environments.

—Throughout these years at Pasiona, we know that you have had the opportunity to train in multiple technologies. What role has training played in your professional development and how has it contributed to addressing the challenges of the project?

—Training has been key to my professional development, and I am very grateful for having had it. to Pasiona for making it very easy for me to achieve this.

One of the first courses I studied at Pasiona was Azure Administrator Associate, which was very useful for expanding my knowledge of Azure, as I was already an expert in AWS but only knew the basics of Azure, and the client was considering introducing more Azure services.

On the AWS side, last year I obtained the AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification, which has helped me to better understand certain processes and propose new improvements that are now in place, such as the use of Step Functions as a key part of production deployments.

I obtained others such as the CKA Certified Kubernetes Administrator, which, although they have not been directly useful in the current project, I am sure will be useful in the future, when I least expect it.

—Being part of a project at a leading company is a great opportunity. From a career perspective, what has it meant for your professional development, and how have you felt supported along the way?

—It has allowed me to grow professionally and gain confidence. When you stop to think about it, you have the power to improve or, conversely, compromise a service that is used throughout Spain and Latin America, which entails great responsibility and, at the same time, great satisfaction when everything goes well. Even so, what I value most is having felt supported at all times, both by the client and by Pasiona, receiving constant support to improve without feeling pressure.

—This dual perspective, being integrated into the day-to-day life of the customer, but being part of a consultancy firm such as Pasiona, is very interesting. What do you think it brings you on a professional and personal level having that vision from a consulting firm? a24> and personal level having that vision from both sides?

—Personally, it gives me peace of mind. I have worked in the past at a consultancy firm with multiple clients at the same time, and in the end you have multiple problems to solve. When you work focused on a single client, it is easier to find moments of stability and keep problems under control, although new challenges always arise. On the other hand, there is also the confidence that I will always have two ways to progress in my professional career, either through the client or through other Pasiona projects.

—There are many talented professionals looking for stable projects in leading companies where they can grow. Based on your experience, what advice would you give to someone looking to boost their career in the technology sector?

Without a doubt, training and obtaining certifications—one or two per year, especially at the beginning—is key. On the one hand, you expand your knowledge, since certification and exams are the perfect excuse to learn during the process; and, on the other hand, once obtained, certifications open the door to better opportunities.

—And looking ahead, after this consolidated experience, what new challenges would you like to take on in the coming years?

—After consolidating the operations and automation side of things, I’m really excited to dive into the world of artificial intelligence from a platform perspective: how to deploy, scale, and maintain models efficiently, perhaps managing something in Kubernetes. I’m excited to explore what the future holds and am open to whatever challenges come my way.

—Many thanks for your time and for sharing your experience, Evaristo. It is a pride to have you on the team, to see you grow formativelyprofessionally in such important projects. Many congratulations!

Thank you very much for always helping me achieve my goals. It is a real pleasure to be part of such a professional and, at the same time, close-knit team that creates technologies capable of transforming people’s experiences. I am proud to contribute to this purpose.