BLOG POST6 MINUTES

10 Questions with Daniela Casetta

PUBLISHEDSeptember 1st, 2021

In this series, we will be asking Nexthinkers from all around the world to unveil some of their inside stories. A little bit of professional mixed with a little bit of fun. Learn some interesting facts about all the things that make our Nexthinkers unique!

Daniela Casetta – Engineering Director, Madrid

Tell us a little bit about your role at Nexthink.

Currently I am an Engineering Director at our Madrid office and I started working at Nexthink five years ago.

When I explain to my friends and family what is it that Nexthink does, I tell them that we work proactively on improving the digital experience of employees all around the world. I tell them we help provide solutions to daily issues that can be frustrating for everyone, and I try to relate it to their day-to-day.

The hardest part here is to convince my friends and family that they don’t have to call me directly every time when something is not working for them at home or at work 🙂 . But I make sure that when they do call me, they have enough cookies to “pay” for the provided service.

Can you describe your career path that led you to Nexthink?

I love this question!

My career path within Nexthink has been super interesting. I was originally hired by the Product Management team. Several of my current colleagues were part of the interview panel, and I remember thinking that I wanted to work with all of these smart, passionate, and amazing people!

I started on the Integrations team in Madrid, along 3 awesome engineers (Leo, Marcos and Alber), and began my journey.

As the team started growing, and I had to change hats between Product Manager, Scrum Master, Manager, and everything else that was needed, as we were a small group. It was so much fun and I’ve learned so much during this period. At some point, I had to choose between being a Product Manager or pursuing a career in Management.

It was a super hard decision because I love working in Product. But I was also curious how it would be to work in a role directly supporting the product from the engineering point of view by being a manager, and here I am!

I started working as an Engineering Manager for the Madrid teams, and later got promoted to Engineering Director for Madrid.

What’s your favorite thing about working at Nexthink?

Without a doubt, my favorite thing about working at Nexthink is the people!

I fell in love with how passionate everyone is about the product that we develop during my interview. Everyone enjoys creating features, ensuring quality and engineering standards. Our culture is great. People help each other and share knowledge. And overall, we enjoy our work! We work hard and have fun while working.

What else can you ask for?

What is a project or something you’ve worked on at Nexthink that you’re most proud of & why?

I am super proud of having started working on the first Integrations Team.

When I joined, all integrations were developed by just one person, Rodrigo. That was a long time ago. There was a need to make Nexthink stickier in our customers’ environments, so we started working hard to make that happen.

It is so amazing when your product is out there, and you hear from a customer how our integration has helped them decrease L1 tickets and helped their engineers focus on more complicated problems. I am very proud of our integrations, as well as the awesome teams that we have built in Madrid. We have a team of professional and smart engineers with lots of potential, and overall, great people that make every day of work an adventure (literally!).

What are you most excited about for the future of Nexthink?

I am really excited about the direction we are headed. We’ve hired a lot of new leaders recently who have the experience to take us to new heights. It is very exciting to think of where we can be in a couple of years. I’m excited to see the company continue to grow and receive the recognition it deserves.

What are 3 words that you’d use to describe Nexthink?

Passionate. Innovative. Agile.

What’s your favorite vacation spot and why?

Oh, it is hard to choose. My favorite vacation spot is anywhere where I can have active vacations. Some times, this looks like mountains and hiking all day to enjoy a wonderful dinner in a remote place.

Other years, it is a Caribbean beach where I can dive 3-4 times a day and also eat a lot! I have not been able to travel much

lately due to the pandemic, but I just did a proof of concept in travelling. For a week, I walked the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago), in which you walk about 20-25kms per day, walking from one little town to another.

What’s the most played song or artist on your Spotify playlist?

Foo Fighters – Pretender

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Mostly everyone you meet will be fighting a hard battle that you don’t know about. Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

If you could trade lives for one day with any person past or present, who would it be and why?

I would love to be able to live one day in the life of Sylvia Earle. She is a Marine Biologist who was selected to lead the first all-female teams of aquanauts. She worked very hard and studied a lot to work on what she liked, in a time where it was really hard for women. And she was friends with Jacques Cousteau!

Sylvia tested machinery in the depths of the ocean for many important projects, and today, she leads an initiative to create “Hope Spots” where factory ships cannot pass, with the hope of that marine life will grow again in these areas. She is such an interesting person, and I would love to learn more about her.

Looking for a job like Dani’s? Check out our current open roles at Nexthink!

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