A Pointwester in the US: A Pointwester’s Roots
Kat Dacusin
October 1, 2019
Most uprooted trees don’t survive.
When a tree is uprooted, its roots often break. Some think uprooted trees can simply be replanted, but that’s not the case. When the roots break, the tree finds it difficult to absorb nutrients and water from the soil. Also, as the roots anchor the weight of the tree’s trunk and branches, a tree with broken roots may not be able to stand upright. And if the tree’s replanted in a new place, it’s not certain whether it can adapt to its new environment.
The same can be said with humans.
Not everyone can survive being ripped away from familiar grounds. Some never even leave their hometowns. The familiar is comfortable, but change brings challenges yet to be known. This is why many avoid change as much as they can.
But not Pointwest Lead Software Quality Assurance Engineer Lloyd Mejorada. Lloyd has faced changes head-on many times in her career. One of the biggest yet: moving from the Philippines to the US.
Fruitful Career
Lloyd graduated as an Electronics Engineering major and passed the board exam. Later, a friend from high school introduced her to Pointwest. She got curious, applied, and got in.
From there, her fruitful career blossomed from humble beginnings as a Pointwest Business Analyst/Quality Assurance boot camper back in 2011. Since then, she has worked her way to a managing role as a Lead Software Quality Assurance Engineer.
Lloyd mentioned three things she loves most about her job. “I love being able to communicate with people, sharing my ideas of improvement to processes and strategies, and speaking my mind.” She considers what she does for her role as her biggest achievement in Pointwest, and it showed in her performance.
The management later deemed her a good fit for a similar position in Pointwest’s client in Los Angeles, USA. She first came to Los Angeles for a short-term project in 2013, which was followed by another stint in 2014. In 2016, she returned to LA for another project and stayed there until early this year. Overall, she lived in LA for around 5 years.
Uprooted From Familiar Soil
“When I first came to the US, I had a terrible jet lag!” Lloyd narrated, recalling her early days in LA. She couldn’t catch sleep at night, but got sleepy in the mornings. “It felt like my head’s floating. I can’t think straight. ” She said she had to pinch herself in the office to stay awake.
This is Lloyd’s first time to work overseas. “It’s a bigger challenge to face”, Lloyd mentioned as one of the reasons she took on the assignment. Besides jetlag, she had to face other challenges. This included the weight of the responsibility of her role.
“You have to earn the trust and approval of the client so Pointwest can continue to have a good vendor-client working relationship with them”, Lloyd shared. “You have to be on your best behavior. You have to do your job and you do it well.”
Working overseas also meant Lloyd had to work with people with different ethnicities, beliefs, and work ethics. “You have to adapt without losing your own identity,” she stressed.
Lloyd mentions concentrating on her job and building friendships as her way to cope with these challenges. And these also bring about the best things about her job. “There are always new things to learn, be it work-related or non-work related,” she shared. “You also get to travel and meet interesting people.”
In her 5 years in LA, Lloyd was able to build a successful career. But just when she was starting to put down deep and tight roots, she gets uprooted yet again. This time, she’s needed in Atlanta.
Brand New Grounds
“It’s like being back to zero,” Lloyd said about her move from Los Angeles to Atlanta just 5 months ago. Lloyd said she’s still working her way to be at home in Atlanta, which offers a totally different experience for me compared to LA. “I left my old friends back in LA, and in here, I’m trying to start anew.”
The challenge is doubled as she’s not just moving to a new place; she will handle a new account too. “For new accounts, you have to prove yourself first. This takes a lot of work and patience.”
But this early, her clients are already impressed by her.
“Lloyd’s our team’s rockstar!”, Niko Mangahas, CareerBuilder Enterprise Quality Director, said. “In a few months, not only has she established herself as a valuable leader and contributor to the CB Enterprise QA team under me; she has established herself a fundamental and valued member of her project teams as well.”
Niko said that this is an amazing feat, given that those teams have never had QA and don’t know what to expect, while some projects teams are outright indifferent to QA. “Lloyd has perfected that balancing act of showing the value of QA while being perceived as a true team player in her project teams. Many QA leaders can stand to learn from her, myself included.”
Lloyd said she’s taking things one step at a time. Someday, she will put down roots in Atlanta: roots that will help her new account flourish, bear plenty of fruits, and perhaps even start an entire forest. Now, she’s doing what feels best and beneficial for both the client and Pointwest.
“Starting a new account involves thinking about how I can help Pointwest, my family,” Lloyd said. “This entails impressing the clients and bosses, and proving them that they made a great decision in choosing you as Pointwest’s representative”.
Indeed, Pointwest has made an amazing decision. Niko considers himself and his team lucky to be working with Lloyd, and only hope to continue their collaboration with her. “Lloyd’s a rare combination of having a sharp mind and passion for quality – she is always full of smart ideas and she is happy to lead by example by putting the work in” Niko said. “She’s both a great lead and team member – she pushes and drives, but also listens and learns.”
Most uprooted trees don’t survive. The same can be said with humans. But Lloyd is different.
Lloyd is adaptable because she’s always up for new challenges. She looks at setbacks as new opportunities for growth, and she nourishes them with passion and hard work.
Uprooting a tree may break its roots, but Lloyd’s roots never broke. This is because her roots are much, much stronger: her rooted dedication to Pointwest. And this is why she blooms wherever she’s planted, and replanted.
Lloyd never forgets her responsibility to gain her clients’ and managers’ trust. She will also never forget the enormous confidence Pointwest has on her abilities. And above all, she always places this trust in herself as well.
Good luck on your new journey, Lloyd! We are all rooting for you.
About Pointwest
Founded in 2003 by pioneers of the Philippine Global Sourcing industry, Pointwest creates value for its list of satisfied clients — including top Fortune 100 and local companies — with world-class digital innovation and IT modernization services backed by international-standard methodologies, and innovative practices.
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