AFAM: Hello Rémi and thank you for agreeing to answer our questions. You are a Sales Director at Instrumental Inc., Palo Alto, CA. Please tell us a few words about the company you work for and your role in it?
Rémi: Instrumental Inc is a startup specialized in the manufacturing tech sphere. We help electronics OEMs build better quality product faster. We have around 70 employees and I joined the company one year ago. In my role as a sales director, me and my team focus on bringing new customers.
AFAM: Before joining Instrumental Inc and moving to California, you lived in Mexico.Could you please tell us a few things about your Mexican experience and then how come you work in the US now?
Rémi: yes, my love story with Mexico started in 2013 when I found a VIE there, at the company called Fives. It is a company with headquarters in France and a lot of Gadz’Arts work there. I was one of them and it is an example of exciting things we can do in the manufacturing industry. Then, I went back to Europe, In England, for 2 years, staying at Fives for another subsidiary. And after that I came back to Mexico, this time as a Sales Manager for Latin America and for the USA. After more than 7 years at Fives, in 2021, a good friend of mine, also an engineer, asked me if I would be interested in setting up a company in Industry 4.0 with him. We started visiting customers to understand how the digital transformation looked like in Mexican factories. It was still at an early stage. And a few months after we started a company called JoonX, with the idea of improving plant's effectiveness thanks to real-time data analytics (IIoT, for those who know), where I worked until 2023. We developped our own solution, packaged it and we now support factories in the automotive and food & beverage industries. Then finally, my personal story took me to the US where I decided to join my girlfriend and I moved to an advisory role for JoonX.
AFAM: And then in the US, was it easy or difficult to find a job?
Rémi: Actually, it was not that easy. The market was already challenging for job seekers. I applied to 100 jobs or so before I could join Instrumental Inc. I had to leverage my sales skills. Instrumental was one of our prospects in Mexico for JoonX and that’s how I contacted them. This journey ended well for me. I think that when you are an expert in a certain field and if you persevere, you have good chances to succeed.
AFAM: what is the most exciting and the most challenging in your current job?
Rémi: for me the most exciting thing is the ability to make a quick impact. We are just a team of 6 people including myself and as a team we are able to see quick results of our work. But of course, it comes with a challenge - working hard, under pressure, you need to be available and sometimes swallow your pride.
AFAM: how being a Gadzarts help you in your international career?
Rémi: I would say that being a Gadzarts gives you a very good background in mechanical engineering and the ability to understand very technical aspects as well as critical thinking and engineering mindset.
And also, for the VIE in Mexico I replaced another Gadzart and that’s basically how I started my international career - partially thanks to the Gadz’Arts community abroad.
AFAM: It's been around two years that you’ve been living and working in Northern California, what about your life in the bay area that you like the most? How do you spend your free time?
Rémi: We enjoy nature, landscapes and its variety. We live 15 minutes away from Alameda beach and go there often. Though Okland, where we live, gained a bad reputation, it has some very nice neighborhoods. The quality of life is very good in the bay area: you can go to the beach or plan a mountain biking trip, and the next weekend - you are going skiing at Tahoe or enjoying Napa or Sonoma Valley. However, coming from Mexico and being French, I often complain about the food. Food here either comes pricey or often disappointing!
AFAM: Thank you, Rémi!
Photos: courtesy of Rémi
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