Mauricio Ramírez has all the doctorates in the subject of troubleshooting in the installation of telecommunications networks, honors that he has earned more at the point of experience than of academia.
It could be said that the professional of the month of this edition of Security Sales is what in the world of technology is known as a geek, or its equivalent in the telecommunications industry.
Mauricio Ramírez, manager and founder of the young and promising Costa Rican company Seguridad MS, remembers, far from presumptions and pride, how he spent his childhood in San Juan, the capital of Costa Rica; a happy childhood, he says, next to my parents and my three older siblings.
He recognizes that he liked the studio very little, he spent the hours waiting to get home to do one of the two activities that captivated him: playing in the river that passes through Paso Ancho, a popular neighborhood where his family settled, "there we met all the children of the sector, to play. We all came punctually, without caring about ending up completely soaked, we went with bare feet, because the only pair of shoes we had was kept impeccably polished to go to school, this before I decided to flee from the academic campuses, "says Ramírez.
The second thing that occupied him the whole afternoons was to research on computing, "in fact, in the third year of high school I retired from studying to receive correspondence courses on this subject. At that time I designed or programmed games by writing the code in Visual Basic. Ah! what times come to mind as I remember the captain's adventures in search of treasure and other games."
And doing justice with his little formal academic preparation, the jobs he got, already starting his working life, were equally informal and poorly paid, a fact that revealed to Mauricio the vital need to formally complete his secondary studies and assume his professional preparation in a more serious way.
"In parallel to my night baccalaureate studies, I took electronics and telecommunications courses during the day, and in my spare time I read 'do it yourself' magazine; I took advantage of everything that meant an opportunity to learn and apply to life and my taste for this market, "explains the protagonist of this story.
A serious opportunity
Thanks to his skill and his taste for telecommunications Mauricio Ramírez got a job at the Red Cross of Costa Rica, entered directly into the telecommunications area in the it department and the assigned functions could not be more in line with his favorite pastime: "In this position I had to make radio links, establish communication between the search teams and the command posts, participate in the rescue work, in short. After a while the person in charge of that department presented his resignation and this fact became an unbeatable opportunity for promotion for me, even if it had not been among my plans. "
Thus, in 1996, Ramírez became the head of the computer department of the international institution in his country. He was in charge of a whole team of professionals and this represented for him a greater commitment to learn and lead. "I never stopped doing something for lack of knowledge, I studied many things on my own, I took the manuals and woke up trying to master some programming language or operating system; I took courses in programming, graphic design and networks and telecommunications."
However, Mauricio had a greater purpose among his plans and for this he began the acquisition of machinery and equipment that would allow him, little by little, to offer his services individually.
After 15 years of work with the Red Cross, the professional felt that his life needed a change of perspective, when he retired he worked with some structured cabling and telecommunications companies. Likewise, at that time he became aware of the need to be certified with some manufacturers and so he did. He was building his own path to independence.
Testing the real world
"I think this segment is saturated with people who have no scruples and throw you a cable without standards, without certification, without anything, all for a lower cost. That's why I saw that this was a market sector that I could exploit, since in my experience I could see that there were more problems to solve than new installations to be done, "he says.
According to our self-taught professional, at the point of making repairs he has earned "an honorary doctorate, because there are so many and so complicated problems that I attend, that this has brought me gray hair prematurely, but at the same time it gives me a very great experience. It was here that I learned the best way to install electronic security systems, specifically CCTV. I have seen in many ways the bad practices and this, together with the judicious reading of all the bibliography and the manuals that exist on the subject (TDMM of BICSI and manuals of manufacturers), are elements that have allowed me to play in the big leagues"
Initially, as he puts it, he made emotional and hasty decisions, typical of a beginner entrepreneur that led him to abandon his first entrepreneurial initiative.
Now, with greater maturity as a professional and as an entrepreneur, with all the experience he has gained at the point of practice, he steps slowly, calmly, but safely and successfully on the field of independence: "for a little more than a year I have run my own company, Seguridad MS. I try to emerge but at this moment in a more conservative way, without hurry and thinking about taking one step at a time, this implies not being able to take very large projects for financing reasons, but at a very safe pace to be able to reach that level, "says Ramírez.
The challenge is to always be able to look straight ahead
As our guest assures, in the electronic security industry there are very strong challenges to face. For him, two of the most important have to do with disruptive competition and the lack of profile of customers to make specific requirements, which allows entrepreneurs to take advantage of ignorance, forgetting their work of advising and providing the best solution.
"As for the disruptive competition we can see today a company outside this market, such as a bookstore that offers security cameras in kit with a recorder for a cost of US $ 200, that is something against which we can not compete who want to give real solutions," says Ramírez and adds that "it is incredible what happens in state tenders where the government gives you a plan and says ' I need the cameras that are necessary to cover the areas that are shaded.' Without more specification than that, as a company that makes calculations of optics, distance and voltage drop will be able to compete against a company that in order to win puts the least possible amount and then alleges "inconsistency in the plane" to then make extensions of the contract. It's laughing."
It could be said that Mauricio Ramírez has fulfilled many of the objectives that he has set himself in his professional life, without neglecting his personal facet: "I am happily married 15 years ago, in a very beautiful marriage of which we have a daughter who is the light of my eyes; apparently we are traveling the same path of my parents who this year celebrate 50 years of marriage. My wife represents constant support in difficult times and a sincere smile on successful days. To them, to Shirley, my wife and Maria Jose, my daughter, I must be where I am today. I have fulfilled many of my objectives, I have the goal of studying electrical engineering and I intend to start in June of this year (2011), I have already approved admission exams".
The professional affirms that as long as there are companies that abandon their clients, that do their bad jobs and do not have the moral courage to face their mistakes "I am sure that I will continue to have a good job for a long time. At this point I want to thank all the people who have helped me walk on the straight path and be able to look all my clients in the eye," concludes Mauricio.
