“My routine was waking up at 4 am every day," Oscar said of his time at university. He would get ready and leave home by 5 am for an hour-long commute by subway or bus to UNAM. In class, he remembered, "I would ask someone daily at 6:30 am for a calculator to check my assignments. I didn’t have money to buy a calculator for myself."

His classes spanned from 7 am to 2 pm. In his first year, UNAM  Engineering, the first engineering school founded in the continent, whose origin dates back to a mining seminar centuries ago, chose its top students to be part of an internship program. Oscar was one of them. Now his studies consisted of advanced classes, from 2 pm to 5 pm, in database design and advanced C++. In the program, Oscar met Vanessa Aguilar, who later became his wife after they graduated college. 

Oscar had doubts about finishing school. He doubted he could continue paying for it and keep his motivation. His cousin, Norma, then 30 years old, told him, “Don't quit school.” While his father said, “You weren’t born to study. You were born to work.”

In 1991, while Oscar was close to graduation, he enrolled in Digital Equipment Corporation, known as DEC, to get certified as an instructor. “Only certified instructors could travel across Mexico, and they could teach in companies,” he explained his motivation. After the program, Oscar replaced many instructors. DEC later asked him to conduct classes with material that he wasn’t familiar with. Oscar never said no to a challenge. He taught himself using public library books or borrowed from friends and taught classes involving C++, C#, C, .net, assembler, network, cybersecurity, internet basic, Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, and VMS operating system.  

DEC saw Oscar’s potential in the company and offered him a job as a consultant. Oscar worked as a business intelligence and Microsoft technology consultant for three years and ten months.

Of the technologies he created, “I developed an application to transfer all Canadian telephone companies in real time to process the data to identify cybersecurity issues,” he said. The aim was to identify fraudulent transactions. Oscar noted his experience was difficult at first because it was his first job as a computer engineer. He worked extra hours to learn new coding skills, such as low-level coding. 

 In 1998, Oscar interviewed with Teradata, a software company that provides multi-cloud data platform. "An American headhunter approached me," Oscar recalled. "The head hunter told me about an interview with an American company. I was afraid. I didn’t know enough English,” said Oscar. He sweated throughout his interview. Oscar knew he couldn’t express his answers in English properly, so he managed to conduct his interview on the whiteboard. In the blank space, he designed a timeline of his education and experience in the work field. The interviewer, Mike Hax, said, "Great job," Oscar remembered. Impressed, Hax then asked Oscar if he could take a picture of the whiteboard. He had never seen anyone do their interview like Oscar. Oscar was offered the role of a data warehouse consultant and architect. His whole life changed at that point. 

His role at Teradata was to provide technical guidance and expertise to the most complex data warehouse implementations in Latin America and the United States. Oscar wanted to be a mentor as Hax became one for him. “I wanted to help people," said Oscar. 

Before long, Teradata Spain offered Oscar a position. At the same time, Hax had called him about another position at Siebe Systems software company based in San Mateo, California. Oscar went for it. “Siebel System allowed me to move into the United States," he explained. "I was looking for a better opportunity for my family and me. I want to improve my English. I want to demonstrate my skills, and I can compete with anyone,” he said. 

Oscar started working as a principal consultant at Siebel Global Financial Services Competency Center. At 29 years old, he was the youngest employee on his team. “I was responsible for developing reusable solutions and consultant methodologies, guiding C-level executives across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Korea, and Japan,” said Oscar. “Everybody told me I was working hard and always exceeding expectations," he noted. "Customers were always happy." He later became part of the global team for financial services at Siebel Systems. The team was responsible for supporting red accounts of customers who had project complications. In his time, Oscar saved many red accounts. He was also awarded as an employee of the month for six months in a row. 

While things were progressing at work, in 2000, Oscar and Vanessa married in a ceremony of family and friends in Mexico City. A year later, Oscar was excited to see his first child, me. “It was the best present of my life,” he said.