Share a piece of our consultants' lives by discovering their passions! This month, let's discover the passion of José Luis SIERRA. 

What is your double life?

I'm an IT project manager by day, and a DJ by night!

When and how did you start?

Me (on the left) at 20

I started to like music when I was about 9 years old.

Then at 14, I went to a party and started playing music. It was on a cheap hifi system with a cassette player (only one!). It wasn't easy to choose the music you wanted to listen to: I had to choose a song and wait for the last note before ejecting the cassette and putting on another one. I had to "Rewind"/"Play"/"Forward" until I found the song I wanted, and, after a small silent interlude, press "Play"!

I then made a gigantic upgrade with the equipment - 2 cassette players! I could switch between one and the other without (too much) audio blankness. Finally!

Later came the vinyl with 2 turntables and 1 mixer. The nirvana! But there was no question of mixing with the tempo, the first record players did not have the speed variation function.

Les années 90

At the beginning of the 80's, the equipment improved and so did my mixing, with the use of vinyl turntables with a "pitch control" that regulates the speed.

In the mid 90's I made the leap and gave up vinyl in favor of CDs. Then, in 2016, I acquired DJ players without CD function and switched to 100% digital audio sources (no physical media). A successful digital transformation project 😊.

What do you like in this activity?

I like the music and the party and social aspect. I like to see that people have fun dancing to my choice of music (Hip hop, R'n'B and House mainly).  The DJs are popular and it's nice.

And in your daily life, how does your passion fit in?

It allows me to have a completely different activity from my "day job".  I have to be constantly looking for new music or sounds. I can find myself searching for hours for THE ultimate track.

Do you have any skills from this passion that you use in your professional life?

I think so: organization, interpersonal skills, being able to keep my audience engaged (by choosing the right songs), creative problem solving (e.g. if equipment breaks down in the middle of a set), always having a plan B, patience, and working under stress.

Finally, as DJ D-Sol would say, sometimes the "day job" can also be interesting (D-SOL, aka David Solomon, is CEO of Goldman Sachs)!

Thank you José Luis for answering our questions!