Thursday started with an unusual breakfast. For once, we set aside our usual Andalusian toast and made room for an equally traditional breakfast: churros and chocolate. The churros, with their light, deep-fried dough, accompanied by a hot chocolate, not only gave us energy, but also added that cosy touch we all love at Christmas.
Germán T., our CEO, opened the event with his welcome speech, getting us into the Christmas spirit that awaited us for the next two days. After thanking everyone for their efforts throughout the year, he handed over to Eliezer L., who led us through the day’s programme and prepared us for all that Christmas All Hands had in store for us.
Then it was time for the presentations, and Fabio G. was first up with his presentation ‘A general overview of Rhe-Turn‘. Fabio explained how this project, developed by WATA Factory, is helping to improve the lives of children and young people with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis through an innovative mobile application. The app provides exercise recommendations tailored to the specific needs of each patient. With this tool, young people can safely return to an age-appropriate level of activity and overcome the limitations of their disease. It is very motivating for everyone to see how our work can have such a positive impact on the lives of others.
Later we took part in an ‘improvement session‘, a very dynamic workshop where we were able to share ideas and suggestions for further growth. Not only did we identify areas for improvement, both in the company and in our respective projects, but we also mentioned things that are already working well and make us feel good. It was a very interesting exercise, which will help us to implement the improvements mentioned, in order to reinforce the positive in the coming year.
Juan Carlos G. surprised us with his presentation ‘Introduction to Kali Linux’, in which he explained that Kali is more than just an operating system. It is a complete platform designed to facilitate the work of security professionals. With out-of-the-box tools and the ability to customise everything, Kali is available on any device and allows you to work from anywhere. The presentation was full of practical ideas and useful tips for beginners and experts alike.
The afternoon turned festive as we headed to the centre of Jerez for a Christmas lunch full of humour, toasts and good food. Afterwards we continued the celebrations in a bar with billiards, table football and other activities, which we all enjoyed very much. With the typical Christmas villancicos and in a festive atmosphere with music and nice moments, we ended the day with a cosy feeling.
Friday began on a very sweet note, with a Christmas breakfast of ‘roscón de reyes‘, a Spanish Christmas cake. Decorated with candied fruit and filled with cream or custard, it was the undisputed star of the morning.
We then had an office meeting to review the year. We talked about what we were proud of, what we could do better and how we could move forward together. We also took the opportunity to look to the future and set clear goals for 2025 with a lot of enthusiasm and motivation. It was a very special moment to end the year with the certainty that we are on the right track and the anticipation of all the good things to come.
At the end of the event came the most eagerly awaited moment: the Secret Santa. But nobody expected the surprise that awaited us: Santa Claus appeared and handed out sweets. And as if that wasn’t enough, the famous bull with the WATA Factory logo made a triumphant appearance… only to be defeated by Father Christmas himself! To much laughter and applause, the two characters handed out the Secret Santa gifts, showing that there was no shortage of good humour as well as surprises!