The story behind Reyes Project

It all started in 1995, when my dad brought the first computer into our house. I was 6 years old, and my favorite game didn't come on a floppy disk: it consisted of deleting the System32 folder “to see what would happen.” What happened, of course, was that Windows died and had to be brought back to life again and again. My parents, instead of hiding the keyboard after every disaster, kept trusting me; without knowing it, that patience was paying for my first school of technology. I tell more about that blue sky of Windows 95 on the blog.

Before Reyes Project had a name, it was just me: a 16-year-old kid in Anaco, Venezuela, who wasn't afraid of machines. Friends, family and acquaintances would knock on the door with a “dead” phone, a slow computer or an error message nobody understood. I updated BlackBerrys, formatted computers, installed programs… and then stayed a while longer, calmly explaining what had happened and how to avoid it. Without realizing it, everything was being born right there: not the business, but the way of working. People came back, and not for the repair. They came back because they left understanding. And the word going around was “este muchacho sabe”: “this kid knows his stuff.”

In 2008 that stopped being the neighborhood kid doing favors and became my first real trade. Charging for your work forces you to do it well; doing it with love forces you to do it better. I learned something then that no university taught me afterwards: most people are not looking for the technician who knows the most. They are looking for someone who speaks plainly, doesn't rush them, and never makes them feel bad for asking the same question twice.

Over the years I trained as an industrial engineer and specialized in international logistics. I could have left the machines behind; the opposite happened: I built my career in technology without ever letting go of what I love: sitting next to a person and bringing within reach the thing that seemed impossible to them. What began in 2008 kept growing over the years, and in 2015 it took the big step: it opened its first physical door in Anaco and became official, with paperwork and a name of its own. I'll tell you about that date a little further down, because it deserves its own space.

Then life took care of making the map bigger. There came systems for factories and hospitals, places where a computer error is not an inconvenience but a serious problem. There came projects in more than 10 countries, from Venezuela to Japan: four continents that taught me the same lesson in different accents. Technology changes language, currency and time zone; people, deep down, need the same thing: someone they trust saying, “don't worry, this has a solution.”

And underneath all of this there is a foundation I am not ashamed to name: my faith. This venture has a purpose. I believe work done well is a way of serving others, and every project we take on, big or small, carries that seal.

Today Reyes Project builds websites with the craft of someone who has been at this since 2008 and the modern tools of a professional, especially for those who did not grow up with the internet. Tools change; the promise is the same one made by the BlackBerry kid: I explain it calmly, I walk with you step by step, and I don't leave you on your own.

And now? Now we serve from our home bases in Venezuela and the United States, and we work remotely with the same closeness as at the counter in Anaco: on WhatsApp, with patience, in your language. The counter became a screen, but the scene is the same as always: you tell me your problem, and I make sure technology stays within your reach.