My subject is a family friend, Alberto Scherb. When he was 24, he left his homein Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico to come to the United States. He worked for a company called Flextronics, and when he told them that he was going to switch companies, they offered him a job in the United States. They supplied him with a visa and a sponsorship, and he moved in June of 2001. He moved to San José, California, and after one and a half years with Flextronics, he got a job offer from Apple. He worked with apple for 10 years and during the last 2 years he got his MBA from Duke University. Although he came to the United States with a job (which gave him a huge advantage), he did run into some things that were challenging. A common view that he shared with most immigrants was that he thought that America would be a perfect country; however, he realized that it was just slightly better than Mexico. His first couple of years here were lonely because his friends and family were still in Mexico. However, he adapted quickly and found that he had more time for himself and enjoyed meeting new people. His mom came to visit him and was pleasantly surprised that he had friends that were of different races and cultures. A specific experience that he remembers was 3 months after he moved to California, 9/11 occurred which was very frightening, especially to someone who is still adjusting to new surroundings. He had told himself that he was only going to stay for 3 years but has now stayed for 17 and met his wife who is an immigrant from Iran. He has also worked for multiple tech firms throughout the years. After Apple, he worked for Nest for three years, and two years ago, he started working for Lighthouse which is working on a smart house camera that distinguishes who is who and what they are doing. He is now looking for a new challenge and is picky with what he wants to see in different companies. His take-aways from his experience are that you should be grateful for being where you are and that “people are people,” differences do stand out but in the end, “we are all people and that’s what matters.”
