Meet Victor Lopez | Chemical Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victor Lopez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victor, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I think having a work life balance is very important to do our jobs happily, coming from Mexico a country with one of the highest working hours (48 per week) and only 1-2 weeks off for vacations per year; made me realized how important is to balance work since the spare time was so little.

In my first jobs I used to work a lot, I was learning so many things, but I didn’t had the chance to compare it to other jobs or other conditions in other countries, I was working in a modern slavery society where I needed to work for one year in order to have 1-2 weeks off. At the beginning I thought that was the norm. As I continue developing in my career, I realized that something was wrong with the unbalance work life I was living.

I worked hard for many years and I specialized in my area of expertise, then I looked for opportunities in Spain, where definitely there is more work life balance, now I work no more than 40 hours per week and I have 30 working days off per year as vacations. Life is more than working 8-5, having spare time to enjoy make us more creative and productive.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I wrote this time ago, I think I summarized the questions above. I at 33 I quit my job, and moved to Barcelona Spain to look for better work life balance opportunities.

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I worked for about 10 years in the Manufacturing Industry in Mexico, and that was enough due to the poor work-life balance, 12 vacation days per year and at least 48 working hours per week, Mexico has the highest working hours in the world.
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Maquiladoras (Foreign Manufacturing Industries) are established in Mexico to take advantage of the low wages and proximity to the USA. Mexico has one of the lowest wages in Latin America. In 1999, the net wage for the average maquiladora worker was $56 USD per week, and twenty years later in 2019 the net wage is no more than $65 USD.
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In addition to the low wages and disregarded labor standards, the living and health conditions around these factories are beyond belief. Many people live in a squalid grid of dirt streets, rotting garbage, open sewers with unsafe water, overburdened or non-existent schools, violence and crime. But do not misunderstand me about maquiladoras, any other sector is about the same or worse; in 2019 the official minimum wage is less than 9 USD per day. There is tremendous inequality, Mexico is on the bottom 10 countries on wealth distribution (Gini Index 0,49; World Bank, Taking On Inequality, 2016).
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When you focus on what you want, work hard and take the opportunities life offers, there is a possibility it will improve your life overall, and it did to me. I am a chemical engineer who climbed up the organizational ladder quickly, at age 29 I got my first management position. That gave me the possibility to buy a condominium by the beach and pay it off in three years, I bought in cash a nice Audi and saved a decent amount of money; I was living a pretty comfortable life. But I was unhappy, not even a $80K job a year, at age 33 could buy me happiness. However, it did buy me something – the ability to say goodbye.
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Lifestyle design is all about changing the way we live so that we can fulfill our passions and experience life now. I am striving for early retirement from not fulfilling jobs. One of the best ways to start on that path is to substantially reduce non-essential consumption to be able to effectively retire early.
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I do not want to retire from work. I just want to retire from work that no longer challenged or motivated me. I still want to continue working on interesting projects and learn new things. I want to do more good in the world. I want to tackle inequality, environmental issues and the unsustainable lifestyle of most people. Thus, I have sold my car, and got rid of most of my possessions to focus on experiences and sustainable living over consumption.

I believe this kind of freedom is at the heart of what drives my generation. No, not everyone wants to get rid of his possessions or live on 1000 USD a month, but we want to be able to do what we want to do and still provide a worthwhile product or service to society. We want to have a purpose, and when we cannot get it in our current environment, we are willing to make a change.
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Tremendous inequality and disparities in access to resources are factors that pose serious threats to human rights and to the world. It is obvious something needs to be done, we need to rethink how we live and what kind of planet we want to inherit to future generations.
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While there is life, there is hope for a better and equal world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Now I live in Barcelona, and my favorite place in the city Bunkers del Carmel, it’s the place with the best view to the city, I like bring my friends, have a picnic, and contemplate the amazing view, this place gives you a sense of calmness and peace, and it represents the dream life I was looking, the view is astounding. After watching sunset we would visit one of the best restaurants for tapas and enjoy the rest of the night with a good bottle of wine and the best conversations best friends have.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
During the time at University and through my career my uncle Javier was always motiving me to work hard and to pursue the life I wanted.

Website: https://www.travelwithvictor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travel.with.victor/