David Fuentes was not a great student during his academic years, but he was clear that he wanted to be a firefighter. Firefighter in Madrid, to be more exact. He presented himself to the opposition, he passed it, he was a firefighter. Now he has left everything to take advantage of an idea that was born while he was studying to be a public employee. One that in the first months reported 15,000 euros of benefits every 30 days. One that wants to change the rules to approve an opposition – almost any – as quickly as possible. She was born a Ninja Fireman, who is now also a Ninja Policeman and is close to being a Ninja Civil Guard.
Let’s not fool ourselves. To be a civil servant, from any branch of the public career, the story is summed up in a few words. You have to study a lot. For many hours. That will not change Fireman Ninja, nor will anyone. But Fuentes does want to change the results of how one studies. “During my time in the academies, the teachers teach you what the profession is like, they tell you anecdotes,” explains David to hypertextual. That for him was a waste of time, he preferred to be told how to learn the Constitution and that’s it. they would teach him in academia to be a good firefighter. He wanted results and techniques to learn how to study and memorize faster. He created his own and they worked.
When he passed the opposition, in addition to being a firefighter, he began to teach them in academies. “I had 3 classes of about 80 people and I taught them study techniques and memorizing. At first they looked at me weird, but then they started to like it,” he explains.
Ninja Firefighter: an idea of 15,000 euros per month
“I had zero entrepreneurial spirit”David points out. But circumstances were pushing him to create his own online academy to take his techniques to oppose to a new level. Then, in 2019, the first stage of Ninja Firefighter was born.
“I thought that 30 or 40 people would sign up, but more than 400 arrived,” he explains. Everything very homemade: from the living room, with the mobile, removing the children’s toys from the scene and with little or no notion of the Internet business.
It was so improvised that he almost died of success. “There was enormous pressure on me and I shut down for a while,” he explains. “In fact, I didn’t know what to do with so much money, I earned 15,000 euros a monthand I was on the verge of returning the fee to all the students and closing for good.” Eventually, he went ahead with Ninja Firefighter, with the help of employees and delegating minor tasks.
From almost closing, a new path was opened. Opening the fence of the firefighter oppositions, they began to offer their master classes to the rest of the candidates from other communities. Valencia, Catalonia, Aena Fire Department… All the options, each one with its own specifications.
And then came the surprise…
Ninja Police, opponents who were not expected
The idea of releasing Ninja Firefighter was logically related to the opposition of David Fuentes. Ninja Police was something that arose spontaneously.
“We realized that there were many opponents of the police within Ninja Fireman,” he says. Although the common part is effectively valid for everyone, the police syllabuses differ in almost everything from those of the firefighter. The reality, and as they explained to Fuentes, the students went by the method. “They were looking for what they had in common with other oppositions and they took it to their ground.”
Then, in 2021, Ninja Police was born. Which was a plus for the fledgling business. While firefighter oppositions are limited to regions and have their own training itineraries, those of the National Police are common and have a larger market. So much so that in a single year, they already account for 50% of Fuentes’ students.
Now they are also preparing, scheduled for the end of the year, the oppositions to the Civil Guard. But they want to go further. The Fuentes method is valid for practically all oppositions in which memorizing ideas or figures are the key to passing. The exception is those that require “singing” the agenda in front of a court, for which it is better to resort to a private trainer. For the rest, They want to launch the oppositions to Post Office or administrative among many others.
The new verticals will go little by little. Fuentes, in his recent entrepreneurial spirit, remains very cautious with new ideas. Although he is clear that, after conquering the world of opponents, the next thing will be to offer his study techniques to other areas: universities or educational centers are on his itinerary.
Now the important thing: what is the method of success
David Fuentes has no secrets about his success with Bombero Ninja. In fact, he uses many study and memorization techniques that are available to anyone. It is how he applies them that has earned him the attention of hundreds of opponents.
First, it makes the entire syllabus available to students. From minute one. “The opponent is a curious student because he has left everything to oppose. They are risking everything in the exam. We give them everything so that they can access from minute 1 and that they can go at the speed they want,” he explains. This already differs from traditional academies in which in the classes everyone goes to onelike Fuenteovejuna.
Could I enter less money with this method? Maybe, but they prefer to continue like this with Ninja Fireman. Between 50 and 70 euros per month for students and 1,500 euros in total for those who want personalized preparation.
The second point is that they are based on you passing as quickly as possible and then being a good professional. “We don’t want you to be a great legislator, we want you to learn it by heart to answer the exam questions,” she tells us.
Finally, memorization techniques. Everything is based on mnemonic rules and phonetic codes. Nothing new. The key is that they teach how to use them.
“For example, article 4 of the Constitution speaks of the flag of Spain. In the phonetic code, 4 is a K. With this we imagine a boxing match in which there is a KAO and the winner takes out a flag to celebrate his victory. All of that reminds us of what the article is talking about.”
This, which may seem silly, is not so when you have to memorize hundreds of numbers and data. Especially when they are easy to ask on a test. “This is one of many techniques that we teach,” she analyzes.
With everything, it seems that the Fireman and Police Ninja techniques work in his short life. They have already presented their first candidates for the Aena firefighter competition, of which 58 of the first have left their academy. Also for the Community of Madrid, of which 51 of the 150 available places studied with Fuentes. Now the Firefighters of Catalonia are waiting for the results, where they hope to revalidate their success.