How I started my career in technology
My career start story, sharing lessons from school and college to work.
I’ve thought a lot about starting my Medium to share my self-learning experiences with the community that has supported me so far. Obviously my first article had to be about my personal story. Here I try to tell you about how I came to Sao Paulo, got into technology and feel in love with start-ups. I want to inspire other people (especially women!) to believe in their dreams and encourage pursuing them. 👩💻❤️
School
I come from a small town in the countryside of Sao Paulo. At age 3, we moved to the north due to my father’s work and I skipped school for a year. But my mom was a teacher and taught me the alphabet by drawing in the beach sand. Thus I learned how to read and write very early. As a lonely, curious and hyperactive child, studying distracted me like any other playing activity.
Moving back, I studied at primary school with one year of advance. I liked test challenges and could earn a scholarship. My parents always supported me to study as one of the most important things in life. Because of my high interest in math, when I was 14 my mom suggested engineering as a successful career. I didn’t have any references (and barely internet) so she bought me a magazine for STEM careers. I focused on this decision during the three high school years.
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So I had to choose my course. The only engineering majors I knew were civil and mechanical. I came across two pages with the careers of industrial and computer engineering. My first idea was the latter. I have used my father’s computer a lot since I was 3. However I was afraid of the duty. I thought I would have to be a genius in programming and assemble real machines. I had no clue on that and gave up by considering it impossible. So dumb and naive!
How I wish I could go back in time and tell that little girl that she could do it too!
Moving to the capital was completely out of the scope due to my finances. But I could move to a closer city if I passed in a public university right away. My dream was attending USP as the best university in Latin America. And there was a beautiful campus in the countryside (at Sao Carlos)! My parents couldn’t afford the preparatory course so I would have only one chance. If I didn’t succeed, I would end up working a normal life in my town.
The internet came and I made my plans to study at home by myself. I printed ~5 years of exams and solved checking answers online. I collected statistics, attended exams and calculated the required scores. I was confident but open to other universities too if something went wrong. I could get 69 points of from my target 70 (out of 90)! Written part was hard, I doubt but I made it.
College
I started college at USP Sao Carlos studying industrial engineering (so young that I turned 17 in freshman year!). But I just hated business classes, I felt as if I was enrolled at social studies. I knew I didn’t belong there, but I just couldn’t leave to start all over again. As I liked technical drawing and calculus, I transferred to mechanical engineering, the closest course. I liked most disciplines and graduated with good grades and a sponsored exchange program in the US.
I conducted research in aerodynamics abroad and published some papers. Then I considered graduate education. I studied hard but did not pass. I competed with people already in the program fighting for (low) scholarships. Researchers contacted me at a congress about opportunities in Sao Paulo but I just couldn’t afford that as a student. Despite the fact that I I love teaching and studying, I decided I couldn’t go through that stress and pressure in my life again. I was able to move on and try other things. This was one the best things I made!
I was lost and bad at recruiting. I saw colleagues getting offers in great companies and I got nothing. I had to work with my father to conclude the course. I hated the hiring experience. All that dressing up and rehearsing sounded fake like I wasn’t myself. Again, I felt very misfit in the corporate world. I couldn’t imagine myself at a traditional company, as the real reason for applying is that I need the job desperately as the only thing left.
Of course most positions I tried were for business. Jobs for mechanical engineers in Brazil are more focused rather on facilities than P&D. To me, it was frustrating to have the technology imported and just replicate things. I would prefer creating projects from scratch. Then I totally discarded manufacturing, besides the common sexist environment! So what? I got my degree and had no plans. No master, no internship, no trainee, no job.
Work
Graduated and unemployed, I had to go back to my town. That “black hole” after college! The apartment rescission hurt my soul. It was the end of my life, wasting a USP degree to work at a small office near the farm. So unfair. With all the respect, I dreamed bigger and wished I lived in Sao Carlos forever. I called English schools to come back to work. Meanwhile my father tried to arrange some local jobs. My mom took me to travel agencies so I could move back to the US and work as a nanny to have a better life. I lost my mind.
I came down-to-earth to start over. I decided to give a chance to start-up companies (back then people said it was “work hard and pay low”). I was open to anything, the goal was moving out, only. I wasn’t into Sao Paulo (described cold, dangerous, expensive) but all jobs were there. I requested referrals from everybody and tuned my LinkedIn for a month. I applied for general entry-level positions, aiming to work with business at some office (what I didn’t like but would be just to begin).
In 2018 I applied for an operations analyst position at QuintoAndar. I’d never heard of the company before. Each interview took me a 7-hour bus trip to Sao Paulo. But as I walked there, everything was different. I felt comfortable at the market for the first time. I dressed casually, brought my luggage and talked on the sofa as if I were in a cafeteria with friends. People in the space seemed young, friendly and energetic. It was so cool. I wanted to be a part of it. I was never so sure and confident about a result. And I passed, as myself!
People joke about me as an engineer working with rental state. Others made fun of how I would adapt to live in the big city. I didn’t listen. Then I feel in love with start-ups! I found a purpose in their mission of using technology to solve real problems with innovation. I could learn and use my intelligence to create things. It was all about culture and profile. I finally identified with something.
I feel in love with tech start-ups! Can’t think of working anywhere else.
Lessons
I had indeed a hard time moving in Sao Paulo with a backpack. I knew no one and stayed a month sleeping in a hostel with 16 people at the same room. I got sick and ended up in the hospital in the same week as my graduation. But I valued the opportunity and decided to make it work, somehow. Time passed, I adapted, made friends, discovered places and things to do. Today I love Sao Paulo! After 4 years, I don’t think about leaving the city, neither during pandemics (only if I had another chance to live abroad).
I might seem very determined. But the truth is that during my life I wasn’t 100% sure of all decisions, but I had to make a guess and walk. And I made a lot of curves! I tried a lot of things and got many no’s, but I became open to other possibilities. Of course I should have gone to computer science, but I don’t regret my major (I couldn’t know back then). Later on I started and transitioned my career to data (that’s for the next article!). Also my business background helped me a lot with soft skills. Every experience is learning.
The beginning is hard but things get better. Now I’m stable, I have my (rented) house and a nice life. But the journey never ends. I never stopped studying and I’m always thinking about the next step. I could summarize all the lessons in the quote below. Make big plans: you must think big and believe in your dreams, no matter what people say. Aim high in hope and work: put efforts but be positive. And if it fails or not, do it all again. That’s a loop.
That’s all for now. This first article described my personal story on how I got into technology and moved to Sao Paulo. For the next chapters, I’ll give more details of my transition to data engineering. I hope I can make you all readers believe in your dreams! Please share our feedback! ❤
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