Sílvia Rocha, Head of Customer Engagement Practices @ OutSystems
PWIT Profile
Early years and where you came from?
This is an unexpected question! :) Thinking of very early years and up until I went to college I always felt a little alienated… my favourite time was the one I’d spend by myself when I would listen to a lot of music (and sing if you can imagine), study, go into the wilderness on my BTT bike, … and entertaining a lot of thoughts on what came first: the egg or the chicken and what is beyond the Universe’s edge. No wonder I became quite the sci fi nut case.
How were you introduced to the world of the Portuguese tech industry?
I actually started working when I was still studying at the University, I was a full Linux geek, did sysadmin, network programming and helpdesk for the University students and teachers.
Walk me through your work and what you are doing now in the tech industry.
Currently I’m coordinating three Customer Engagement Practices at OutSystems while at the same time acting as the direct lead of one of these Practices which is the Engagement Manager’s (EMs). These guys and girls ;) are the Product Owners that manage external Customers Agile Projects and they are all superheroes in my book!
A typical day for me is about moderating our worldwide forum of EMs, I answer upon all matters concerning the Agile Practice the we use in our Projects so I’m always on the lookout for innovative ways to improve our processes by making them more efficient. I also have a very active part in the definition of internal processes as well as Customer Services Offers.
What part of what you do, you love the most?
Helping our EMs grow (at OutSystems we really are very much focussed on our People’s growth) while making sure we live by state of the art Customer Value centered Agile methodologies.
How do you think that your background and knowledge impact the way you approach your work in the Portuguese tech industry?
In the first years as an IT professional I really loved software development (I actually miss it a lot!). I was a backend developer and very happy at it until I started being asked to manage Projects which kept growing on scale and complexity so I’ve become proficient in distinct Product Development methodologies over the years. This happened naturally with my progression on Management roles and today this is my playground and how I position myself before the work market.
What advice do you have for young women that want to get into tech and don’t know where to start?
I actually delivered a talk on the topic at the request of the University I studied. The point is that modern IT is a trillion light-years away from the image the World froze of our Industry as being that 90’s guys only club. In such a fast paced and competitive World we now live in, women’s natural traits such as sharp instinct, sensitivity and good sense are huge assets for setting up high performance Teams, designing solutions and reacting to feedback from end users in an very empathetic way.
Walk me through a day in your life as a Portuguese women in tech.
I think I’ve answered most of this in “Walk me through your work and what you are doing now in the tech industry”. But on a more personal note I live in Lisbon for a bit over 3 years now, this year I got married and “inherited” two beautiful children that not only make my life so much more colourful and happy but also already made me grow a lot as a human being.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t ever ever let anyone undermine you and don’t ever ever sell yourself short! In the end your good work will speak higher than anyone else’s voice.
What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?
Waze, Spotify, Google Drive, Medium, Calm, Youtube, MBWAY, Uber, Hangouts, Slack, oh and AirBnb.
You can find Sílvia Rocha on LinkedIn.
