Meet the bBoxers better! This Friday we have Paulo from Brazil!

      

      As I promised, the series of interviews with my colleagues will step by step be completed. I know so many things about them, and yet, not all the interesting ones. So, let us get to find more about their amazing personalities together.

 Today, Paulo!

  

     University: University of Brasília

Field of study: Computer Science

Favorite developer tools: KDevelop, Eclipse, GCC, GDB                                

Favorite (technical) website: IBM Developerworks

Claudia Corches: ’’Paulo, I would like to start by congratulating you for your talent: you are the drummer of the team! And you don’t really need drums to play…you can use any other objects in the office… : )’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Thank you! It is a very relaxing hobby, and since I miss my drum kit so much, I eventually have to use a pandeiro, a cajon or maybe just the table and my legs. : )’’

Claudia Corches: ’’Well, we both have music in common. But there are also other things: take AIESEC, for example. What is your story?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’It first started when last year I went to the United States. Even though it was not my first time, I really enjoyed the experience of being in a foreign country, and something caught my attention. Since I had heard of AIESEC before, and a great friend of mine was part of the organization in Brasilia, I sent him an e-mail, while still abroad, to ask about internship opportunities (but not necessarily in the US). He put me in contact with the people responsible for this part, and I realized that AIESEC was way much more than just an exchange agency. Because of this, I worked in the AIESEC office in Brasilia for six months before coming to Germany. I helped other people to have their exchanges, and also gave and received courses on many different subjects, ranging from software freedom to time management, and learned really a lot during this time.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’AIESEC brought us all together in Germany! But we could have all thought of experiencing in any other part of the globe. Why Germany?’’ 

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Germany is a very attractive country. It is known due to its organized people and public facilities. Germans are very honest and punctual. It means, for instance, that trams are always on time, even though you do not have to present your ticket to get into it most of the times, and in spite of that, people always buy the tickets. Things always work very well, and this is really very good, because then you can focus on doing your stuff, and not in such details as getting there.

Besides, this is my first time in Europe, and I would have not only the chance to know Germany, but also many other countries due to proximity and ease of transportation.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’Paulo, you have also developed your skills by working in different environments, such as a very important bank . What were the most challenging tasks?’’

             Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Since the company had more than a hundred thousand employees and a hundred million customers, everything was HUGE. I had to learn things that ranged from dealing with mainframe computers to keeping an enormous e-mail system online all the time, with infrastructure spread between sites thousands of kilometers away.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’You are a true researcher actually! Could you describe for us what has been your focus during university and not only?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’During my course I really focused on research, as I really love the new. I spent a year researching protein behavior in a biophysics laboratory, but of course that involved developing software to do so. Then, my last year of university course was dedicated to a research project on how to improve voice conversations on top of wireless networks, as this is really a trend and not as satisfactory as using wired networks. This was also the subject of my thesis.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’You have participated to more than 10 congresses and events related to your field of studies. Did they bring relevant change for you?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Going to a congress in your field is really good as you get to know not only the latest trends, but also meet the specialists and talk to them, and this is really enriching. Also, other types of events still in your field of studies can aggregate practical knowledge. For instance, going to FISL (International Forum on Free Software) for three times has made me keep in touch with many prominent people in this field, and gave me access to a lot of knowledge, but participating in programming competitions such as the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) promoted by ACM gave me practical knowledge on how to create very difficult computer programs very fast. Thus, I encourage people to go to different types of events, to grasp different experiences.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’…and I know there is also a very important congress coming in the USA, where not only you will attend but also contribute. Tell us more!’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’I wrote a paper on the same subject as my university thesis, together with two professors from the university, and submitted it to the 25^th IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, in May/2011, and it was accepted. As such, it will be published in the proceedings of the conference and I will have the chance to make a presentation on the subject to many specialists and researches from many different countries, ranging from university researchers to people that work in the computer industry.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’What do you consider to be your greatest achievement regarding your   profession so far?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Many things that happened gave me so much pleasure and will to keep on. One of them was being four times in a row South American finalist of IBM sponsored ACM ICPC, as the rules make your adrenaline boil during the five hours of each session.  Every time I remember how it was I can’t help but put a smile on my face and feel a rush of adrenaline due to the good memories.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’What does the bBox Project represent for you now, after three months?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’I have a lot of fun at work, but I also think that we are developing something really great in the process. It is truly amazing that it is this way. I have the feeling that in the end it will be something that I will be able to talk about when asked again about my greatest achievements, as in the previous question. I really praise the chance of working in such a diverse team, and I can already say it caused some irreversible changes in me.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’What would you tell to any of your friends it is a must do in Germany and, Karsruhe, in particular?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Travel a lot, eat as many different dishes as possible, go out of your comfort zone! There is so much to try and learn in this world that we cannot waste any second! Karlsruhe is a beautiful city, so whoever comes has to go to the Castle and to the Pyramid, at least, but I also recommend the Federal Constitutional Court, the gardens behind the Palace and the botanical garden. And of course, there is an entire continent to explore, just a train station away!’’

Claudia Corches: ’’Thanks, Paulo!’’

’’Paulo is the security man and the one who would strongly fight for perfectionism.  He is the most energetic and explosive speaker in the team. Very talented at languages, not only he would put the technical information into the nicest words, so that everybody could understand and become more interested, but also, he can now even dialogue in Romanian. So, in what language would you prefer talking to him or commenting on his posts?’’

                                      (bBox)