Former student Rui Machado, 30, is living a dream. NIKE challenged him to the position of “Engineering Manager” in Belgium. Born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Rui has as his life motto “working hard in silence and let success be our marketing”. One day he believes that he will still “sing fado”. He has a degree in Technologies and Information Systems (currently, the course is called Management and Information Systems).

Comunica UPT: When you decided to study Technologies and Information Systems, what was your dream profession?
Rui Machado: I have always been curious about the various areas of Informatics, namely security, programming and database management. I ended up building a career in data and artificial intelligence. It was an area that surprised me not only because of the strong technical component, but because it is close to Management, requiring refined social skills, both to understand the needs of customers and to communicate technical concepts to any audience.

What are your main memories of the university?
Without neglecting the memories of colleagues, I recall the proximity of the teachers. This proximity facilitated the learning process and increased my motivation to be an IT professional. I also remember that the university promoted events with professionals, enabling us to have contact with the labor market, contributing to a better perception of how the management and implementation of information systems work in reality. I also highlight the experience in an Erasmus program in Lithuania, which allowed me, together with colleagues from several countries, to discover “data mining”, an area that I later chose to work on.

This was an essential cycle for your life …
Certainly so! I believe that the culture of proximity together with the knowledge acquired has made me become a professional capable of responding to any challenge in the area of ​​Information Systems, both in terms of social skills, knowing how to ask the right questions at the right time, or from the perspective technical skills, knowing how to make and implement information and decision support systems. The course prepared us for the job market, not only focusing on technology, but also on how organizations and people work. Only by balancing these three dimensions is it possible to build and manage systems that respond efficiently to organizational problems.

What were the main lessons the degree gave you?
The degree has a very strong component of programming, computer networks and software engineering, so that we can design and build an information system. In addition, it focuses a lot on the component of requirements management, change and the project itself, with all its agile methodologies, so that we can implement these systems within the time, quality and expected cost, but also with the right people and organization .

After graduation, how did your career progress?
I worked for companies like DevScope, Primavera and Alert and worked with platforms like BizTalk or MicroStrategy. In 2014, I joined Jumia and for the next three years I had the opportunity to learn how to manage people and develop my personality as a leader and decision maker. In 2017, I was at Huub, where I contributed to the creation and development of the “Business and Artificial Intelligence” department and created ShopAI, a company focused on visual research software, which currently works with some world renowned companies in recommending products similar based on visual characteristics. Last year, I accepted the Nike challenge and moved to Belgium, where I live with my wife and, in a few weeks, with my newborn daughter.

When and how did this opportunity to work at NIKE arise?
I have always invested a lot in extracurricular activities, such as writing a blog for sharing technical knowledge and participating in conferences, as a speaker or participant. These activities opened more doors in the job market. Through the work shared on my blog, I was invited to write three technical books in the area of ​​programming and systems integration, which allowed me to show my writing and technical understanding skills. I have always been very dedicated in all my professional experiences, which allowed me to be recognized in the market as a competent and valuable professional. I like to believe that these were the reasons that led Nike Europe to believe in my ability to lead an Engineering Department.

What characteristics do you consider essential to succeed in the current competitive and global job market?
Technical skills are important, but they don’t matter if we don’t know how to be, communicate or socialize. It is not enough to be eloquent, friendly and outgoing if we are unable to materialize what we sell. Thus, it is important to study and be an expert in an area, but it is equally important to develop social skills. In IT, many decisions are made with a coffee machine, but the system will always be developed on one or more platforms and work on one or more servers, so it is essential to know how to discuss the solution, but also to understand how to implement and where it will go. be performed.