Welcome Wednesday: Heitor Meira de Melo

This Wednesday we will learn a bit more about one of our teammates, a prolific content creator from South America, Platform Engineer, Heitor Meira de Melo. 

Heitor is a Brazilian native and works remotely from the warm embrace of that “terrinha maravilhosa” – just to type down this line, made this writer smile with the memory of her native country -, and for our luck, he joined our Data Services’ team a couple of years ago.

With a heart of gold and a lot of love for what he does, Heitor captivates the audience in his participation in conferences. And has amazing ideas to contribute by sharing his knowledge and learning something new. 

1- Although you are a anynines’ superstar, can you please introduce yourself one more time? 

Hi, my name is Heitor. I live in the Northeast part of Brazil. 

Computers are not only my job but also a hobby. Besides that, I love my family and living in contact with nature. 

2- What is your educational background?

I had my BsC in Computer Science from the Federal University of Campina Grande, one of the most renowned in the country, with a focus on Distributed Systems.

Later I have completed a Master of Science (MSc) in Computer Science with a focus on Distributed File Systems,  as a participant student of the Science Without Borders program.

3- What does your path look like until now?

While studying in my BsC, I worked on multiple projects for research laboratories and companies. By the end of my undergrad, I was working as a part-time student for a small company that hired me full time after completing my BsC.

 After a while, anynines found me and hired me. And that is where I’m today. 

4- What are you doing when you are not working?

I love playing around with IoT and recently I’ve started studying the flora of the region where I live, with the intention of providing tree seedlings for people interested in reforesting small spaces.

5- Where are you originally from?

Because of my parents’ job, I lived in a lot of places. But the one where I grew up and had a major impact on my life was a very small city called Sossego – translates to ‘quiet’, which was a really good description of the city when I lived there. 

I moved out there to study arts with a focus on the English language. After some time, I noticed my love for computers and programming, then I decided to shift my career and made a move to Computer Sciences, where I found myself and feel comfortable until this day. 

6- What would people love about your hometown and why should they go there? 

Although Sossego was very impactful in my life, it is a very small city, it is not a place to go visit. 

Campina Grande was the next city where I moved and is the place where I lived for almost a decade. 

This city is mainly known for the Forró and the Festas Juninas, and it’s popularly known as having the ‘Biggest Sāo Joāo in the World’.

7- What was your motivation for joining us?

The opportunity to work with different tools and put into practice my distributed systems love. 

It was also the opportunity to work with a DevOps focus, putting in practice my experience in operations and development, which I always enjoyed.

 After joining the company, I noticed that the philosophy of the company really clicked with what I would expect for a place to work, more than that, a place to share knowledge and where we can help each other grow. 

8- What can you tell people who are considering computer science as their path?

Work with what you love. 

Not because you will not work if you do what you love, but because life’s too short to spend so much time doing things that you do not like. 

So if you love distributed systems, development and operation, you will find that anynines is more like home.

9- What will you tell people who are interested in Tech?

At first, it looks like we need to know every detail about all the tools and platforms, and sometimes that pushes us away from applying to an opportunity. 

We are always postponing until we have time to study some subjects, but that never happens. 

In the end, what you will learn with more experienced colleagues is intangible, what you get from experience in real life will change your perspective. 

I’ve always believed that the right people to work with are the ones that are more interested and love to learn their field, rather than the ones with huge backgrounds that think they have nothing new to learn. 

Catch up with some of Heitor’s content here at anynines: