Torc recently hit a milestone with young Brazillian developer Ewerton Xavier, our 20,000th platform user. To mark this milestone, we sat down with Ewerton to discuss his previous experiences in the tech world, his time with Torc thus far, and his plans for the future
Q: I want to start with just some facts about you, your life and your experience pre-Torc. Could let us know a little bit about that?
A: I'm Ewerton, I'm 23 years old, I'm from Manaus, Brazil. I have a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Manaus. I have been studying programming since I was 13 years old. Since then, I have learned three programming languages. I work with React primarily, I also work with JavaScript, and I know Python. During high school, we also worked with Delphi and Pascal, but those are two languages that we don't use any more.
In the final year of my undergraduate, I had the chance to start an internship as a front-end developer. So since then, for around two and a half years, I have been working as a programmer.
After graduating with my Bachelor, I started working as a system analyst for a company here in Manaus. I worked in the banking sector for this company, they were responsible for building ATM’s. Using React, I helped build a test system to test their machines.
After that, I got another job at a different company, which came with a promotion. I worked as a mid-level full-stack developer. I worked there until September of last year and was responsible for programming in the IoT environment. I built dashboards and assisted in the automation of their system. We utilized Excel spreadsheets, and I was responsible for transferring this data to a database to help make the system more reliable. And that’s my story up until Torc.
Q: How did you first discover Torc?
A: I discovered Torc around a month and a half ago. I was looking for a new position on LinkedIn. I found an opportunity as a junior developer using React, and I took the chance to send a message to apply. Soon after, a Torc representative contacted me, and we talked about the opportunity. A few days later, I subscribed to the platform, and I was number 20,000!
Q: Big milestone! And how has the Torc experience been so far?
A: The experience has been great! I have had great support from the team since day one. I have been enrolling in some available positions through Torc since joining up, and I am happy I can contribute to Torc projects.
Q: How does your experience as a developer with Torc differ from your previous experience?
A: Well, the support is really terrific, The Torc team has been a huge help for my career and development as a programmer already. I'm seeing new opportunities in the tech space through Torc, and it's going to give me a great chance to develop even further and create some new connections with my first international experience through Torc.
Q: Speaking of connections, how important is the aspect of the network and the community on the Torc platform to you?
A: I'd say the network is going to give you a chance to work beyond your country, to find some opportunities, to understand some cultures. You can avoid some mistakes along the journey with the help of the network, and Torc has been a great chance to achieve this, with all the support and experience offered.
Q: Are there any specific types of projects or technologies that you're particularly interested in working with in the future?
A: I'd say getting really mature about building dashboards appeals to me. Dashboards and gaining knowledge about the backend of structures, because it's going to help me to get a chance to work for some startups and in this way take a leap in my career.
I think this is the first step, building more robust dashboards, understanding more about security and I think this is going to be the first step in order to achieve something better in my career as a developer.
Q: Are there any features you hope that we'll add to the Torc platform in the future?
A: One thing that I think would be a nice addition would be some details about the vacancies. For example, you can enrol for a position and not receive feedback. And this makes you sometimes a little bit unsure of what you should be looking for in a vacancy. I think some more feedback for the user would be nice. Sometimes you enroll for a position, but you don't know what the next steps are, or you don't know your status in the process. It would be nice to know a bit more about when the next step should start, or where you are in the process, how many candidates are also applying to the position. Things like that.
Q: Looking further ahead, what upcoming trends do you think will arise in the tech industry?
A: I expect to see more AI development. Development of more startups related to AI. And I'd say the tech industry will become an even more competitive environment. It’s going to be tough for some beginners to come into the industry, though programming is going to be much easier to learn as well. So, the jump from beginner developer to getting your first position in tech will be harder, but the ability to gain knowledge will be greater. And I think this is going to be the trend in the future.
Q: My next question was actually about AI. Could you expand a bit on your feelings towards AI and your thoughts on its impact on the future of tech?
A: Yes, it's going to help the developers for sure. Many people use Chat GPT right now to assist their development. In the future, I’d expect these resources to give users even more accurate feedback. And in this case, the development process is going to be faster. Developers must adapt in order to gain knowledge in AI use, as it is only going to become more widely utilized in the industry. And I'd say that in the next five years, some positions can or will be replaced by AI. But I do think that it can make a career easier in the future for some. Definitely.
Q: Finally, I wanted to ask, what are your plans or goals in the future for your career?
A: Well, my plan is to start a position working abroad. In this case, remotely from Brazil. If I get a chance to go abroad in the future as well, it could be a big step in my career.
But for now, I'm looking for remote positions, or positions in my region so I can gain a little bit more experience and become a senior developer in a few months or a few years. To make this leap in order to see another environment, and who knows, someday possibly start my own enterprise, my own company in order to put this knowledge into practice. It's something that I think is going to be helpful for the people around me.
