Brazil 2016. A very special country. No, not because of the Olympics, but because Adriano Ferreira our Employee of the Month comes from Brazil.
Adriano, tell us something about yourself …..
As you said, I am from Brazil. I was born in Rio and currently live in the small town of Cataguases, in the state Minas Gerais in the southeast. It is a nice, quiet place, with a population of 74.000, but from time to time throughout the year the city comes alive with religious festivities and, of course, the carnival.
Cataguases is very hot almost the whole year round, but the good thing is that we have some really superb waterfalls to splash in and refresh our bodies.
The town’s recent history is closely linked to Brazilian cinema and the development of modern Brazilian architecture. Amongst the great names in these fields are Humberto Mauro (one of the first Brazilian actors), Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian architect) and I really must mention Cândido Portinari (one of the most important Brazilian artists).
I have a nice office upstairs in my home where I can work while listening to the relaxing sound of birds singing just outside. When you work from home it’s important to have a quiet and private place to work well. During my first months with the company I used to work from my room , which didn’t work out very well at all.
I’m the youngest in a family with 3 sons. At home it’s just my mother and me; we take care one of each other. My father passed away a couple of years ago but he is still very much in my mind and always an inspiration for me.
And, of course, my sweetheart girlfriend, always in my mind and heart. We both have two dogs which we love so much.
I have some hobbies: working out (boxing, muay thai, gym, running), playing games, sculpting. Ah, I share another hobby with my brother – a “weird” hobby which is literally doing “nothing”, yes, we actually enjoy staying in a quiet place doing nothing, thinking nothing.
At weekends I usually take my girlfriend out to eat. We love Japanese food and, of course, fast food.
How did you come to work with OTGS?
I used to work as a freelancer building WordPress themes and plugins. I was looking for a WordPress freelance job and found an interesting one. As soon as I applied to work there, I received an invitation to join OnTheGoSystems full time. I joined the company in January 1st of 2013.
Working here has been one of the biggest challenges of my life.
Challenges? Why?
Well, I have two main roles: I lead the Toolset support team and I work as a Supporter Tier 2. Recently I’ve been doing some development work also.
Technically speaking it’s necessary to be a PHP developer with a solid knowledge of the WordPress ecosystem. Front-end skills are also needed, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
To lead a team you need to learn to listen to people, to really hear more and talk less. For any kind of role, organization, discipline and responsibility are the keys of success.
I like to solve problems and to build nice thing. So, I most enjoy solving team members’ issues, helping clients and being creative. Ah, and of course, dealing with people from different countries is awesome!
What kind of schedule do you have each day?
Well, I wake up at 7:00 am, drink some water, go on a 30 min walk, take a shower, breakfast (lots of coffee), kiss my girlfriend (when she is staying at my home) and mother, go upstairs, pray and start my work day. I do my best to be very productive in my mornings, because that is when all coworkers are online. Tasks I can do alone (some hard things) I keep for the afternoon.
Finally, what are your plans for the future?
Since I work remotely, I would really like to start traveling more soon to discover new places both in my country and abroad. I want to invest for the future and one investment will be to buy or even build my own house. For my career, I want to continue learning every day, especially focusing in the field I like the most which is development.
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