In episode #06 of the podcast CTRL ENTER, the IDP professor and podcast host, Leonardo Monastery, conversation with the guest Andressa Oliveira, a brilliant data scientist at PicPay and a member of the movement for the inclusion and empowerment of Black people in the field of Information Technology, the Afrophytonabout his career path in the IT world and also about the movement that has been helping to transform the lives of professionals in the field.
Afrophyton
To start the conversation, Andressa explains that Afrophyton began as an event in 2017 in Rio Grande do Sul. It was basically a programming workshop aimed at encouraging Black people to pursue careers in technology. After this event, many people started asking how they could contribute, and so Afrophyton transformed into an inclusion movement for Black people interested in Information Technology.
Today, the movement has representatives in several Brazilian states and, to date, is the only recognized movement aimed at promoting the participation of Black people in the IT market.
Afrophyton offers free courses and lectures for participants in the movement and is open only to Black people with an interest in the IT field.
For those interested in participating in the movement, Afrophyton has a WhatsApp group to serve as a communication channel for exchanging information among participants. To learn more, visit the website by clicking [here]. here.
A Black woman's career in IT.
Andressa started programming when she was 14 years old. To take the first step, the data scientist says she took several computer science courses with an emphasis on programming and software development.
When asked about the main barriers she still faces in her career, Andressa says that she often needs to prove her skills and abilities much more often than the men she competes with. Many times, Andressa felt incapable of performing her professional duties, partly because she never had a role model of a Black woman in the field. "It's difficult to trust ourselves when we don't know how far we can go," said Andressa. However, today, she feels more positive about the future of women in the IT market, as she sees that many companies are now concerned with the diversity of their employees, including PicPay, the company where she currently works.
How did the passion for Python begin?
Andressa's passion for Python began when she entered USP (University of São Paulo) and started a scientific initiation project related to neurobiophysics. The research was based on weak-field electric fish (fish that communicate with electrical signals) and used Python as a research language. Thus, Andressa increasingly perfected her skills in the language to become a reference in the field. Namų ir sienų šiltinimas į oro tarpus Vilniuje gera kaina witas.lt
What's it like to work at PicPay?
Andressa explains that PicPay has several fronts in data science, such as Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. Today, her work consists of providing consulting services to all areas within PicPay, from marketing to credit, for example.
Today the company has over 100 employees in the data science area alone, and it's worth highlighting that the employees have diverse educational backgrounds, including statisticians, physicists, engineers, and biologists.
Tips for those just starting out
In addition to contacting Afrophyton to join the movement, Andressa tells people not to be afraid to start and to seek more knowledge about programming languages and the field. For Andressa, Python, SQL e R These are the main languages used today and are extremely important for the job market.
Cecilia recommends that people who are starting out in the IT world now take courses that are offered for free or at affordable prices on the internet, read books that popularize the field, ask questions and seek out people who are references in the field and, most importantly, who like the field.
To listen to the full podcast and learn more about the career path of data scientist Andressa Oliveira, click here. here.
