It started even before it started

When I was fifteen years old, in late 2005, I came across an offer to learn to type. I did not have a computer at the time, but I was eager to learn, starting with the basics. Then, the founder of AVRO1 — a family’s friend — offered to teach it to me for an hour a day.

Within a few months, I was using the acquired abilities to help him in his ambitious project, AVRO dx, an unabridged online English-Portuguese-English Dictionary. I was informally organizing and formatting a copy of the database as a way to practice typing. When I realized, I was also reporting some errors and doing this job so quickly that he invited me to officially contribute to the project and work in the company as an assistant in administrative routines.

Lessons learned

During one year I learned more than informatics, I also learned how a company runs, what its duties and responsibilities are, how I should behave in a professional environment, and how to find a balance between studies and job. It gave me fuel to take the next steps: quitting my first job, finding an internship, and winning a scholarship at one of the best private high schools in my hometown.



1 AVRO is an Brazilian-based translation company.
To know more about AVROdx click on this link: www.avro.com.br/#avrodx
And click here to check the credits attributed to me as a contributing editor