Outstanding Recognition

Flash Interview with João Pedro Barata

C — Describe what a hero is to you and the characteristic you most value?

JPB — This is a funny question, because coincidence or not I was watching all the Marvel films (in chronological order) during my holidays.  

A Hero for me is someone who somehow manages to win people over, someone who is not concerned only with themselves, but with those around him/her, who can sometimes risk or even harm themselves, for a common good.

The quality I most appreciate is Humility, although it is not common to all heroes, but it makes them more special. Knowing that there is someone who does something for others, who doesn't ask for anything in return and who in most cases does it for pleasure and thinks he/she has done nothing more than what was expected. 

C — What is the professional activity you would never see yourself doing? Why?

JPB — I think none, depending on the occasion, the need and for how long, I would have to adapt. I am lucky to have done several different things, met a lot of people, had new experiences, made friends, and even made some money.

Well, of course, I'm considering that these are all legal professional activities, the illegal ones I don’t see myself doing obviously.

C — Tell us about how you are inspired and gain mastery to solve difficult problems?

JPB — I don't think I do it that often, but I think the answer is with experience and with a taste for the end result.

Experience brought me the critical spirit to question or focus on what might be the cause of the problem. Nowadays, in most problems, I can no longer solve them myself, but I am happy to help and ask the right questions that help find the problem’s source.

In the end, I think we all like to know that we were able to contribute to solve someone else’s problem. The trick is to come in someone from the outside, whether it's me or someone else, who isn't addicted to the solution.  

C — Tell us about a professional challenge on your bucket list that hasn’t happened yet?

JPB — There are several, in fact, one of my professional goals is to one day be the CTO of a large company in Portugal and for that there are several professional challenges that I believe are necessary to  achieve my goal.

I believe that a company like Celfocus, due to the exposure it has to different clients, sectors and technology, allows me to feel that one day I will be up to the challenge. I recently took on a new challenge in my career, and became responsible for the Analytics Center of Excellence, with the objective of supporting the development of Analytics’ core competencies, through research and investigation of new technologies, helping in the development of offers, implementation of projects and development of internal (e.g. Celfocus Training) and external (e.g. Google Cloud, Corda R3 Blockchain) partnerships.

It was an ambition I've had for some time, which I hope to fulfill it successfully.

C — Which technological passion most contributes to your individual progress?

JPB — I don't think you can quite call it a technological passion. I really like what I do and what I've done so far. I have focused my career on technical components because it where I felt more comfortable.

In the Analytics domain, the focus is data: how we obtain it, how we transform it and how we visualize it. I started my career in the visualization space, but quickly moved on to the other two components, the so-called ETL, with the creation of frameworks and process optimization.

I think that what most contributed to my progression was having been surrounded by the right people who helped me and help me to grow professionally, whether by sharing experiences, recommending training, or just challenging me on a daily basis to step out of my comfort zone.

C — If a young colleague asked you what it takes to earn the "Outsanding Contribution" distinction, what would you say?

JPB — I would tell this young man/woman that the most important thing is to do what you like, have fun doing your job, surround yourself with the right people, with whom you can have a friendly relationship and face each task as a challenge to overcome.

There is so much pleasure when you feel that you are working on a project, or a proposal or a meeting, with someone you trust and what one doesn't know, the other complements, and if one can't, the other person is there for you.

These good moments will help overcome the more complicated ones, when we feel that we could be somewhere else, or doing something different. In fact, we could but it wouldn't be the same thing.

In the end, it is a great satisfaction to receive a distinction like this when we least expect it. Knowing that someone took a little of their time to nominate you or defend/approve your nomination and thus demonstrating confidence in your work, is a satisfaction I can’t find the words to describe.