Anderson Pires Pereira, BIT Space Developer

“N&SAmerica-pol” by CIA, original political map from Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection; University of Texas Library Online. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Whereas Andre Felipe, the subject of our last BIT Project student profile, hailed from the massive metropolis of São Paulo, the largest city in the southern hemisphere at over 20 million inhabitants, Anderson Pires Pereira comes from Santa Vitória do Palmar (“Saint Victoria of the Palms”), a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul whose population is smaller than Brandon Manitoba’s. Santa Vitória do Palmar is the most southerly corner of Brazil, lying a whopping 10,000 km from Winnipeg. It also includes the larger part of Cassino Beach, the world’s longest uninterrupted stretch of sandy ocean shore, over 240 km!

Anderson studied System Information Technology in Brazil and worked for two years as Web developer before coming to Winnipeg. He loves technology and his hobbies include photography, playing around with new CSS features, video games, and soccer.

“I’m really happy right now and excited to be part of a team with great developers and an amazing hands-on project focused on developing a powerful tool that will be helpful to the community in general.”

Like Andre Felipe, Anderson had chosen to study in Canada, but it was the Brazilian government’s Science Without Borders scholarship program that placed him in the BIT program in Winnipeg. Having completing two BIT academic semesters, Anderson applied to work on this project to get some practical experience, deepen his IT knowledge, and apply what he had already learned. 

Q: Have the program, the project, and Winnipeg met your expectations?

They have actually exceeded my expectations. RRC’s BIT program has great instructors, the project is amazing with broad application, and Winnipeg is a lovely city with wonderful people. It is just kinda cold though.

Q: What has been the most useful thing you have learned so far through the project?

Gitflow. It is an amazing way to keep track of what you have done and an indispensable tool when working with a team.

Q: What is the most challenging thing you have learned so far through the project?

For me it was to learn how to create a WordPress plugin. It might be easy for some people, but because I did not have any idea how to do that before, it was a big challenge.

“The team” outside Massey Building

Q: What has been the most enjoyable part of the project?

Working with an amazing web development team where each member has clear tasks to do but we are still able to share our knowledge and help each other.

Q: What has been the most frustrating part of the project?

Understanding other developers’ code that we sometimes need to fix or improve. Everyone has his own way to code and most developers seem to not like commenting anything.

Q: How will what you have learned so far (and anticipate learning) through the project impact your future?

It is giving me a lot of experience and the chance to learn something new everyday, which will be helpful when I try to find a job or maybe create my own company.

Q: Can you explain what you have been working on for the past week? What have been your biggest challenge and your proudest achievement related to that?

I have been building some WordPress components. My biggest challenge was understanding the WordPress structure. But it actually resulted in more than one proud achievement. I developed two templates that I really liked, and together with the other developers in the team we created a plugin with two really nice word games.

Screen capture of the dashboard for Anderson’s first WordPress template/theme.

Q: What advice would you give to someone considering the BIT Program?

The BIT program is a great option for those who like IT and want to get a degree in that area. The program has a group of amazing instructors. And if you complete all assignments and follow the material in class you can achieve a lot.

Q: What advice would you give to someone considering the BIT Project?

Project is a great opportunity to learn even more than what you already did in classroom, get some practical work experience, and learn how to work in a team.

Q: How could the BIT Project be improved?

In my opinion Project is on the right path right now. So just keep working in the same way and it will be even greater than anyone imagined.

Q: What will be your best memory of Winnipeg?

Anderson (# 10) on RRC 2014-15 Men’s-Soccer-team, Rebels United

That is a difficult question because this city has provided me with amazing memories. I think one of the most important things everywhere is friendship and, even with my early language difficulties, the people here in Winnipeg are the most friendly I have ever met in my life. So it was easy to make new friends, get to know new people, and meet my girlfriend. Also, even though Canada is a country known for hockey as its main sport, I made a lot of friends playing soccer here in Co-Ed games, both for Red River College and now in the city’s premier league. So the main point is that my best memories will be of all the moments I have lived with the friends that I have made here.