My Name is Derlidio Siqueira. I'm Brazilian, 39 years old, Senior Systems Analyst and Project Manager at AFPESP, a not-for-profit members-only civil servant association based in São Paulo city, São Paulo state, Brazil.

The company has (at the time of this writing) more than 1,200 employees and 230,000 active members, runs two back-office buildings downtown, one recreational center, twelve hotels and twenty one representative offices spread through the state.

My education background includes a high school degree on Data Processing and an associate degree on Computer Games Design, and my career background includes (but is not limited to) four years teaching computer programming languages and almost fifteen years as a self-employed software developer.

I've been involved on several IT projects for several types of industries. I've seen and worked with a real diversity of platforms and technologies, and so far I've had the chance to perform all the tasks of the software development life cycle, from cradle to grave.

Working for such a variety of business fields helped me to build a strong knowledge on what regards to attending client needs, plus a deep understanding of all associated requirements involved in the process of delivering software products.

That experience, though, has taken place under the perspective of a self employed technical guy doing everything alone: assessment, planning, prototyping, coding, testing, documenting, implementing, and training users.

Now I'm working full time for a big company, leading a team of five. There is no reason (or time) for me to perform all the tasks of the projects we are running there. Actually, from the moment I've got the team's leadership, I can count on my fingers the days I had the opportunity to code something.

If you have been a manager for a long time, this may be natural to you. For a guy like me, though, this is quite a change. It may appear to be simple to do that switch, but it's not. It demands a real change of attitude, and that is what I hope to be able to provide you here: the lessons I've learned while walking the path from tech to management.

Note:

There are several reasons why I decided to setup this website. The main one is: I think I have something to say. The other reason is: I want to keep my English sharp.

Yes, I'm Brazilian and my natural language is Portuguese. But when I started to play with computers (sometime around 1985) it was hard to find good documentation in Portuguese for anything related to them. So, if I wanted to know what was going on, then I would have to get it from foreign material.

Due to that need I've had to learn. Now I can read and write in English pretty well, I guess. I'm also a very good listener. What I think I don't have yet is the fluency I'd like when it comes to speaking... but that is a flaw I'm already working to correct  ;o)