Panel: Charles Max Wood

Guest: Sérgio Crisóstomo

This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with Sérgio Crisóstomo. Charles is now interviewing podcast listeners, not just guest speakers. Check-out toady’s episode to hear Sérgio’s background as a musician and as a programmer. Also, to hear Sérgio’s latest projects and how he fell in-love with Sweden and ended up moving there!

In particular, we dive pretty deep on:

1:46 – Chuck: How did you get into programming?

1:53 – Sérgio: As a child, I got interested into gaming. I wrote coding. Spectrum.

2:22 – Chuck: I think that makes you about my age.

2:41 – Sérgio: I was born in 1978.

2:51 – Sérgio: I had a cousin who got inspired by me and we started doing things together. We would show each other what we were doing. Better games and better computers came around. Turned out that I came back to it later in life.

3:29 – Chuck: what got you interested?

3:30 – Sérgio: It was all about problem-solving. There was no book. It was trial and error. It was magic. I was doing small steps, and it was empowering to me.

4:29 – Chuck: I used Logo. How did you get into programming at the professional-level?

4:45 – Sérgio: It was a long journey. My family was deep into a musical background. I went to the conservatory. I had a background in math, music, and physics. I went into programming because my father pushed me towards that direction. I did my Master’s in violin. After that I moved to Sweden. I really liked Sweden’s educational system. After 20 years I got into program working. I faked it until I made it. I had no one who could help me day-to-day life. I love solving problems. I found myself helping people in Portugal and other countries, since their English wasn’t strong. I liked that I was helping the community. That made me feel good about c

10:15 – Chuck: You switch from PHP to Node? What was the reasoning to that?

11:30 – Chuck: What things have you built in JavaScript?

11:47 – Sérgio: I started doing some freelance work. In the beginning it was helping friends.

13:22 – Chuck: Football – do you mean soccer or football?

13:35 – Sérgio: One day in the school, we got a new principal that the school didn’t like. I left because I wasn’t happy. I was a fulltime musician, and looked at this fulltime-programming job. I went to an interview where there were code quizzes. I loved the challenges. I had to choose between two different careers. After some negotiations it was a great fit for me. I got to be in-charge of different projects. Right now, I am a senior developer. It’s a small company but it is growing.

15:48 – Advertisement  E-book!

16:31 – Chuck: It’s interesting to see how you weren’t happy with your original job and how you got into programming fulltime.

17:29 – Sérgio: It’s important to have a good perspective. I am used to meeting people because I worked with choirs, orchestras, dance, and people and I can use those tools that I learned with musicians and transfer over to programming. Since I was good in JavaScript that helped me. Also, it was good that I was head-in-chief, because of my background of being a teacher. I found similarities and made it happen. That was my way in.

19:36 – Chuck: I find that very interesting. Yes, in the larger markets they might have their pick, but if you look into the smaller markets they might need you.

20:21 – Sérgio: People will invest into you if you are willing to learn and stay for a while.

20:48 – Chuck: What is the community like over in Sweden?

21:12 – Chuck: Do you have a lot of communities/boot camps out there to help people to code out in Sweden?

21:32 – Sérgio: Yes. It’s a really active community, and I have been involved helping connect people. People are curious and wanting to grow. It’s really open.

22:39 – Chuck: How do you start a program like that?

22:53 – Sérgio: I went to MEETUP.COM. 

23:45 – Sérgio: I fell in-love with the concept of Sweden’s education system. I was there touring and decided I wanted to move to Sweden. It was worth staying. Sweden is having different political winds now. They are open to foreigners. I am a Swedish citizen now.

25:18 – Chuck: What are you working on now?

25:26 – Sérgio answers Chuck’s question.

26:45 – Chuck: Anything else?

26:54 – Sérgio: I can talk about music a lot! I find a lot of programmers are musicians, too.

27:23 – Chuck: One more question. I have met, too, a lot of programmers who are musicians, too. What is the correlation?

27:43 – Music has a lot of mathematics. You have to play on time and solve problems all the time. I was in a workshop with musicians and entrepreneurs, and I learned a lot in this workshop. There are different attitudes when conducting. There is problem solving and managing people. I see the connections there.

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