engineering since 1987

About me

Personal definition of myself

My name is Gonçalo Santarém da Silva and I'm a 22 year old portuguese student. I'm finishing my master's degree in Informatics and Computer Science and Software Engineer at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Software Engineer and Computer Science is not only my work but also my hobbie.

Engineering

Dominant areas
Consequently of my academic formation and all my personal projects and experiences, I've come to master some areas better than others. The areas in which I'm the most comfortable with are:
  • Operating systems
  • Design and development of web applications
  • Application optimizing
  • System optimizing
  • Distributed applications
Soft skills
I always found it easy to efficiently communicate with others, mostly because of my extrovert personality. I've always been involved in extra-curricular groups like fraternities and group sports. Some people have been kind enough to enumerate my main soft skills for me, and these seem to be:
  • Good communication
  • Good team interaction and leadership
  • Optimism, ability to motivate others
  • Fast learner
Programming languages
Along my life I've used many languages. The ones that I used more often or those who I studied harder are naturally the ones with which I'm more comfortable with. These are:
  • XHTML, CSS and Javascript
  • Ruby, PHP and Python
  • C/C++ and Java
  • Lisp, Scheme, Erlang, Prolog, VDM++ and Alloy
  • LaTeX
Personal tastes
Throughout my life, mostly because of work experience, I've come accross having a special atraction for some areas in Computer Science. The areas that I love most are:
  • Operating systems
  • Tricky things — a good challange no matter the area
  • Web-oriented development
  • Core game programming — physics engine, collision detection

Academic

Where I learned
I had a 12 year formation on generalist subjects followed by an 5 year integrated master's degree in informatics and computer science. Parallelly I've attended an english course. The places I've studied are listed below:
Assessments
As said before, I have studied for 17 years. Here are some results:
  • ESÁS - 16.6 out of 20
  • FEUP
    • Current average: 15 out of 20
    • Estimated graduation average: 16 out of 20
  • The British Council - B+ on the FCE examination