Early years and where you came from?
My father works in the tech industry, so I basically grew up around computers. I remember using a computer to play games before I even knew how to write. My older sister also studied Computing Engineering. So, it was kinda natural to follow tech as my area of study. In high school, I started taking some coding classes. Then I chose to do a bachelor’s in Network Engineering and a master’s in Computing Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico.
How were you introduced to the world of the Portuguese tech industry?
My career started at Portugal Telecom as a consultant on internal and external projects around apps and websites, mainly in the Portuguese market. After that, I joined Microsoft, where I worked closely with partners and customers all over the world, mainly supporting them in designing and deploying solutions to the Cloud.
Walk me through your work and what you are doing now in the tech industry.
I’m a Product Manager at OutSystems! I’m responsible for defining the direction of our new product on everything related to the Governance of our platform. So basically, my days are around talking with customers and colleagues on the field, understanding customer needs, analyzing that data, and combining it with data from the market and our competitors to make sure we evolve our product aligned with our mission and their needs.
What part of what you do, you love the most?
To connect with people and enable customers to do remarkable stuff! I love talking with people and helping them the most I can. Being part of the OutSystems product team allows me to help customers on solving their problems. And we have great examples here in Portugal! For instance, Fundação José Neves, a non-profit organization with a mission to transform Portugal into a knowledge society, has built 2 apps in less than 6 months! And Sogrape, a Portuguese family-owned wine company, has built an app for managing the entire winemaking process, from grape production to bottling.
How do you think that your background and knowledge impact the way you approach your work in the Portuguese tech industry?
I think that my experience working with customers and teams from so many different industries, countries, and cultures is what impacts the most, helping me every day to avoid biased assumptions.
What advice do you have for young women that want to get into tech and don’t know where to start?
My advice is to be yourself and don’t be afraid to speak up. We are all different, and that’s the beauty of the world.
Walk me through a day in your life as a Portuguese women in tech.
My day typically starts early, with my baby waking everybody at home. We have breakfast together, and we walk our dog before getting ready for work and daycare. My working day is typically split between meetings, slots to get stuff done, and random things that pop up.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
To believe in myself! It’s really easy to underestimate our value, in an ever-changing dynamic world, industry, and life, like ours.
What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?
My calendar!
Any links that you want to share? In what are you working on…
I’m currently working on Project Neo, and you can check more about it here: https://www.outsystems.com/platform/project-neo
👉Find Lara on LinkedIn
