Eric Marques

When I finished college, I moved to Sao Paulo, where I learned how to live by myself for the first time. I did have some experience living with my friends during college, but that was a whole different thing. It was tough, but I handled it.

I started my career as an ASP developer, and then gradually migrated to C#.Net, passing by companies such as Curriculum.com.br, Everis, LabOne, Apontador.com and MZ Group.

Around 2016, the company I was working at has been through an exciting tech shift, which allowed me to work with open source technologies, and that's when I first experienced working with ReactJS, NodeJS, Python and others, which are my main focus today.

Those were 12 years of my life, learning how to become a better person, and a better developer as well.

Until one day...

What now?

Winnipeg fits us like hand and glove. We love our lives here, and I love doing what I do.

Not so long ago, I worked as a Senior React Developer at Skip, more specifically on the Customer Website, where thousands of users place their food orders every day. Even though we have our Android and iOS apps, the website is usually the welcoming front door of the whole experience, and that's where I've put my efforts every day.

After that I had a fun ride working remotely as a Software Engineer at Outschool, a startup based in San Francisco, where I helped to develop this amazing website that focus on kids (3-18 yo) education, which became very relevant in the recent years, specially with the pandemic.

After that, in 2022 I had a fun ride at Shopify as a Software Developer in the B2B Checkout team. It was a very nice experience, except for the unexpected layoffs from May 2023.

And that's when I finally joined Upgrade. They were the first Fintech that actually caught my attention. It was a good surprise when I realized some former teammates were working there, which helped me make a better decision, so I started in July 2023.

Besides enjoying what I do, there was a moment I started feeling the urge for doing something for myself, on my own. That's when this project came to life. I've always felt that I should have a cool library published, or some merged pull requests on trendy repositories. I'll get there, eventually. And this is one of the fronts I'll be acting in order to fulfil this goal.

My first attempt is the split-react library that I just published. It's part of the e-libs organization I created on Github, and the idea is that it will hold the future work I hope to publish, every now and then. Check the links for more info.

And more recently I started playing around with a React Native game. I'm right in the beginning, but hopefully I'll do some progress soon.

More about me

Aside from the tech world, here are some extra facts about me

Round the world in 90 days

Back in 2012 I decided to travel the world, for the first time. And what better way to begin this that would become my favorite thing in life, if not going around the globe in three months? With no experience at all, I planned my trip and booked my flight and hostels, so there I went. Mexico, United States, China, India, Tanzania, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands and the UK. Not bad, eh? It was, by far, the craziest experience of my life!

After that I tried to keep the pace, but nothing ever got close to that first time. I've been to China again, for almost a month, learned some Mandarin so I could handle myself on the countryside, where people wouldn't speak much English. In 2014 I went to Europe again, this time in Spain, Belgium and Germany, where I had some really good time, including during the Oktober Fest. And last, but not least, before ever knowing I'd move to Canada that year, in January of 2018 I went to New York city for the first time. What I great city! I also spent some days in Washington DC, with some friends of mine. That was fun!

For my first trip, I even created a quick blog, just so I could keep my friends and family posted, which became bigger than I expected. Tumblr keeps it in a non-chronological order, so you'll see the most recent posts first. I still have plans to convert that into a proper story website, one day. Oh, and it's in Portuguese, I'm sorry (ask Google Translate).

Cooking career?

In 2012, just before I decided to travel the world, I already had this feeling about starting a cooking adventure, as I was really starting to enjoy my days in the kitchen, cooking for myself. That was when I almost got myself enrolled to London's Le Cordon Bleu. Well, technically I did. But that was a communication mistake with the cooking school, and after sleeping on that a lil' longer, I decided not to do it, and move forward with the round the world idea.

After that, back in 2013, that feeling of starting my own business started to grow inside of me. That was when, after talking to friends, I got in contact with a mexican lady that was living in Brazil for over 13 years, who allowed me to help her on her in-house meal service, on the weekends. What a journey that was! I met incredible people, and who would've thought that I could be happy waking up at 6 am on a weekend two consecutive days, to get there around 7-8 am, and work until almost midnight. I remember really enjoying it. My back, not as much. I've learned a lot, and I still cook some of the (simple) recipes I kept.

My biggest achievement (although I don't feel exactly proud about it), was in 2014 when I found my way through MasterChef Brazil, the first edition. My friend and I subscribed together, passed all the first phases, the first round of cooking and interviews (before the show would actually start). But then, at the last phase before the actual chapters would start, I wasn't selected to move forward to the actual show. You don't believe me? Then check this out:

After that I realized that I really loved my IT life, and that's where I headed to, once more. For the best, I like to think. Cooking was great, but nothing but a hobby.

Biking

I used to ride my bike since I was a little kid. I would just get myself lost for the day, riding in sugar cane plantation dirt roads, driving my mother crazy for not coming back as early as she'd like to. But when I grew up, my life kept me away from the bike.

Until 2017, when I got my old bike back, and started cycling in Sao Paulo city. 10, 15, 30, 50 kilometers. I was really enjoying it, and then we moved to Canada.

I think my first bike here in Canada was one of the first purchases we've done, it was a simple entry level one. It was only more recently that I decided I deserved something more, given my dedication and progress, as I was taking it more seriously, putting some serious miles on those two wheels. That was when I bought my current bike, which I love.

Winnipeg is such a unique place to ride. It's not easy to ride the whole year, as the winter is pretty harsh, and even if you can, it's a totally different experience. With temperatures that can reach -30°C to -40°C, riding in that cold is not always a pleasant time. The other thing is that we're in the middle of the Canadian Prairies, so it's all flat. All flat. You'll ride 100km in one day, and your elevation gay won't pass the 40 to 80 meters. Good or bad, this is just how it is. I like it. I mean, I love it. At the moment I write this bio, the longest ride I've ever had was 72km, a record that I have all the intetions to break, several times, in 2021.

Well, that's a brief story about me. Next chapters coming soon...

In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me! I'll always up for a beer. Or coffee.

Cheers!