My story
Hi, I'm Marcio! I'm a Brazilian Software and Machine Learning Engineer currently conducting full-time explorations on agentic AI through Aya Tecnologia.
My journey in computing started with a Compaq Presario 386 my father bought when I was a child. To me, that magical, all-in-one box was the spark for endless adventures fueled by a kid's curiosity: trying to install games like The Sims that needed graphics cards we didn't have, learning DOS commands just to boot Warcraft I, or getting hopelessly stuck in demo games I was too young to understand that they were limited by default.
That Compaq was also where I had my first hacking experiences on dial-up internet. After installing Netbus to break into other computers, I inadvertently opened the door for someone to hack mine. The hacker left a message telling me to stop visiting hacking sites. When my father asked what happened, I panicked, scoured forums, and frantically deleted Netbus and registry keys in Windows 95. Convinced I had won, I made a celebratory MS Paint colored wallpaper declaring, "I did it!! I kicked a hacker off my computer!!!" (Looking back, if that PC still worked, that hacker probably still has access, haha)
When I couldn't study Mechatronics Engineering at my city's public university, I chose Computer Science, driven by that childhood desire to be a hacker - a phase that lasted until I realized breaking into others' secrets was wrong, despite a few petty offenses like hacking friends' emails, stealing IRC channels, and installing keyloggers on my girlfriend's computer.
It was in college that I first fell in love with artificial intelligence and never let go. In a process optimization course, my best friend and I implemented a Street Fighter-like fighting game but limited to specific moves: high and low punches, high and low block and jump. My friend handled the graphics simulation engine while I built the q-learning agent. I will never forget the magic of watching my agent learn to maximize its "low punch" through training against the random opponent and against itself! That fascination with self-evolving machines only grew since then.
During college, I was also a member and leader of the first team to break the university's "voodoo" jinx, which dictated that no team could qualify for the national ICPC finals for two consecutive years. I have a vivid mental image of that frantic contest. We were tied with the other team in solved problems, but they had solved them faster and were therefore in first place. Rios and I were working on a problem that I had studied something similar to on the USACO Gateway during practice sessions. With 10 minutes left, the scoreboard was frozen (so we wouldn't know until the end if our submissions were correct). Those were the most intense 10 minutes of my entire degree. Rios drafted new test cases, I ran the program, checked what was wrong, fixed it, and submitted. We did this probably 6 times in those last 10 minutes without knowing the result. In the end: boom! A balloon for us! We rose to first place at freeze time. I yelled a lot, banged on the table, went wild. My professor had to remind me we were still in an academic environment.
I'm usually tinkering across AI, web, and games. Twice, I made it to the Y Combinator final interviews with Wanna Migrate—living in Chile for two months and scaling to 15k users—and created Maranhão Encantado, a game recognized by Embratur (The Brazilian Tourist Board). I also love teaching CS fundamentals, having mentored 40+ engineers in data structures and algorithms for Big Tech interviews. Beyond that, I'm an avid volunteer at my fiancée’s NGO, Cores do Mará, where I helped build the foundational management structure and still serve as IT Manager.
I don't view life as a 9-to-5. Outside of engineering, you’ll usually find me hanging out with friends, traveling, learning to dance Samba de Gafieira or surfing. I'm deeply passionate about life, human nature, and I'm always looking for new knowledge and experiences to expand my consciousness.