When you are part of a global team, you always have the opportunity to learn new fascinating things about your colleague’s homeland and culture.

This month we share a story from a true Star Wars fan from the Republic of Honduras. This country is home to some of the most beautiful Mayan ruins, stunning beaches, absolutely fascinating wildlife, and great people. Eduardo Bladimir Vásquez Lavaire is a Software Developer at AP, who will share more fun facts about his country, how he describes his team, what are his favorite events, which skills he would like to get tomorrow, on which project he would like to work for the entire next year and many more.

AP: HI Eduardo, tell us more about yourself.

EV: Star Wars Main Theme starts playing… A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… a young Star Wars fan located at the center of Central America, specifically in Honduras’s warmest and most industrially developed city, grabbed his computer and starred at the screen for almost ten minutes trying to figure out a cool introduction for this paper until… he heard Obi-Wan Kenobi’s famous “Hello there”.

My name is  Eduardo Bladimir Vásquez Lavaire; I have around 7+ years of experience working as a Computer Science engineer and at least twice that time being a Star Wars fan. I might look older, but I’m only 25 years old. I started working around 2016; yes, I worked and studied at the same time as most teenagers. I remember a semester where I was taking 8 classes a college and had two part-time jobs – I do not recommend it at all. I have several hobbies like cooking, playing soccer, swimming, drawing, and reading. I consider myself a very calm and quiet person – it’s easy to see me talking or laughing alone sometimes.

AP: Share with us where are you from and what is the most interesting thing about your country?

EV: As I mentioned above, I am from Honduras. I currently live in San Pedro Sula, the country’s most industrially developed city, as well as the hottest and loudest city here. I am originally from Comayagua – a colonial city but moved to San Pedro pretty young. Honduras is a  cool country; we have beaches on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, some of the tallest mountains in the area, hundreds of inactive (as far as I know) volcanoes, rivers, a natural lake, and, this country, though not having four seasons pretty marked, one can experience extreme climate changes within a couple of hours. Honduras has a lot of touristic attractions like:

 – Copán Ruinas – is a Mayan city located northwest of Honduras; it is home to hundreds of bird species; a couple of monkey species and jaguars have been spotted in the area.

 – Roatán – the best beaches in the Caribbean

 – Comayagua – a colonial city, home to the oldest and still functioning clock in all of America + the largest coffee farms in the area

 – Puerto Cortés, La Ceiba & Trujillo – some nice beaches in the northern part of Honduras, great seafood, and every 2-5 steps, you’ll find live music and dance

AP: How did you decide to pursue an IT career?

EV: I always wanted to create: it all started with Legos, then destroying some electronics in the process, and somehow ended taking a look at coding from an extracurricular class in school – not my class, I got there by mistake while looking for my brother and fell in love with that type of creation. I took several courses while still in high school and even completed a course on programming for Windows Phone just a few months before Microsoft terminated Windows Phone. I did consider some other careers before starting college but became too fascinated with coding, even though my first experiences in college were with C++ and PHP.

AP: If you did not work in the IT industry, what field would you pursue?

EV: Even though I considered becoming an Architect, I would not take that path today. Maybe I could become a chef as I enjoy cooking and, most importantly, eating.

AP: Please describe your AP team in 4 adjectives

EV: My AP team… without mentioning names: Fun, these guys are fun, and long meetings usually include some laughter as well as getting to know the team better. Patient, cause as we all know, not all projects ever develop as one hopes, but we have managed to keep a good attitude despite some rough times or those moments when we ask a tough question… Should I just go to sleep and leave this for tomorrow? Interesting as we all come from different countries and have different cultures, languages, ages, and timezones. Finally, the team is smart, just like any other team here. Communication is key but also learning how to work smart.

AP: What is your favorite event/meeting in AP and why?

EV: I only have a month here, so I would go with the Anniversary Zoom meeting; it was awesome. I enjoyed it, and the presenter was very, very fun, with a positive vibe… hope I get to be like that when I grow older. Other than that, I have heard about some CS: GO tournaments going on that sound fun and evoke memories as I played CS: GO and almost qualified for a regional pro team several years ago.

AP: Your favorite quote is….

EV: “This is the way” – The Mandalorian. I have several geek culture popular quotes as favorites or that marked parts of my life, but currently, that quote from The Mandalorian is my go-to phrase… there are even two stickers with that phrase on my laptop.

AP: If you had a chance to dedicate the next year to only one project, what would it be?

EV: Dedicate the next year to a single project…. mmmm, definitely something related to artificial intelligence with Python. I learned Python by myself and worked on a couple of AI projects; that world has always caught my attention. I have worked with Web3.0 and blockchain projects, but they still do not seem as interesting as AI.

AP: If you could wake up tomorrow with a new skill, what would it be?

EV: If I could wake up with a new skill, I hope it would be singing or playing an instrument. I have a deep voice but cannot sing, not even slow songs. I tried playing the guitar while young, but due to an accident playing volleyball, I dislocated my right wrist and never went back to the guitar. Music does help improve a lot of situations or to distract the mind, so maybe this type of skill would be nice to have.

AP: Would you recommend AP to your friends, and if so, what would be your pitch?

EV: Yes! I would… in fact; I have already done so. I do not know if my friend has already applied or not. Still, I made sure to mention ethnical diversity, flexible schedules, cool projects, people willing to help, and that “so this is how it feels” sensation when being involved in remote teams working as a dev. As mentioned before, I have over 7 years of experience in the field, and this has been one of the best experiences I’ve had when it comes to facing challenges and actually feeling like a dev when learning new things or having to be creative in finding a solution, refactoring and making your own code more understandable and easier to maintain in the long run.

AP: Thank you Eduardo!