Latin America Technologists

I’m writing this on a Sunday.  I do some of my best writing on Sundays, going back to before I knew how to write.

Silvia Spiva, kindergarten graduation

On late Sunday mornings, after Church, I would sit at the school desk my Grandma had set up in a covered area of her patio, close to her kitchen.  She and I could carry on a conversation, while she cooked, and I worked fiercely on my notebooks, decoding alien messages, intercepted from out of this world transmissions.  My grandparents were accountants, and I loved watching them decipher numbers.  Their faces would display so many emotions, as the numbers told countless stories.  They taught me how to look for patterns, quickly and quietly. I was just learning to math and write, but I knew I wanted to learn as many languages as possible.

Once I learned to read and write, I understood that even more power would come from learning to understand even more beings.  The real power of words for me was what you could do with a message after you decoded it.  There was no better way to view what you had decoded than on a big map.  So, that’s when I decided that when I grew up, I would work in the room with the big map.

By the time I was 9 years-old, I had chosen my career path: data visualization.  I didn’t call it that yet, of course.  Who did?  But, I knew what I wanted, and I could personify it in my childhood superhero: Diana. No, not Wonder Woman. I wanted to be Diana from V.  Sure, she ate people, but let’s focus on her best qualities: She was THE Commander of an entire interstellar fleet, she called all the shots, and she worked in the Mothership, with the big map! Also, she was beautiful, and to a little girl, it is very important for beauty and brains to work together. That is real power.

Silvia Spiva and Grandma, high-school graduation

Some decades, and a couple of “empowerment” movements later, I am in awe of how ambitious I was when I was a child.  Moreover, I am humbled by the people who helped me get a job at this Mothership: Cisco headquarters.  Here, we nurture people. We educate, facilitate, and celebrate what people around the world build.  We package content to teach you how to code. More importantly, we never stop dreaming!

Latin America technology leaders, Elaine Lopes, Silvia Spiva, and Juan Ramon Acosta.

Since I moved to the United States, I haven’t visited my native Argentina as often as I would like.  I do get to make a very special homecoming trip every year, when I travel to Cancun for Cisco Live Latin America. It takes me a day to warm up to Spanish, but soon my Latin American brothers and sisters will delight me with smiles, some laughter, and comments such as “You haven’t lost your Argentine accent at all.  You’re so loud!“.  My best Brazilian friends will tease me about my rudimentary Portuguese, and I will jokingly remind them that “I’m from Argentina!“. It’s an ongoing joke, but there’s a lot of love there.

This year, you will find me side by side with our friends from dCloud, as we prepare a special showcase for our Partners.  In the spirit of building together, and understanding what is possible when we collaborate, I invite you to explore and contribute to the Cisco DevNet Ecosystem Exchange.

After Partner Day, I’ll move to the DevNet Zone, where we will display a renewed focus on Security.

Don’t let language be a barrier: bring your questions and ask them!

Team DevNet is happy to help you move your projects forward.  Explore Cisco DevNet Code Exchange before, during, and after each workshop.  We need you to be an active participant.  You bring your unique insights, ideas, and dreams to the DevNet Community.

Cisco Networking Academy instructor and DevNet community builder Cynthia Oshiro found DevNet on display at Cisco headquarters in Silicon Valley.

So many people rely on you to help them build the business solutions they need. You can rely on DevNet for technical training and Community support.

While you are busy coding, I will be doing what I do best: decoding.

Get on the big map with me!

Use the hashtags #DevNet and #CiscoLiveLA on Twitter and Instagram.  Then, meet me at the Social Media Listening hub, the room with the big map, where we can visualize the data of everything we are building together.