Ricardo Martins

Cloud and Tech evangelist. Architect of scalable, and fault-tolerant cloud systems. Mentor and educator.

Hello world!

My name is Ricardo Martins, and this blog is my memory dump. I call it that because it’s my memory assistant. It’s frustrating when I spend hours learning something cool that, in about three months, maybe even less, I can’t remember anymore.

Inspired by the article “Do things, write about it” it’s just another way to write a bit about my everyday life. This is how I’ve been maintaining my blog in Brazilian Portuguese since 2007.

Who is Ricardo?

Ricardo was born in Niterói, Brazil, on December 31, 1984.

  • He is a reservedly conventional, multitasker, father of three amazing children, and a lucky husband.
  • He is able to work consistently, meticulously, and deliberately, and has the persistence to follow through on a task until it is completed.
  • He is also cooperative, cautious, detailed, and organized.

How does he do it?

Ricardo is a multitasker, but he is also single-focused. He takes one thing at a time, in its own time. He is not afraid of what he does not know, and he enjoys challenges. In fact, he needs them, because money is not worth dedicating 1/3 of his day to something that does not have emotion.

What does he do in life?

In short, Ricardo is a IT professional with over 20 years of experience. He has a special interest in:

  • Cloud computing
  • DevOps
  • Cloud Operations
  • Reliability engineering
  • Infrastructure as code
  • Content development

He is an infrastructure engineer who 11 years ago made a made a significant shift from traditional systems administrator roles to the dynamic world of cloud and DevOps.

Like many sysadmins without a background in programming, I found myself navigating the challenging transition from basic shell scripting to mastering infrastructure as code and complex pipelines. This journey wasn’t just about acquiring new skills; it was about embracing a new mindset. I became a passionate advocate for the DevOps culture, recognizing it as the essential path for modern infrastructure engineers.

My experience has taught me the importance of bridging the gap between infrastructure and software development. It’s not just about being a developer; it’s about understanding developers’ needs and delivering solutions that are simple, autonomous, and efficient.

Career overview

  • January 2023 - Present: Senior Managed OpenShift Black Belt at Red Hat, where he helps customers with the implementation and use of Managed OpenShift in public clouds (Azure, AWS, and GCP). He also collaborates with product and SRE teams to document, test, and improve managed services offerings. (Winter Garden, FL, USA)

  • December 2019 - January 2023: Senior Customer Engineer on the Azure Infrastructure FastTrack team at Microsoft, where he accelerated and reduced the risks of large-scale Azure deployments, while also collaborating with product teams to improve Azure. He helped Microsoft customers create and deploy solutions in Azure in a quick and reliable way, providing personalized guidance. (Winter Garden, FL, USA)

  • June 2019 - December 2019: Azure Technical Trainer at Microsoft, providing training on Azure fundamentals, administration, and architecture for developers, system administrators, and cloud architects for Microsoft strategic customers. (Redmond, WA, USA)

  • December 2015 - June 2019: Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, responsible for converting technical requirements into cloud architecture projects. He essentially bridged the gap between complex business problems and cloud solutions. (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil)

  • April 2003 - December 2015: Ricardo began his career in IT and worked at companies of different sizes and industries as a systems engineer. In 2012, he began working with cloud-based architecture environments, where he has been automating, designing systems, and developing architecture reliability efforts, including monitoring, alerts, automated deployment pipelines, fault tolerance, and capacity management. (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil)

Education

  • Incomplete Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering (Computer Networks and Distributed Systems) from “Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro)
  • BTech degree in Computer Networking from “Faculdade de Tecnologia Senac/RJ”
  • Technical degree in Clectronics from “Escola Técnica Estadual Henrique Lage”

Active Professional Certifications

  • Red Hat Certified OpenShift Administrator
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Containers
  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
  • Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate
  • Linux Foundation Certified Systems Administrator
  • Azure Solutions Architect Expert
  • Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
  • Azure Security Engineer Associate
  • Azure Administrator Associate
  • Azure Fundamentals
  • List of other certifications on Credly

Some Fun Facts

  1. In 2002, at the age of 17, I took my first course about computer repair
  2. In 2003, at the age of 18, I got my first job as a technical intern.
  3. In 2004, I decided to start delving into Linux. I took an official course and got my first professional certification in Conectiva Linux.
  4. In 2005, I enrolled in college in the Computer Science course at Universidade Plinio Leite. I dropped out before the end of the semester.
  5. From 2005 to 2011, I worked on a shift basis, on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, and overnight.
  6. In 2006, I started taking preparatory courses for Windows Server 2003 certification exams.
  7. In 2007, I got married at the age of 22 and returned to college in a BTech of Computer Netwroking at Universidade Estácio de Sá. I ended up dropping out again.
  8. From 2009 to 2011, I worked up to 3 jobs (I had my contract job, a part-time job as IT Consultant in a Civil Engineering company and I also worked as a Microsoft Technical Trainer on Saturdays).
  9. In 2010, I returned to college again, this time in a Computing Engineering course at Universidade Veiga de Almeida. Again, it was dropped out.
  10. In 2011, at the age of 26, I became a father for the first time! In the same year, I decided that I needed to finish a university degree. So I started again a BTech in Computer Networking, this time at Senac/RJ.
  11. In 2012, I started working with Cloud Computing in a startup. And in the same year, I discovered what a layoff is :D
  12. In 2013, at the age of 28, I became a father for the second time! In the same year, after 8 years of starting and dropping out of universities, I finally managed to complete it! Still in this year, I arranged a remote job for a hosting company in New Zealand, where I did on-call coverage on weekends.
  13. In 2015, I thought I had achieved my life goals, getting a job at a multinational company.
  14. In 2016, I went by plane for the second time in my life and made my first international trip at the age of 31. Was a technical training event, with terrible English skills. Imagine what it was like…
  15. In 2018, at the age of 33, I became a father for the third time!
  16. In 2019, I moved to Redmond/WA in the US with my family, in a internal transfer by the multinational company I was working for. I was going to be a technical instructor in the US with my terrible English skills (a little improved, but still very bad).
  17. In 2020, after 11 months in Redmond, we moved to Winter Garden/FL where I live today.

Getting into Details

Talking about yourself is complicated, especially on the internet where no one is exactly as they appear because we choose our best qualities, the best photos, we all have friends, etc.

I’m just one of those you pass by on the street and don’t even notice, who sits next to you on the bus, and you don’t even remember, but I’m someone… who?

I’m like you: I like many things and don’t like some, I know some things and don’t know many, I like many and don’t like some, I have my feet on the ground and my head in the clouds.

In short, I’m ordinary, but I’m me, and I’m unique.

I don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t play soccer, don’t talk about soccer, can’t dance. I can’t live without my wife, children, and family. The rest, I chase after…

I’m a persistent, focused, detail-oriented, organized, simple, responsible, understanding, peacemaker. I’m also forgetful and a bit slow, absent-minded even…

I’m the kind of person who is compulsive about music, who sings badly, but sings anyway…

I’m the kind of person who finds silent movies boring and doesn’t find Charles Chaplin funny. The kind of person who drowns ice cream in syrup, who detests lemons. I’m the type who enters the cinema from the opposite side, sits right in the middle, and spends the entire movie eating popcorn, candy, pizza…

I send letters, cards, notes, messages that say “I love you.” I’m the type with a dust allergy who avoids hills. I have no patience for hypocrisy, get irritated in traffic, and criticize fanaticism.

I’m the clumsy type who trips over things and spills juice on the table. A good-humored, grateful, and content type of person who calms down with the sunset. I’m the demanding, detail-oriented type.

I’m the type who can’t stand to see anyone sad, who loves childhood nostalgia, who’s up for anything to make a friend smile. I create a family tree, avoid fights, and only sleep with the lights off.

But I’m also the type who believes in God, who watches the moon rise, who loves thunderstorms, and who can’t live without the sea nearby just to admire the waves coming and going and trying to understand how it all works.

I’m the type of person who always thinks things can get better and who loves a sincere compliment. Someone who seeks recognition, hates complaints, and knows nothing about science. The type who doesn’t care about fashion but cares about well-being. The kind who makes a thousand plans for the future, who cares more about learning to like what they do than doing what they like because we can’t always do everything we want.

I manage systems, type without looking at the keyboard, check emails all day, always stay connected, and keep updating.

That kind of person who isn’t the best at what they do but does it with discipline and consistency.

But despite all this, I’m just like you, the kind of person who just wants to be happy!

But none of what was said matters because after this life, we’ll have that meeting with God. And He’ll only ask five questions:

  • What kind of spouse were you?
  • Did you bring out the best in your spouse or the worst?
  • What kind of mother, father, or child were you?
  • Were you honest in all your dealings with the human race?
  • Did you change the human condition for the better?

Notice that none of these questions are about how much you achieved, whether you had an imported car or a mansion. That won’t be asked. What’s important are these five questions. Think about it and reflect on your actions.