More than a technical talk, this session was a conversation about how careers are
built. It showed that technology is not only about frameworks, languages, tools, or
job titles. It is also about curiosity, resilience, communication, community,
practical projects, and the courage to show what you are building.

As part of the SouJava JUG, SouJava Brasília continues to create spaces where
people can learn from real stories and connect with professionals who inspire the
next generation of developers.

A career that started early

Pedro’s story is remarkable because his professional path began much earlier than
most people would expect. He started studying technology as a child and began his
professional career at around 14 years old, first working with C#, even though Java
had already been one of the languages that most caught his attention.

At 15, he received an opportunity at Oracle, where he would spend
around nine years of his career. Later, he moved to GitLab, bringing
with him not only technical experience, but also years of exposure to cloud, customers,
communities, events, and real-world business problems.

But the most important part of this story is not only how early things happened.
It is how they happened: through curiosity, self-learning, community involvement,
practical projects, and the habit of showing up.

From games to programming

Pedro shared that his first contact with programming came from a very simple desire:
he wanted to create games.

During a period of recovery at home, he could not play the games he wanted because
of hardware limitations. So he started searching for ways to create his own games.
At first, he used visual tools such as Game Maker and Construct, trying to avoid
traditional programming. But eventually, he realized that if he wanted to build more
advanced things, he would need to learn how to code.

This is one of the most powerful lessons from his journey: curiosity often comes
before clarity. He did not start with a formal career plan. He started with a problem,
a desire to build something, and the willingness to keep trying until things made sense.

Self-learning as a developer’s essential skill

One of the strongest themes of the session was self-learning.
Pedro emphasized that formal education is important, but in technology, no course,
university, or playlist can stay fully updated with everything the market needs.

The technology market changes too fast. New tools, frameworks, protocols, and
practices appear constantly. Because of that, developers need to learn how to study
by themselves, search for answers, connect concepts, test ideas, and keep evolving.

Pedro’s own learning path involved YouTube, Google, books, practice, frustration,
and a lot of repetition. A key moment came when someone encouraged him to focus on
Java and study the fundamentals instead of only copying code from tutorials.

That shift mattered. Instead of trying to memorize how to build a specific app, he
started focusing on logic, concepts, and small exercises. This helped him build the
foundation that would later support everything else.

Learning how to learn may be one of the most important skills a developer can build.
Tools change, but the ability to understand, adapt, and keep moving remains.

Build something real, even if it is simple

Another important lesson from Pedro’s story is the value of solving real problems.
Some of his first Java projects were not complex enterprise systems. They were simple
applications created to help people at home.

He built a small system to help his mother organize and calculate sewing work, replacing
manual notes with a simple application connected to a database. He also created a system
for his father’s car wash, helping manage customers and even alerting about birthdays.

These examples are powerful because they show that beginners do not need to wait for a
perfect idea, a big company, or a complex architecture to start building relevant projects.
A real problem close to you is already enough.

When a developer solves a real problem, they learn more than syntax. They learn context,
usability, persistence, data, edge cases, and the feeling of seeing someone actually use
what they built.

This kind of learning is different from purely academic practice. It creates confidence,
generates stories, and gives the developer something concrete to show.

Community and events as career accelerators

Pedro’s career was deeply influenced by community and events. Before joining large
companies, he was already taking his projects to local events, showing what he was
building, meeting people, accepting challenges, and creating opportunities through
visibility.

One of the turning points in his journey happened through community connections, including
meeting Bruno Souza, who challenged him to build something with hardware.
Pedro accepted the challenge and created a small project involving Arduino, Bluetooth,
voice commands, lights, and sensors. That project helped open doors and eventually brought
him closer to the Java and Oracle ecosystem.

This part of the conversation reinforced a message that every developer, especially those
starting out, should take seriously: being good is important, but being visible also matters.

Visibility does not mean ego. It means showing what you are doing, sharing what you are
learning, writing about your projects, joining events, asking questions, helping others,
and allowing people to connect your name with value.

Teach what you learn

One of Pedro’s most practical career tips was about how developers should share content.
Instead of posting only from the perspective of “look what I just learned,” he suggested
positioning content as something useful to others.

The difference is subtle, but powerful. When someone writes “I just learned this,” the
message may sound like the person is still at the very beginning. But when someone writes
“here is how this works” or “here is how to implement this,” the same knowledge becomes
a contribution.

The point is not to pretend to be an expert. The point is to define the scope clearly:
show what you built, explain what problem you solved, and teach others how to reproduce
that specific result.

That is how developers can build credibility without exaggerating their experience.
They do not need to know everything. They need to communicate clearly what they know,
what they built, and where that knowledge applies.

Hands-on learning in the age of AI

The conversation also touched on how learning has changed with artificial intelligence.
Today, tools like ChatGPT can explain concepts, generate code, suggest solutions, and
accelerate the learning process.

But Pedro made an important point: using AI to learn is helpful, but it does not replace
putting your hands on the keyboard.

Reading an answer is not the same as solving a problem. Copying a snippet is not the same
as understanding why it works. Real learning still happens when the developer runs the code,
sees it fail, reads logs, tests alternatives, breaks things, fixes them, and builds the
experience that only comes through practice.

In other words, AI can help you move faster, but it should not remove the struggle that
makes learning stick.

Open source, visibility, and collaboration

Open source was another important topic in the session. Pedro shared that there are many
ways to participate in open source. Some people contribute directly to large existing
projects. Others create their own projects and make them available for others to use,
study, customize, and improve.

Both paths can generate learning and visibility.

Creating an open project forces the developer to think beyond “it works on my machine.”
They need to write documentation, organize the repository, explain how to run the project,
define how others can contribute, and structure the code in a way that someone else can
understand.

This is valuable because it simulates many aspects of real teamwork. Even when the developer
is working alone, they are preparing the project for a possible future team.

MCP, Java, and solving problems with context

Pedro also talked about a project involving MCP, the Model Context Protocol.
While studying the topic, he explored how an AI model could interact with a Java API and
trigger methods through natural language.

Instead of stopping at the technical curiosity, he connected MCP to a real market need:
infrastructure automation. By combining Java, MCP, and Terraform, he created a demonstration
where natural language could be used to generate infrastructure definitions for cloud providers.

This example summarized one of the session’s strongest lessons: technology becomes more
valuable when it is connected to a real problem.

It was not only about studying a new protocol. It was about asking: where does this fit?
What problem can it solve? How can it connect with something companies already care about?

From Oracle to GitLab

After almost nine years at Oracle, Pedro moved to GitLab. He described that transition as
meaningful and challenging, because Oracle was where he grew professionally and where he had
space to innovate, participate in events, and develop a broad technical and business view.

The opportunity at GitLab made sense because it allowed him to return closer to the software
development lifecycle while still using everything he had learned about cloud, customers,
architecture, and pre-sales.

This part of the conversation showed another important career lesson: no knowledge is wasted.
Even topics that may not seem exciting at first can become valuable later when connected to
a new role, a new company, or a new customer challenge.

Developers need communication and business awareness

A recurring theme throughout the session was the importance of communication. Pedro reinforced
that technical knowledge alone is no longer enough.

Developers need to explain ideas clearly, present their work, understand the value of what
they are building, and communicate with people who may not have the same technical background.

This does not mean oversimplifying in a disrespectful way. It means using clear language,
analogies, context, and examples so that both technical and non-technical people can follow
the conversation.

In many cases, explaining something simply can demonstrate even more expertise than using
complex jargon.

Pedro also emphasized the need to understand business value. Technology for the sake of
technology is not always enough. A project becomes stronger when the developer can explain
what problem it solves, why it matters, and how it creates value.

More than a career story

SouJava Sessions #002 was not only about Pedro Carrijo’s journey. It was about what developers
can learn from that journey.

It was a reminder that careers are not built only through certificates, job titles, or perfect
plans. They are built through curiosity, effort, projects, community, communication, visibility,
and the willingness to keep learning.

Pedro’s story shows that the developer who solves problems, shares knowledge, participates in
communities, understands business, and keeps practicing will always have more opportunities to
grow.

The session also reinforced why spaces like SouJava Sessions matter. They allow stories like
this to reach more people, inspire beginners, connect professionals, and show that the Java
community is not only about code. It is about people.

Final thoughts

The second edition of SouJava Sessions brought a powerful message to the community:
build, share, communicate, and keep learning.

Whether someone is just starting in technology or already has years of experience, Pedro’s
story offers practical lessons: solve real problems, show your work, participate in communities,
create visibility, learn continuously, and never underestimate the value of communication.

Technology changes quickly. Tools evolve. AI accelerates development. The market demands new
skills all the time. But the foundation remains the same: people who learn, build, share, and
help others move the community forward.

SouJava Brasília continues as a living movement: where knowledge, technology, and
community come together to shape better professionals and build more relevant solutions.