Fernando Carneiro

Brainstormer, Care taker, Explorer, Filmmaker, Photographer, Single, Technologist

Born in 1981 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in a public maternity hospital, I am Fernando Carneiro, the third of four Raimundo Loiola Carneiro and Teresinha de Jesus Pereira Carneiro’s children. Like millions of Brazilians, I grew in a really poor reality, where the access to decent education and health was a privilege of few. My parents come from northeast, where the conditions were generally even inferior comparing to Rio, where I was raised. They decided to come shortly after getting married because they wanted to try to give their children better conditions. Things would never be easy and they never actually were for the young Carneiro couple. Both my parents were born in countryside of Ceará. My mom could hardly sign her own name and my father only finished high school in Rio after being married and becoming father. Thus, their chances to get good jobs were practically zero. They lived in relative’s house for years and after some time pay for their own place: a tenement. Soon, Flávia came, then Fernanda, me and Fabiana. In seven years we became six and my father's salary, of course, wasn't enough not even for the basics. We’ve always been reliant on public services, which in Brazil is historically not good. We all were considered intelligent and we were always doing good jobs in the school but that would not be enough. After finishing high school, my first-born sister Flávia started working and therefore she was able to help my dad paying some bills. Here in Brazil, public universities are the best ones and if you don't get good grades in Vestibular you will not enter in one of them. Unfortunately, Flávia and Fernanda weren't lucky as Fabiana and I were. They needed to work during the day and study at paid universities at night. Fabiana and I, on the other hand, had the opportunity to study in a preparation course to vestibular. Probably, Flávia doesn’t know how thankful I am to her for helping pay these courses for us. She cannot imagine how grateful I feel for this gesture of hers. I do believe education and better jobs are just a matter of opportunity and these preparation courses have made all the difference in my life. Before the courses I had no idea how lagged I was. During the classes I used to feel like I was learning Greek or something else I had never saw or heard about. Suddenly I realized how socially excluded my high school classmates and I were. That situation has made me stronger and after one year of hard preparation I passed to study Computer Science. No doubt this episode is a watershed in my life. The gesture of my sister Flávia gave me the chance to dream. She opened a door that I didn’t even know it existed. She gave me perspective and this means a lot for me. At UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense) I discovered a brand new life. I made new friends and they had different backgrounds and way of thinking. It was such a great experience deal with different people. I started to like other kind of music, I went to different parties and shows. Soon I started a interning at Unisys and for the first time I made my own money. I could help at home and be a little bit more independent. In four years I became a bachelor and started my first professional job: IT consultant at Unisys. The sense of being owner of my own nose was indescribable. I could bought my first car and take my former girlfriend around. I could also travel over Brazil and overseas and that was, of course, really great. Few years before that getting in an air plane were only possible in my dreams. After a quick pass for Accenture I started working at Petrobras, the biggest and most admired company in Brazil. It is such an honor being here in these six years. Everybody wants to be here but not everybody can. To enter Petrobras as an employee you need to take an exam where the ratio of applicants / place is historically high and I am one of them. As everybody knows, Petrobras is a solid company and since it is not as subject to swings in the economy like other companies, allows me to have the necessary tranquility to think my life in the long-term. This is fundamental in my opinion. I am passionate for my family, my career, my company Petrobras and everything it represented and everything it will still represent in my personal life: the opportunity to form a family and offer my future children many things I didn’t have. The possibility of giving them good experiences and the chance and help them to develop their abilities is all that moves me forward.

My family, my career, my company and everything it represented and everything it will still represent in my personal life: opportunity to form a family and offer my future children the best I could.

That is difficult. I would say any idea that helps my country and people have better life. In year fo elections in Brazil those would be welcome, for sure. We have many problem to solve in education, transportation, health, basic sanitation.

Software - Business Intelligence, Software - Development, Software - ERP

I am not sure what I'd talk about in a possible presentation in TED. I am not that good at telling histories but maybe I would talk about my Dad and how encouraging he was in my life since I was a little boy.

Being available and have the will to always help people achive their objective or overcome some difficulty.