By Álvaro Paralta, SICC, FEUP
“She has been passionate about video games for as long as she can remember. She enjoys reading and strums the guitar from time to time, but for the past few years she has devoted herself entirely to Informatics Engineering, which she studied at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). This was the ticket that allowed Inês Cardoso, a native of Porto, to move to Poland, the country from which she spoke to us and where she works as a software engineer at Google. In a lengthy conversation, we connected the two points on the globe to learn about and explore her journey.
The awakening of a vocation
Engineering wasn’t always an obvious path or an immediate choice. Although the subjects she enjoyed most pointed to a certain inclination – Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics – choosing which course to pursue was a real challenge. Especially at a time when the balance between doubts and certainties isn’t necessarily even. “I was confused, but at one point I thought that studying computer engineering might be a good way to get into making video games, which I’ve always loved,” she recalls.
During secondary school, which she completed at Rio Tinto Secondary School, she visited FEUP on several occasions, including the “Semana Profissão: Engenharia” and on every visit, her impression of the faculty was the same: “it’s a university for grown-ups”. So much so that she enrolled there in 2020. “When I started, we were in the middle of a pandemic and I think that made my first year more challenging: on the one hand, classes were held online, and on the other, I had some doubts about whether I was on the right path or not,” she explains.
Despite the slight uncertainty in this early stage, the next five years were spent in what would become his second home. Along the way, she joined the Núcleo de Estudantes de Informática da Associação de Estudantes da FEUP (NIAEFEUP) and helped organise the National Meeting of Informatics Students (ENEI), which took place between 11 and 14 April. “Being part of the society and organising events of this kind allows us to connect with lots of people, forge new bonds and open up new opportunities – which is especially important in the early years of university.”
She undertook an internship at JumpSeller and explored a different field – writing – at the Jornal Universitário do Porto (JUP). In 2023, she began her master’s degree, where she realised which area she would like to specialise in. “I took a course in computer vision that sparked my interest – it combined artificial intelligence with imaging; and that’s when I thought it might be interesting to work on an application of this technology to medical imaging,” she recalls.
In conversation with some members of NIAEFEUP, they suggested a potential supervisor with whom she could speak to develop a master’s project in the field of medical imaging. And so it was. “We arranged a meeting and he thought it was interesting that I wanted to do my thesis in this area. He said straight away that he could be my supervisor,” she recalls. And so it was. She also undertook an internship at INESCTEC and worked as a teaching assistant in the Department of Informatics Engineering at FEUP.
Erasmus and ‘broadening horizons’
In 2024, she had her first mobility experience at the University of Zagreb in Croatia. “I did two Erasmus placements and had completely different experiences. On the first one, the aim wasn’t so much the academic side itself, but more the chance to live on my own, to test my independence. It was this experience that took away my fear of going to live in another country – which is, after all, my reality today,” explains Inês.
The following year, she also spent time at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where she worked on her dissertation in the field of computer vision. “This period was very important academically, but also for understanding a different way of life. In Portugal, we’re used to seeing people wake up in the morning, go to work and return exhausted at the end of the day. Not there. Everything is done earlier, work finishes earlier too, and at the end of the day, everyone gets together. I felt that people lived much happier lives and I learnt a lot from that,” she recalls.
Her time in the two countries made her reflect on what to do after completing her master’s degree. She considered doing a PhD, but things took a different turn. Empowered by her experiences abroad – after all, living alone isn’t as difficult as it initially seemed – in her final year of her master’s degree she applied to a few tech giants, keen to learn as much as possible and explore career opportunities. And she landed her top choice.
The next step was at Google in Poland, where she is currently based. “The interview process was lengthy. We had interviews based on system design, where my university knowledge was important; and interviews consisting of competitive programming exercises. I’d like to take this opportunity to say that initiatives like CodeCamp@FEUP are very important, because they familiarise future students with this kind of dynamic from an early stage,” she shares.
“When we enter the job market, there’s a question I see many people my age asking: whether we should apply to a smaller company, like a start-up, or a larger one. On the one hand, I think start-ups often offer greater autonomy, the chance to explore different paths and take on more responsibility. On the other hand, larger companies allow you to work on solutions with an impact on a much larger scale. At the time, I felt that starting my career at a large company would be a valuable opportunity to learn from experienced teams and understand how solutions are built that reach millions of users.”
An open future
The early days at Google were about adapting to a new reality. An eight-hour working day became the new norm, which had to be managed as effectively as possible, in an attempt to replicate what he had experienced, for example, in the Netherlands – “you need to have plans to make the most of your time after work”. At the moment, he is contributing to the development of a Google Cloud product, BigQuery.
“I’ve learnt a great deal and I know that this is essentially what motivates me to be here. I really like the way they treat their staff, because I feel they promote a good work-life balance. The building where I work has 31 floors and each one has a recreation room and a piano; we have a library, a gym, a colouring room and a room with guitars. It’s a very different environment,” reflects the FEUP student.
As for the future, her ideas are quite clear: nothing is impossible. “I like to think that everything is open. I might even switch fields completely, if I think it makes sense. Who knows, maybe open a café at 40, have a farm at 50. I think my priority right now, and what I believe will shape my future, is the desire to be where I can learn the most, always in line with my interests at the moment.”