Juan Saavedra

Early life

From a very young age, I had the opportunity to interact with a computer at home, and it was something that captivated and interested me from then on. Along with sciences in general, I began to find a vocation that I was fortunate to be able to develop.

Early on, I had two experiences that marked me. At school, we made our first foray into programming with Logo Writer (in case you missed the 1985 part), where I began to understand some aspects of programming inadvertently.

Additionally, as a teenager, I took a computer repair course and began to understand a little more about how they functioned. This not only gave me greater depth but also led me to start doing occasional jobs for family and friends.

Education and Early Career

I always had a fairly clear idea that I wanted to study some kind of engineering and that the place to do it was at the University of the Republic. I felt that I wanted to work with different teams of people, and my vision up to that point (albeit mistaken) of Computer Science was that it was primarily solitary, so I turned to Mechanical Engineering – where I felt I didn’t have that restriction and could combine it with my interest in physics.

After a while, it became clear that I was better suited for the field of Computer Science. At the urging of a friend who would later become my partner – Guillermo – I switched to studying and completing a degree in Computer Engineering. It was challenging but very enriching, where I found myself studying a variety of different things that I found interesting.

In my early work experiences (SeCIU, IBM), I was exposed to aspects of web development, batch processes in various technologies, and different methodologies. It was a period of intense learning both technically and in terms of organizational dynamics, where I also began to form my own vision of practices to adopt – or avoid.

Teaching

I was always motivated by teaching, and simultaneously with the completion of my studies, I had the opportunity to join the Architecture Department as a teacher within the Computer Science Institute at the Faculty of Engineering. I spent several years there, some of them working solely there.

I highlight from this period the phenomenal group of people I encountered, extremely intelligent and well-educated, with whom I had the opportunity to continuously learn. They also gave me various opportunities to carry out initiatives of various kinds.

It was a very positive stage, although I found that academic activities were less interesting to me than those of applied engineering.

Octobot

A recently graduated friend – Luciano – approached me with the idea of starting something in technology on our own. That ended up being the genesis of what would later become Octobot, a custom software development company oriented towards the US market. There’s a podcast of the three partners with a lot of history.

From the beginning, we aimed to build a company that could do things the way we thought was best and offer that to the world. We weren’t clear on how, but we understood that there was an opportunity for it.

It became an incredible adventure where I was in charge of the Technology area from the beginning. We had the opportunity to work with international and local companies and organizations, private or publicly traded, from diverse verticals such as Agriculture or Education. There were many projects and a lot of very talented people who joined us along the way.

We went from being a three-partner organization working at night to a company of over 100 people in several countries in 10 years. During this time, we experienced many challenges, where I learned a lot from different people and situations in terms of implementing technology, leading an organization, managing teams, and many other things.

At the end of 2023 and more than 10 years after the start of that adventure, motivated by the search for new challenges and to give new life to the company, I had the opportunity to step aside from my executive role. It was later acquired by Sparq.

Marvik

I am currently working as VP of Strategic Accounts at Marvik, a world-class AI & ML consulting firm.

In this role, I focus on expanding our impact, helping organizations leverage the power of artificial intelligence, and strengthening Marvik’s position as a market leader.

Other Activities

I am also involved in outreach and advisory activities to support individuals and organizations in technology and business. I do this through different types of initiatives, varying in scope and audience, including some carried out on an honorary basis.

If you’re interested in discussing further, I invite you to get in touch.