Duarte Pardal, currently a student in the Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (LEEC) and winner of the 2023/24 Cisco Merit Award in Network Architecture, shared a bit of his journey in an interview with DEEC for the ElectroStars section.

Duarte enjoys understanding how things work. In this regard, his interest in computer systems and networks began during his basic education, where he started his independent research on various topics. Although he considered pursuing a Bachelor's in Telecommunications and Computer Engineering (LETI), taught at the Taguspark campus, he realized that the Bachelor's in Electrical and Computer Engineering offered a more diversified curriculum, so he chose to apply for this course.

Back in high school, and a little before, I was curious to know how things worked, especially in computing.

Duarte Pardal, LEEC student

Instituto Superior Técnico was his first choice, admitting that when he reached the required average, he did not consider other schools. Being the son of an alumnus of this institution and given its prestige, Duarte met the family expectations and joined Técnico.

Maintaining his effort to achieve good academic performance, after transitioning to higher education, the student won the latest edition of the Cisco award, given for the distinction of best student in Network Architecture and Management. This recognition, for Duarte, represents the support provided by the company, a member of Técnico's Partner Network, something for which he expressed his gratitude. He also highlighted that this distinction is a significant factor in his CV, adding value to his future.

When asked what might have contributed to his standout performance in this course, the student mentioned that his interest in the subject began before he was exposed to the material taught in classes.

I was already comfortable with the subject, at least at a superficial level. (...) If there was anything that set me apart, aside from studying, it’s the knowledge I had beforehand.

Duarte Pardal, LEEC student

Duarte mentioned that in this course, students worked on projects related to connecting phones to the internet to improve user experience. The material also covered troubleshooting in routers, addressing situations where the amount of information received exceeds its capacity. In such cases, the router sends the necessary data to the connected computers so they can detect the problem and reduce the information transmission speed.

Following the theme of network architecture and management, Duarte emphasized his interest in the concept of ad hoc networks, a decentralized wireless internet network where devices like mobile phones and computers connect without the need for telecommunications providers. This way, the connection would be made directly between devices, bypassing the need for routers or centralized entities (which control the providers). However, this system is limited by the distance between devices.

Besides the telecommunications field, the student stresses that his exposure to the different areas covered in the curriculum has led to an increase in his enthusiasm for electronic systems. Although his interest initially began in computing, he hopes to find a future career that also includes electronics. His professional area of interest is still open, but he would like to work with programmable logic control (PLC) systems.

Originally, I was more focused on computing, but as I progressed in the course, I began to appreciate the electronics and physics parts more. (...) [For me] the ideal job would be (...) at the intersection between computing and electronics.

Duarte Pardal, LEEC student