Francisco Machado is a Computer Science and Engineering student at Técnico and decided to apply for Huawei’s programme “Seeds for the Future”, which aims to provide the best Portuguese university students (electrical and computer engineering, and other tech-related areas) an experience in Beijing and in Huawei’s Shenzhen headquarters. Francisco Machado was one of the ten Portuguese students who had this opportunity.
The Técnico student arrived at Beijing airport last July 20, after a long journey of nearly 20 hours. During the first week, the group of Portuguese students joined students from Brazil, Vietnam and Tunisia, and visited the top tourist attractions in Beijing. The second week was devoted to classes and to study Chinese language. On Monday the students had the opportunity to visit the Huawei showroom, “where we could learn more about some of the technologies that the company is developing, as well as to have dinner with the Portuguese Ambassador and Chris Lu, CEO at Huawei”, says the Técnico student. “It was an incredible experience”, he adds.
Francsico Machado was about to leave for Shenzhen when he answered our email. The group will have a learning experience focused on telecommunications and computer science. The student highlights the hectic city beat, the affordable public transport, the orderly queues at Shenzhen metro and the fact that “mobile payment QR codes are everywhere. Even the ladies who were selling slices of melon had it”, says the student.
Francisco Machado is looking forward to this new experience that ends on August 3. The group of students will have the opportunity to experience a unique work atmosphere at a high-tech company and to meet remarkable engineers who will show them different innovative solutions developed at Huawei. However, the Técnico student hopes to maintain regular contact with the Chinese company: “Huawei is a very large company and it’s increasingly present in the Portuguese market”. “Most of the Brazilian students are doing an internship at Huawei and they gave me great feedback”, he shares. The student promised to share his experience with us once he returns.
