Deiber
Olivares.

A vereda.
Many ways to imagine.

I was born in Barranquilla and grew up in a vereda, a rural hamlet, in Achí, Bolívar. My childhood unfolded among nature, country life and a family that taught me to work with perseverance, to be grateful and to keep trying.

Poetry and verse became a passion. In words I found a way to express what I felt, and in nature, a place to observe and imagine. Living in the vereda also brought me closer to the conditions of its people and to the value of opportunities to study and learn.

That sensitivity stays with me: before thinking about a solution, I want to understand the people who will use it.

I learned to walk at three.
And I learned to start over.

I was born with left-sided hemiplegia and learned to walk at the age of three. Surgeries, therapies and more than one recovery taught me to start over, always with my family close by.

Football found
another pitch.

I love football. With the surgeries and recoveries, playing on the pitch was not always possible. When computers arrived at my school, another way of getting close to what I loved appeared. I started by exploring, installing programs and learning computing, at first as a game.

I also discovered football video games, such as FIFA and PES. Many games required actions with both hands that were not easy for me and offered few accessibility options. In PES I began adapting the controls, exploring settings and trying different tools until I found a way to play in my own way.

I split the actions according to what I could do: with my left hand I held one key to control movement; with my right I handled the player’s other actions. I kept refining that setup with practice. Trying, observing what worked and improving let me level up and develop new skills.

I also discovered the value of planning: anticipating a play, choosing a strategy and revisiting it when it did not work. That experience of adaptation and continuous improvement brought me even closer to technology.

The game became a meeting point with my classmates. We shared matches, competed and learned together. There I understood something that guides my work today: when a tool allows different ways to take part, it opens up possibilities for inclusion.

Between the video games, the computers and the wish to support my parents, a decision began to take shape: to study Systems Engineering.

One opportunity that opened
many others.

Leaving the vereda and returning to Barranquilla, my hometown, to study Systems Engineering was a new beginning: different rhythms, new experiences and so much to learn.

Universidad de la Costa gave me the opportunity to study on a scholarship throughout my university education. That support was decisive in continuing my path. My gratitude to the university and to everyone who was part of that stage holds a special place in my story.

I met professors, friends and people who guided me and trusted my abilities. As part of the tutoring team, I was able to support other people in their learning. Later, I led a project funded by SENA and took what I had learned to a real solution.

During the pandemic I went back to the vereda. There, it was harder to get connected and keep studying. Looking for alternatives, accepting support and staying consistent were also part of my education.

Opportunities also
have names and faces.

In the working world I met people who taught me, shared their experience and helped me grow. With each project I learned to listen better, to make decisions and to take on new responsibilities.

I moved from university projects and enterprise solutions to connecting financial systems. At Elektrum, as a Blockchain Developer, I was technical lead on one of the projects that integrated wallets, banking and credit cores, and payments infrastructure.

Behind every integration there were people who needed to do something concrete: move their assets, understand a transaction or complete a payment. That journey strengthened my focus on blockchain and my interest in building experiences that more people can use.