In early 2017, I made a life-changing decision to leave Venezuela. I wanted to find opportunities that matched my academic ambitions and gain skills to integrate into the global market. My journey began with a plan to move to Canada, but like any great adventure, it had its share of unexpected twists and challenges.
The Path to Canada
I first needed to go through Mexico to get my visa to move to Canada because Venezuela didn’t have a Canadian Embassy then. At the same time, I was saving up for my studies, which required passing the TOEFL English exam and securing acceptance to a Canadian university. I needed 80 points on the TOEFL to enroll but scored 77—a close miss but a reflection of my English level at that time.
Determined not to give up, I found an alternative: ILAC’s Pathway program in Toronto. This program promised direct access to the university if I completed six months of intensive English study. I was able to complete the program in just two months. By then, my immigration status allowed me to stay as a tourist, but I couldn’t work. Instead, I threw myself into learning and attending events that would boost my professional development.
My First Hackathon: Where Ideas Take Flight
Two months later, I participated in my first hackathon—a multidisciplinary event that focused on solving social challenges using technology. This was the first time I encountered Ethereum, a decentralized platform that sparked my imagination.
During this event, an idea began to form: an AirBnB of computing power, powered, the platform that would use distributed computing and a hack that I found to execute General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) tasks like tensor multiplications accelerated in GPU, hacking WebGL to achieve that, to complete tasks via a web-compatible system. With my knowledge of networks and nodes, I proposed a platform for distributed computing, which would later evolve into SynapseCL, a project that caught the attention of professionals and investors at the event.
At that point, I was 19 years old, and one of the professionals I met—Henning Dekant, he holds a M.Sc. in physics from the University of Heidelberg and received his MBA from the Simon Business School of the University of Rochester in 1999. His passion for physics and super-computing prompted him in 2011 to start blogging and analyzing the emergent QC industry.—right away became a key mentor. He guided me through the feasibility of my idea, helping me refine it so that it could be realized. While my vision might have seemed overly ambitious at the time, with Henning’s advice and my own discipline, we adapted the project to meet the resources available.
The Power of Hackathons
Participating in that hackathon was transformative. It wasn’t just about winning (though we received a special mention); it was about connecting with creative professionals who shared my drive for excellence and innovation. Hackathons offer a space where ideas and contacts can flow, and where the right team can turn ambitious ideas into reality.
Our demo—a distributed rendering platform that used Ethereum to pay nodes—was well received. We may not have won, but that experience sparked something much larger: the development of a patented system based on secure distributed computing tasks using GPUs. This innovation laid the foundation for SynapseCL. This Intelectual Property, was later sold to a Quantum Computing Company, which offered a lump sum of cash + equity in this company.
Lessons Learned and Looking Forward
Looking back, participating in that hackathon was one of the most pivotal moments of my career. It opened doors, built lasting relationships, and fueled the passion I have for building scalable, distributed systems today. I recommend the hackathon experience to anyone looking to expand their skills, connect with experts, and challenge themselves to think outside the box.
For me, it was about the long-term vision and growth that emerged from collaboration and persistence. Whether you’re a student, developer, or dreamer, with the right plan and team, hackathons can be a launchpad to extraordinary things. They certainly were for me.
