Biography
Computer Science and Engineering Professional · Founder and Managing Director of RJPES Solutions · IT Consultant · IT Expert · Computer Science Teacher and Trainer
From the first line of BASIC to Computer Science and Engineering
Ricardo Perdigão e Silva’s journey in computing began in 1988, while still a teenager, when he taught himself BASIC programming on a ZX Spectrum 48K+ using technical books. This was an era when programs were written line by line and stored on cassette tapes.
Learning soon evolved into creating. In 1990, he developed “Em Busca de uma Nova Terra”, a ZX Spectrum video game which he submitted on cassette to the computer section of the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã. Although his own copy was eventually lost, more than three decades later the game remains catalogued by projects dedicated to documenting and preserving Portuguese ZX Spectrum software.
LOAD ZX — Portuguese ZX Spectrum Software Preservation
Planeta Sinclair — 25 Most Wanted MIA Titles
During secondary school at Escola Secundária da Parede, he further developed these skills through Digital Circuits, BASIC programming and Programming Techniques using Turbo Pascal.
In 1993, he entered Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, completing the five-year pre-Bologna degree in Computer Science and Engineering in 2000.
He later returned to IST, completing a Postgraduate Programme in Information Systems in 2009 and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering in 2013.
Large-scale systems, networks and telecommunications
His professional career in Information Technology began in 1998 at Consulpav, while completing his engineering degree.
In 2000, he joined Companhia Portuguesa Rádio Marconi, where he worked on Project K, one of the company’s early international VoIP infrastructures, based on the H.323 protocol and VocalTec technology, providing interconnections between international telecommunications networks and operators.
Following Marconi’s integration into Portugal Telecom, he moved to PT Comunicações / Portugal Telecom in 2003, continuing a career focused on the engineering and operation of highly critical, large-scale telecommunications networks, systems and services.
Over the following years, his responsibilities covered several generations of infrastructure and services, including PT WiFi networks, access and business communication solutions, Telex over IP, infrastructure supporting the MEO television service, TR-069 Home Device Management, VoIP IP Core networks, MEO Satellite, and MEO-WIFI, which used MEO Home Gateways to provide distributed access to the PT WiFi service.
These services relied on large-scale, high-availability telecommunications infrastructures using technologies and equipment from manufacturers including Cisco, Juniper, TELDAT and Alcatel-Lucent.
At its largest scale, the operation included approximately 1.5 million residential and business network devices managed through the Alcatel-Lucent HNM platform.
During this period, he became manager of the team responsible for the 24×7 operation of these networks, platforms and services, ensuring availability and operational continuity, monitoring, incident management and complex troubleshooting.
This experience with critical systems and large-scale operations continues to influence his approach to engineering: understand systems, anticipate failure points, and favour robust, operable and sustainable solutions.
Software development and RJPES Solutions
Programming and solution development have remained a constant throughout his career.
His Master’s dissertation, “mtAndroid — Android Application for Outdoor Pedestrian Trails”, explored techniques for developing mobile applications involving outdoor positioning and navigation, GPS, sensors, maps and Web services, including considerations related to energy efficiency.
mtAndroid — Instituto Superior Técnico
In 2016, he founded RJPES Solutions, bringing together his accumulated experience in Computer Science and Engineering.
RJPES designs and implements solutions in IT consulting, software development, information systems, infrastructure and networking, cloud and cybersecurity, supporting organisations across different industries.
Its approach starts by understanding the business problem before selecting the technology, with the goal of delivering solutions appropriate to each organisation’s actual requirements and objectives.
Robust Systems. Optimised Costs. Real Results.
Engineering, teaching and training
He is a Member of the Portuguese Order of Engineers, within the Computer Engineering College, and an appointed Information Technology Expert, qualified to conduct technical examinations and prepare expert reports for legal proceedings involving Information Systems.
He is also a Certified Professional Trainer, with experience delivering professional training in Information Technology and programming.
Since 2022, he has combined his professional career with part-time teaching in Computer Science. After teaching Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), he currently focuses on 12th-grade Computer Applications, working with students as they prepare for higher education.
Maintaining a commitment to research and lifelong learning, he is currently a PhD candidate in Web Science and Technology.
A Technology Journey
Since that first BASIC program on a ZX Spectrum in 1988, technology has changed profoundly.
Cassette tapes gave way to the Internet and cloud computing; 8-bit computers evolved into large-scale distributed systems; and BASIC and Turbo Pascal were followed by successive generations of programming languages, platforms and technologies.
The underlying motivation, however, has remained the same: understand how technology works, solve problems and turn it into useful solutions.
Today, through RJPES Solutions, that accumulated experience is focused on helping businesses use technology more effectively, improving their efficiency, security, robustness and ability to evolve.
Alongside this work, engineering, research, professional training and teaching maintain the connection between almost four decades of technological experience and everything that is still to be built.
LinkedIn — Ricardo Perdigão e Silva
Perdigao’s Arcade
RJPES Solutions