The Next President of Honduras

How Daniel Letona, a Sr. Software Developer from Honduras, found his way to Filtered.ai

One of my first weeks at Filtered.ai I found myself sitting next to the engineers, designers & developers who continually build the platform that helps so many people across the world. I was the minority. I found it incredible to be working for a company that practiced what others seem to preach: diversity hiring. 

I was using a web app to search for companies currently looking for talent in areas such as Data Science. I found it intuitive; much more effective than using various boolean search strings or waiting for “intent” signals. 

My CEO, Paul Bilodeau, asked, “Do you like that program?”

Me: “yeah, it’s super easy to use.”

Paul then pointed to a young kid sitting next to us…”Daniel built that.”

“Wow,” I thought to myself. Unfortunately, with my own biases, I couldn’t envision this young guy with super hero figurines on his desk to be the architect and engineer of something so incredibly useful. 

After many conversations, I realized Paul helped Daniel find work in the United States about eight years ago where he left his family and community in Honduras to work at MIT. He then made his way across the river to Harvard Business School before Paul connected with Daniel again to join our Filtered team. And we have been ever so grateful.

Paul had even brought him to his first NBA game as a birthday present where he was able to see his favorite player, Kobe Bryant, from 4 rows back. You can feel the overwhelming appreciation from Daniel when he continues to tell the story. 

I also didn’t really understand the years of experience and level of skill this young man possessed. I had to learn more, and I found a good opening to ask when he provided a short presentation at one of our company’s internal Lunch & Learns. 

He started off by discussing the level of poverty in Honduras (66%) where the average person makes $2/hr. His message was simple: 

Being able to work at Filtered.ai, and allowing individuals globally to showcase their skill sets, Daniel knows the company has the ability to improve lives and economies. 

He experienced it firsthand. Pictures of his aunt, a school teacher, flashed on the screen as she was handing lunches provided by Daniel to hungry children in a village in Honduras.

Pictures of his friends, former gang members, who later became community servants followed.

I had to learn more about him. I sat down with Daniel and asked him some questions about his life..His story can definitely be made into a novel, and I hope it does, but I will point out the highlights:

Me: “You mentioned the poverty rate in Honduras, and I was wondering if you could speak a little more about that.”

Daniel: “The poverty rate is higher than that, but it’s what you can find on the UN website. To put it in perspective, my family was so poor my brother had to live with my grandparents because my parents couldn’t afford two mouths to feed. My mom did door to door sales at first to try to make enough money, and then eventually traveling to El Salvador to resell gold Jewelry. My Dad was a well respected athletic coach and physical education teacher. He had a strong belief that I needed to attend a better school and learn English. They used the money they both earned to send me to a private school where “rich kids” attended. 

Me: “what was the difference between your situation and the kids attending this school”

Daniel: “They all had nice expensive clothes and shoes, and here I am with crappy everything. Who is this poor kid in our school? Our school system involves projects to test our knowledge, but all the other kids had people paid to complete the projects for them! I was continually judged for what I didn't have. To make matters worse I wasn’t a good student. Everyone was memorizing from a book, and I didn’t see the point. My handwriting was terrible, and I didn’t know this at the time, but I have ADHD, so I was very curious and asked a lot of questions, which can be annoying.”

Me: Sounds demoralizing. You must have felt like you were on a different planet. 

Daniel: “The kids kept talking about “Mario” from Nintendo. For the longest time I thought it was this kid they hung out with. I had never even seen a video game before.”

Me: So how did you start on the path of computer science?

Daniel: When I was in sixth grade, my father had another vision that computers were the future. He saved a few months of paychecks in order to buy a desktop with Pentium 3 and Windows millennium. I had zero access to the internet, which is a huge limitation. My brother had access to visual basic through his school, so I started reverse engineering things that the students had developed, and that is how I started teaching myself how to code. When I was about 11 years old I created work arounds for variable creations such as invisible input boxes, and then I stored information there. It’s relevant, because when people ask about my skill set, I tell them I solve problems with things I have never worked with before. It was a huge issue though because I wasn't good at writing or anything else, and people believed I was not going to account for anything because I was always on my computer. I failed 8th grade because I wasn't doing what teachers wanted me to do.

Me: How did you remain?

Daniel: I realized I had to force myself to graduate in order to get to the next step. The school didn't want me anymore, so my Dad called the school and said it would threaten my human rights, and they reluctantly decided to keep me. 

Me: When was your own personal breakout?

Daniel: When I reached 9th grade there was a national coding challenge. I was the only kid who really knew how to code, so the computer teacher asked me if I wanted to participate. For the challenge I built a website in Flash showcasing our village, Comayagua, which has a rich history and beautiful architecture.

We went to the contest, and since I am from a small town, I was up against the richest kids against the richest schools, and my work really wasn’t noticed. I told myself that this was the last time that would happen. The following year I came in first place for coding and second place for web development, and was unsatisfied that I didn't win both categories. In the following year people knew me, so they paid attention and I won first place on both. 

Me: You have a love of basketball. How does that fit into the picture?

Daniel: I was in love with Basketball, and Kolbe Bryant is one of my biggest inspirations due to his level of commitment to the craft. I decided I wanted to go to a college on a Basketball scholarship. My Dad agreed to help, but that I would need to study to become a Telecommunications Engineer because at the time, “that was where the money was.”

I would dribble 5 miles a day, and practiced countless hours. My mindset at the time was that if I could become an NBA player, anybody could, and that I need to try to be the best at anything I do. I moved to the capital of Honduras in order to play in their “Olympic Village.” To get in front of the coach I went to every house in his town knocking on doors until I found him. Cesar Valdez lived in the last house of the last row, so I must have visited 30+ houses. He is a huge guy, “6,’6” and asked, “what do you want?” I asked him to give me a shot at a basketball scholarship, and a chance to prove myself. After training with him for several months I was on the bench for the College team, and I received a scholarship. The process of getting to that point helped me become a determined person. I would listen to motivational speakers such as Eric Thomas, and I live by one of his quotes…

“If you wanted to be as successful as much as you want to breath you will” - Eric Thomas

I didn't smoke, drink or party. Just wanted to become a basketball player. I would train from 5am - 11am, and then train again after lunch for a total of 9 hours a day. 

Me: What was it like academically?

Daniel: I thought by studying at this school I would meet the geniuses of Honduras. I didn't have a computer at the time, and instead had to learn coding on the white board. My professor didn't like that and told me I should quit.

Me: You did all the coursework on a white board? 

Daniel: Yes, but eventually my parents helped me get a computer so I could pass the class. A lot of students and teachers believe I stole my work, because again, they couldn’t believe some poor kid could do this level of work. My grades suffered due to my commitment to basketball as well as some professors unwillingness to help me. 

Me: What did you do in order to stay?

Daniel: I switched my major to Graphic Design, which my father wasn’t happy about, but it allowed me to remain in the school. 

Me: Let's fast forward a bit. How did you connect with Paul Bilodeau, CEO of Filtered?

Daniel: A year before I graduated college, one of the athletes who attended my father’s classes was Paul Francisco, an NFL player for the New England Patriots, and Chief Diversity Officer for State Street Bank. He had seen the work I had done, and said I needed to get into the US. He even told me I could live in his house as long as I needed in order to find work. He happened to be friends with Paul Bilodeau, who at the time was working for a different company. 

Me: So how did you interview if you were in Honduras?

Daniel: Paul Bilodeau called me through a video conference, and I interviewed with his head engineer. I was given a task to complete in Actionscript, for which I have never used Actionscript. I learned Actionscript over the weekend, and my 1st deployment in production was before graduating college. I did this remotely, in Honduras, while attending college and playing basketball. This impressed them, and they said they wanted to bring me on board as an intern (you can’t graduate college in Honduras without an internship). 

Me: What was that process like?

Daniel: It was awful. After going to the embassy I was given the wrong instructions in order to get my visa. I prepared for a month, and a few days before I went to the embassy my grandfather passed away. I was very close to my grandfather; he had given me my first $50 as a gift for when I eventually would get to the US. Unable to grieve, and having the added pressure I didn't sleep during the days leading up to my appointment. After waiting 5+ hours at the embassy, I was denied. I was denied my visa because it wasn't the type I needed, I was then told I need a J1 visa. I first called Paul Bilodeau, and let him know they denied my visa. They paid for immigration lawyer, and they got approval on their side, so I scheduled a second appointment. Only supposed to go once a year to the embassy (unwritten rule), 5 hours, and the guy says no. I looked him in the eye and I told him one of us is going to get tired, and it's not going to be me. I went in again the following week, waited for another 5 hours. Same guy, and asked him “what do you say today?” I brought the same documents, but you have to create new ones. So I found a cyber cafe and convinced them to print out the form, which is a huge form, and I had no money. I came back, and there is a rule that you can’t deal with the same agent because of potential bias. I took the same exact documents I used when I was declined, brought them to another agent, told him “my life is in your hands.” He winked at me and approved my visa. 

Me: So you were all set?

Daniel: Yes, but you can’t go home and have long goodbyes or anything. I took the money I had, got on a plane, and came to the US. Now the Visa is only good for 3 months, but I had it in my head I am not coming for an internship, I am coming to prove to everyone that I belong here. 

Me: What did you do when you got here?

Daniel: Within the first week, I nailed a couple of outstanding projects. Within 2 weeks I started making money. They extended my visa for a year (max), but that also meant I couldn’t go back to see my family during that time. I became lead developer within 3 months, and I started the process for H1B. I was making $15hr at the time. By June 2014 my internship was over, so I had to go back to Honduras, but I was in the lottery for the H1B. So while in Honduras I waited for 3 months to “win the lottery.” 

Me: That's a long wait to see if you “win the lottery.”

Daniel: Very long, and nerve racking, but I received my H1B, and returned to the US.

Me: Is that when you started with MIT?

Daniel: I was placed at MIT as a contractor and originally brought on for Data Visualization, but within a couple of weeks I was working with Angular and eventually moved into their first Data Science team. I became a lead and worked on major projects such as the creation of a Data lake where people at MIT could search for their own data sets. My manager at the time was Olu Brown, and I can credit him enough for opening the gates for me in areas such as Full Stack & Cloud development. 

Me: Why did you end up leaving MIT?

Daniel: It’s a long story, but my contract was ending, and they didn't have the ability to hire me perm because of my visa, so I eventually joined Harvard Business school 5 months later after receiving my Green Card. 

Me: Then you connected with Paul again?

Daniel: Yeah, I was looking for part time work to help start ups so I reached out to Paul, who was now leading Filtered. He told me that he would hire me right now. Two weeks before leaving Harvard I built an AI Chatbot for them. 

Me: What is it about Filtered that drew you?

Daniel: Filtered doesn’t set people up for failure like traditional interviewing like asking scaled questions of MCQs. It gives people the opportunity to prove themselves in an objective setting. We can discover people from all walks of life from all over the world who can perform the work instead of just being cast aside because they don’t have the pedigree, didn’t have the money to put a nice resume together, or were rejected for some other bias. 

Me: So it helps prove that even though you don’t have an Ivy league schooling you can do the work.

Daniel: Yes, it's one of the only true ways you’ll have diversity. It extends beyond that though. We have the power to shift economies. Because of what I am doing here, my friends, who are former gang members, are now community servants. I can help my mom feed a whole school full of children back home for months. I can teach kids back home to do what I do. 

Me: How are you accomplishing that?

Daniel: I’m now a professor at UNITEC and teach students remotely during the evening hours. If I can then showcase the talent in my communities, and communities around the world, we can make a difference.

Me: Give me a story about your neighborhood and the people you could help.

Daniel: There was this 16-year-old girl in my city who collects “war tax” for a local gang. That means she goes to stores and collects “money for protection.” If they don’t pay up, there are dire consequences. I asked her why she is doing this, and she said to help feed her family and offer a luxury. I asked her what she meant by “luxury” and she replied “a pair of sneakers.” After repeatedly seeing her friends die she left that life, but it's amazing to me seeing some people who have everything would rather ignore the fact that most of the world is burning, and here is this kid who has nothing and is deciding on a better path. 

Me: What is next for you?

Daniel: I want to be the president of Honduras so I can help better my country. I think Filtered is the path for that. 

Daniel’s story is inspiring.. I learned a lot from him including how important it is to recognize people for what they’re capable of instead of the keywords in their resume, formal schooling, employment history or years of experience. We are very fortunate to have Daniel, who can learn technologies he has never worked with before, provide solutions to real world problems and is determined to change the hiring process with us. Most importantly we are fortunate to have his perceptive, vision and friendship.