Talent That Can Change The World: Anthony Rugama

Finding fulfillment in giving back to the community and promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech industry.

I have always admired Anthony's resilience and his commitment to learning and helping others grow. Below is his journey, in his own words:

"I started with computers when I was 11 years old with Windows 3.1, and from that moment, one of my life goals was to work at Microsoft at some point, which I was able to achieve in 2018 when I joined the Sales team. I fell in love with that logo (the one with the Windows), and from that moment, my mom pushed me to get into computers, starting with the courses of Windows and Office 95, up to my technical degree in microelectronics at the age of 14.??

My neighborhood was rough, but I was lucky enough to have in front of my mom's house a scrap dump, what we call a Chatarrera in Costa Rican Spanish. Which happens to be my second favorite place because people used to dump all kinds of stuff and from those pieces, I was able to build my first computer when I was in high school ?? ?? ??, and I was the only one in the neighborhood with a computer… so you can imagine I had a lot of friends and how popular I was ???

I finished high school, and got my first job as a janitor that helped me to start my bachelor's degree in systems engineering, and a couple of months after, I got an opportunity to work in a telephone company, and after a couple of years, I moved to HP as a level 2 support engineer. There is a funny story here … when I went to the interview, they offered the position as a first-level support engineer, but at that moment, I told the guy, no thanks… I came here for the level 2 position, and the guy told me sorry but you don’t have the resume to be a level 2, and I told him: well, I would like a chance to get the interview because I know I am going to be level 2. The guy said ok, let me check with the managers of the team. He went and came back and told me, ok, you just got an interview for tomorrow. The next day when I went back, I started the interview, which was really quick, and they made me a couple of questions:??

Interviewer: "Do you know what Exchange is?"??

Me: no, but if you give me the opportunity, I will learn and be the best.??

Interviewer: Do you know about ProLiant servers??

Me: No, but I learn fast.??

Interviewer: Do you know about Active Directory???

Me: No, but I learn fast.??

Interviewer: Do you know about Cisco???

Me: No, but I learn fast.??

Interviewer: What do you know??????

Me: I know about computers and how they work and for me, it's easy to learn anything related to computers so if you give me the chance, I will demonstrate to you that I mean what I said.??

The two guys went and spoke for 5 minutes and then they came back and asked me:?

Interviewer: do you have a visa for Canada???

Me: Sorry, the answer is no.??

And then they told me, ok, congratulations, you just got the second-level position, we will send you to Canada to train yourself for 3 months. Upon my return, I came back and trained the entire team, and then I was sent to London to learn other systems come back and train the rest of the team. I was lucky that someone hired me with that interview... because I honestly think that I would not have given myself the opportunity.??

After that, I stayed at the company for 13 years, finished my bachelor's degree, got my master's degree, and started to build my career as an engineer. I got around 10 or more certifications of Microsoft Products (because I was still in love with the logo of the little Windows), that allowed me to become a chief engineer. But the most valuable thing during that process was the great mentors I had during that period of development. They made me look at things from a different perspective and helped me to understand how to build and develop a career.??

Then… one day I was driving home, and someone called me, hey, we like your resume and we would like to interview you for a Technical Advisor position in Microsoft.... ?????? one of the happiest days of my life. When I went to the interview, in the elevators, I saw a couple of my previous colleagues and they asked me, what are you doing here? I told them I was going to an interview in support and one of them told me, come with me, and they put me into a room, did an interview, and suddenly I was working in sales.??

This is my journey to Microsoft but what makes this journey even greater was the day I joined BAM ERG, which changed my life and made me realize it was time to give back some of what I received during my entire life to the community.??

This led me to create BAM Academy as my way of saying thank you to all of those that supported me. This program is an educational program created to deliver courses and certifications to the Afro-descendant youth. Started in Costa Rica with 15 students and expanded across the world in more than 9 cities that supported more than a 1000 students world wide with the goal of given to the minorities the tools necessary to join the labor community worldwide.???

This program, extended beyond the afro descendant community to other minority groups, through other ERGs such as Gleam, Hola, WAM and it became the best gift of my eternal lover, the logo of the little Windows, changing my perspective of life and making me realize, "Diversity was evident when I was hired, and inclusion became a reality when I became part of the ERGs. Joining BAM made me feel safe, happy, and respected."?

Connect with Anthony Rugama on LinkedIn to foster meaningful professional connections, learn more about his journey and about our team.