More about me

Thanks for wanting to know more about me 😊

I'm Nicolás Ávila (Nico for short). I've been developing software for over 10 years.

My journey in the world of development has been somewhat unconventional since my formal background is in healthcare. I am a Speech-Language Pathologist by profession (something like a speech therapist and audiologist). However, after finishing my degree, I realized that speech therapy wasn't for me, so I decided to pursue the second-best thing I enjoyed doing: working with computers and tell them what to do

Throughout my professional career, I have had the opportunity to work in various industries (consulting, education, banking, etc.). In 2017, I started working as a developer at a major hospital in Santiago and discovered a discipline called Health Informatics. I was amazed by it—finally, I could combine my academic background with what truly passionate me!

Over the years, I have taken on many roles: software developer, technical lead, software architect, and, for the past year, as Principal Software Engineer at HICAPPS, where we primarily develop solutions focused on health informatics. It’s an amazing team!

I learned to code when I was 16, but my first experiences in the world of development were with QBASIC on MS-DOS when my father brought home the source code for a calculator. I was fascinated by it, and in the following years, I started learning on my own.

Back then, learning about computing had many more barriers to entry than it does now. There was no YouTube (not social media either), and internet access was very limited where I lived. My father worked as a system administrator in a data center, and I would often visit his workplace to download books so I could study on my own at home. It's amazing to see how everything has changed, and how many more people are open to sharing their knowledge today.

That’s why, as I gained more experience in the field, I decided to engage with the emerging software community in Santiago, Chile. During that time, I met truly wonderful people who introduced me to speaking at meetups. For several years, I even had the opportunity to organize Angular Chile, where we hosted many events at different companies (Globant, Telefónica, Buk, among others). I love sharing knowledge with others, which is why I love teaching and public speaking at tech events.

In 2024, I had the opportunity to be a speaker at JSConf Chile 2024, where I also got to meet and connect with amazing people.

I don’t know what 2025 will bring, but without a doubt, I’m grateful for everything and excited to keep learning, meeting new people, and sharing experiences in development and technology.